UK hearing aid market: a sixth year of growth
MARKET
The British Hearing AidManufacturers Association(BHAMA) sales data for thefirst three months of 2016once again show good growthover the previous year.
Thetotal market, from Januaryto March 2016, increased by4% compared to 2015, with386,386 units shipped duringthe three months. This is thesixth year in succession that the UK market shows a substantialincrease in the first quarter.
Audiology departments in the UK purchased 311,595 hearing aidsduring January, February and March, an increase of 2.8% on theprevious year.
In the private sector 74,791 hearing instruments were sold duringthe same period, which represents a 9.6% increase. BTEs are thebiggest seller in the private sector – taking 69% market share. Of the51,417 BTEs sold to private hearing aid dispensers, 45,650 were RICproducts. RIC sales increased by 16% from Q1 2015 and now accountfor 61% of all products purchased privately. 23,374 In-the-ear (ITE)products were bought by the private sector; down 0.3% on 2015.
Figures are compiled by the British Hearing Aid Manufacturers Association. The Association currently comprises nine companies – Bernafon UK,GN ReSound, Oticon, Phonak, Sivantos Hearing Instruments, Starkey Laboratories, Unitron Hearing and Widex – that compete to supply hearingaids to both the independent retail and public sectors.
