Every January, I jot down ten trends I plan to watch that will provide insights about how, why and when innovative technologies and new business ventures might unleash growth in the hearing-aid industry. In 2011, the global hearing-aid industry experienced something on the order of two percent growth. That’s a disappointing performance in a year when millions of Baby-Boom-generation adults in America alone had already lost so much of their hearing that they should have been racing to buy their first set of hearing aids. Why didn’t the market boom materialize in 2011, and will 2012 be any different? Here are ten trends I will be writing about where significant progress might help break that logjam in competition, innovation and growth:
- Wireless Technologies: In 2011, all the major hearing-aid companies introduced one form or another of wireless communication between assistive listening devices and their hearing aids. Big announcements included streamers for broadcasting TV directly into receivers in your hearing aids, and synching Bluetooth receivers in your hearing aids with your cellphone. Wireless communication between your left and right hearing aids, to provide better stereophonic left-right balance and better location of sound, was also a big feature that the majors started to introduce. I’m expecting more of the same in 2012, along with the first reports of user experiences with these new technologies. Questions to be answered: Is their very high cost worth the benefit you get from them? Are they as easy to use as the manufacturers claim? Are they so much better than earlier, simpler, t-coil based solutions that they will find a big market in 2012?
- Big Manufacturers Get Bigger: The big manufacturers–Sonova Group, William Demant Holdings, Siemens Hearing Instruments, GN Store Nord, and Starkey Laboratories–all seemed to be growing faster than the industry average in 2012. Those who were required to report their financial results were bullish about organic growth driven by new product introductions. In the global hearing industry we have a lot of vertical integration, with manufacturers controlling the design, development, manufacturing and distribution of their products, nearly to the point of sale, where they move their products mainly through networks of audiologists who usually resell no more than one or two brands, and who are very brand-loyal. The big players serve the top end of the market where customers can afford the multi-thousand-dollar price tag of a pair of hearing aids, and they are able to generate strong enough profits to continue funding development work that keeps them at the cutting edge of technology with leadership products. Expect more strengthening of the majors in 2012, with some interesting new high-end products and technologies.
- Upstarts Challenge the Status Quo: While the big players at the high end of the market should continue to consolidate their positions, 2012 should also see many new upstarts with new technologies entering the mid- and entry-levels of the market with more affordable hearing-assistance products. Off-the-shelf DSPs (digital signal processors) and sound processing software are available, as are other components required to build hearing aids. In fact, the total cost of parts and basic software required to build a set of high-quality hearing aids runs into the hundreds, not thousands, of dollars. So there is room for new ventures with new product ideas to meet the huge unmet need for hearing assistance. I will be following and writing about as many of these interesting new ventures as I can.
- Internet Hearing Aid Sales: There are already a number of companies selling programmable hearing aids direct from the manufacturer over the internet–Audicus, Audiotoniq, America Hears, HearSource, DIY Hearing Aids, hi HealthInnovations, and MD Hearing Aid are just a few. These vendors ask customers for a recent hearing test that will enable them to program the hearing aids to your profile before they ship them to you. However, most consumers don’t already have a hearing test, and when they do get a hearing test it’s usually from an audiologist or dispenser ready to sell them a new set of hearing aids then and there. So the internet providers usually reach a small, discriminating market of experienced hearing-aid users who already have a copy of a recent hearing test, who know exactly what they want and, with the proper research, understand they can get quality hearing aids programmed and shipped directly from the manufacturer. But this small market segment may heat up in 2012. The reeason is that hi HealthInnovations, a subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group insurance company, is a new 800-pound gorilla in this marketplace who may change the competitive dynamics dramatically. Stay tuned.
- Do-It-Yourself Hearing Tests: hi HealthInnovations asks consumers to take a web-based test that screens them for hearing loss. The test can show if some hearing assistance would be of help, and it also says it will let you know if your hearing is so bad you should head straight to an audiologist for a full personal workup. A number of other manufacturers provide hearing screening tests and there are even half a dozen hearing-test apps in the Apple iPhone store. But so far these are extremely rudimentary, and when asked, those offering the tests will tell you that if you suspect any serious issues with your hearing, you should schedule an appointment right away with a doctor, ENT, and/or audiologist. But there’s no reason that more sophisticated do-it-yourself hearing tests can’t be developed. Software on your personal computer is powerful enough and noise cancelling headphones can go a way toward replicating the silence of the padded booth in your audiologist’s office. I expect to see more sophisticated self-screening tests for hearing in 2012. While it will be many years before they can substitute for a full workup, I’m expecting they will help consumers know if any of the the growing number of off-the-shelf personal sound amplification products (PSAPs) now available on the market would provide the right level of amplification for their hearing loss. Which brings us to….
- Over-the-Counter Hearing Aids/PSAPs: Since the FDA in the U.S. published guidelines for the sale of over-the-counter hearing aids that provide basic amplification, without requiring a hearing test, there have been a number of new entrants in the new market for Personal Sound Amplification Products (PSAPs). It’s been a slow build, because many of the new players are small and without any brand name recognition. Plus many of the products are built with inexpensive components and provide poor audio quality. But you can expect this picture to change in 2012, with the introduction of increasingly sophisticated PSAPs at a variety of price points. Look at my recent post on PSAP products introduced at the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) from big-name consumer audio companies like RCA and Acoustic Research, and you’ll get a glimpse of more to come.
