Statistics on hearing aid specialists and sales trends in France

The data were published recently by the French Office for Research, Studies, Evaluation and Statistics (DREES) and showed that the increase in the number of practitioners is constant over the last few years: 5.6% between 2015 and 2016, and 5.8% between 2014 and 2015. Importantly, the population in France is also growing but more slowly than the number of hearing aid specialists.

Geographically, there are significant differences between and within the various regions of the country. Paris and the wealthier areas of the South and South-East of the country have the highest density of hearing aid specialists with 8.5 to 9.6 practitioners per 100,000 population. Much of the rest of the country averages 5.0 professionals per 100,000 inhabitants. Only the suburbs north of Paris, certain northern regions, and a few rural areas are below this average. Nearly half of the professionals work in cities of more than 200,000 people.

Men and women account for almost equal proportions of hearing aid specialists in France, with a slight increase in the number of women joining the profession in the last few years. 3/4 of women in the profession work as in-house staff, while only 1/2 of the men work directly for a company. The average age in the profession is 42.4 years.

In terms of new recruits joining the profession, the country now has a quota system for the number of students to be admitted to professional training schools for hearing aid specialists, the numerus clausus. This year, the number remains unchanged at 200.

In parallel, the number of hearing aids sold in France has also increased, according to data reported by the country’s National Association of the Medical Technologies Industry (SNITEM). With 184,418 hearing aids sold, the market has grown by 5.3% compared to the second quarter of last year, at 175,107 hearing aids.

Source: Audio Infos France; DREES