Hearing aid sales

Hearing aid sales recover from pandemic. Industry returns to stable growth.

After a noticeable drop of the hearing aid sales in the year 2020, global annual sales rebounded in 2021. In the last year, the members of EHIMA, who are the world’s largest and leading hearing instrument manufacturers, sold 18.79 million hearing aids in total. Compared to the previous year, sales figures increased by a full 33 percent.  This marks a return to the steady yearly growth seen before 2020, the highest sales figure ever recorded by EHIMA.

“This high growth figure counterbalances the pandemic-driven losses during the sales year 2020 and shows that the industry has demonstrated resilience in the past year. It is up to manufacturers to take advantage of the current momentum and translate the increased demand into stable growth. EHIMA remains committed to improve hearing care even further in the coming years”, says EHIMA President Eric Bernard.

Global Unit Sales:
2017: 15.05 million (+5.7%)
2018: 16.04 million (+6.6%)
2019: 17.06 million (+6.4%)
2020: 14.12 million (-17.2%)
2021: 18.79 million (+33.0%)
(Source: EHIMA data)

EHIMA expects that an increased awareness of hearing care in the coming years as the world’s population grows and ages. In the European Union alone, around 22.6 million people live with untreated, disabling hearing loss, leading to annual costs of 185 billion Euros. With hearing aids and hearing implants, EHIMA members offer high-quality and cost-effective solutions that help people with hearing loss reduce these risks, remain independent and participate fully in society well into old age.

Key Facts on Hearing Loss:

• 1 in 10 of the total EU population states a hearing loss.*
• Only 1 in 3 of the hard of hearing people uses hearing instruments.*
• Untreated hearing loss costs EU28 each year 185 billion €.**
• Hearing instruments help to reduce these costs.** 

Source:
*EuroTrak
**Bridget Shield (2019): Hearing Loss – Numbers and Costs, Brunel University London; both available at www.ehima.com

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