Hearing aid producers keep positive as final 2020 European sales figures confirm violent pandemic impact

That 2020 figure makes the efforts of the industry seem Sisyphean, the promise of the last five years dealt such a blow by Covid that everyone might be back to square one. But despite this unforeseen plunge—sales fell by 17.2 percent on 2019—the voice of the world's largest hearing aid manufacturers still chirps a bright song about the general picture.

EHIMA announced that it "expects that awareness of hearing care will continue to increase in the coming years as the world’s population grows and ages and as more and more people become aware of the correlation of hearing loss and critical health conditions." It remains to be seen, of course, how long it will take for annual hearing aid sales in Europe to climb back up to that 17.06 million units high of 2019. The industry will be hoping that there is no long Covid for the hearing health market.

EHIMA President Eric Bernard explained: "The hearing care market depends on close customer contact, which was often not possible or required special measures in the clinics and the audiology shops. Despite these challenges, EHIMA members did everything possible to meet the high demand for timely professional hearing care."

"Thanks to product innovation and the dedication of all employees working for the EHIMA companies, we have been and will continue to be able to successfully manage the impact of the pandemic on the industry”, continued Bernard.

The manufacturers who make up EHIMA develop, manufacture, and market hearing instruments on a large scale in one or more countries in Europe, as well as exporting their products worldwide.

Source: EHIMA