- Big-Box Retail: The “big box” stores such as Costco, Walmart, Sam’s Clubs, Sears and others have been selling hearing aids for quite a while. We didn’t see much news from this segment in the past year, and I suspect it’s because the product quality wasn’t superior. Very often the big box stores end up selling earlier generations of major manufacturers’ products, plus in the past support and fitting services could be spotty. I expect all this to continue changing for the better in 2012, as the stores upgrade their product lines and services, including in-house audiologists and/or more experienced dispenser/fitters, as well as the potential for private-label products that are just as good as the major hearing-aid brands, but at lower big-box-store prices. If Walmart, Costco and others get the product and service equation down correctly, they could bust open the mid-level of the market by providing excellent hearing aids for far less than the $2,000-3,000 per hearing aid price you often have to pay when you buy a major brand from an independent audiologist.
- High-End Retail: When are we going to see hearing stores in high-end malls? Or name-brand hearing stores in downtown locations or small-town suburbs. There’s room for a retail option between the independent audiologist’s office and the big-box stores. I’d like to see an audiologist office with an attractive selection of hearing aids, headphones, assistive listening devices and other high-end hearing products under a glass counter in a store in the mall right next to my favorite supplier of eyeglasses. Will we see a major push into high-end retail in 2012? Don’t count on it. In 2010/2011 we saw HearUSA and the HearRX retail brand get swallowed up by Siemens Hearing Instruments when it failed to make timely payments on a line of credit. So the big money may stay on the sidelines when it comes to high-end hearing-aid retail ventures in 2012. But I’m leaving it on the list because, well, darn it, it’s an idea whose time has certainly come. So why not in 2012?
- Induction Loops: 2012 may well be the Year of the Hearing Induction Loop. Or so thinks The New York Times. Its story last October on the proliferation of hearing loops in public auditoriums and other public spaces was definitive. Induction loop technology is based on the decades-old technology of induction through telecoils. It’s very simple and easy to install. However, while it’s cost-effective, it’s not inexpensive, and given that the hearing aid population is still smaller than it should be, and that not all hearing aids are equipped with telecoils, hearing loops haven’t yet taken the world by storm. There are a lot more of them in Europe than in the U.S., though, and according to the New York Times it’s only a matter of time before hearing loops become common throughout North America. So we can expect to hear more about this highly effective technology in 2012.
- Invisible Hearing Aids: In 2010/2011 there was a lot of action in the “invisible hearing aid” market segment, and we’ll continue to see more. My personal feeling is, why make tradeoffs for the cosmetic appeal of hiding your hearing loss, when a visible open-fit BTE or other solution can do more and better for you? But it’s been so long since I worried about the cosmetics of the big hearing aids I use for my severe hearing loss that I’ve become somewhat insensitive to consumers’ concerns about the continuing stigma of wearing hearing aids. So I believe the manufacturers have been smart to market an “invisible” opiton to consumers who would not otherwise even consider hearing aids. At the same time, while I believe these invisible aids will grow into a strong market segment, I’m predicting you will see many consumers quickly get over the stigma of hearing assistance once they see what a positive difference it makes in their lives, and step up from invisible aids to open fit BTE’s that provide more functionality, such as wireless linking with their Bluetooth phones. So I’ll be writing more about “invisible hearing aids” in 2012.
- Implants: Okay, this is an 11th bonus trend. Surgical hearing-assistance implants are becoming big business globally, and while they won’t replace hearing aids, they will certainly gain in the marketplace. Cochlear implant maker Applied Bionics had its share of problems in 2010/2011, with a broad product recall taking it out of the market for a time and reducing the number of global competitors in the cochlear implant market from three to two. But #2 AB is back, and following its acquisition by Sonova Group, it has the financial resources to compete toe-t0-toe with global leader Cochlear Limited. CI’s continue to improve, in the processing power of the behind-the-ear sound processors, in the software used to drive them, and in the number of electrodes stuffed into the implants themselves. So we can expect a lot of competition and innovation in this market in 2012. At the same time, we’ll see a lot of action in the bone-anchored hearing-aid (BAHA) market, to treat single-sided deafness. And we’ll see startups with unique middle-ear hearing-aid implants–including Envoy Medical’s Esteem implant and an interesting new implant on the wall of the cochlea from Otokinetics–continue to gain traction in the market.
I could easily add another 10 or 20 more items to this list of trends, but taken together, the 11 I’ve covered here will be enough to generate some real excitement in the global hearing-technology business in 2012. And with luck, we’ll see one or more hit the jackpot and start to find some big user acceptance and drive some substantial growth in the industry in 2012.
Elizabeth says
There is a big market that is being overlooked. People still want analog hearing aids and there isn’t any where to get them.
Bob Keefer says
Regarding Elaine’s comment, I well understand that because some patients just want “comfort” there is a market for the kind of system she has. The downside of this kind of a system is that the patient’s brain will probably continue in its sensory deprivation. For me, the alternative is much better, i.e, challenge and stretch the brain by fitting the hearing aid not for comfort but to maximize their ability to hear the full range of speech dynamics in any kind of noise environment. Personally, I would not want to risk the potential adverse health effects of auditory deprivation. For more on that, refer to the research studies that came out from John’s Hoplins University. http://gazette.jhu.edu/2011/02/21/seniors-with-hearing-loss-more-likely-to-develop-dementia/
Elaine Saunders says
The subtopic that I would add under internet sales is DIY set up of hearing aids, such as the IHearYou system of Blamey & Saunders Hearing ( we have an association with America Hears ). We have a system that allows the user to set up the hearing aids to comfort, and don’t need an audiogram. The audiogram was designed for diagnosis, not hearing rehabilitation, and despite a research industry of developing predictions, we should remember that there is not a direct relationship between measuring what you “can’t” hear, and auditory comfort with hearing aids.