Although hearing aids do not look complicated, their research and development is not simple at all.

Digital hearing aids use nonlinear amplification to compress and limit loud sounds and amplify small sounds, making the processed sounds comfortable and clear.

To achieve this process, digital hearing aids use DSP digital signal processing chips, use digital technology to segment sound signals, and integrate adaptive noise reduction, acoustic feedback suppression, equalizers and other algorithms that can improve the performance of hearing aids, making the sound of hearing aids clearer and more capable of suppressing whistling.

Therefore, in the transformation process of digital hearing aids, the core technology threshold is indeed mainly concentrated in two key areas:

First, digital hearing aid chips. These chips are the heart of hearing aids, responsible for processing sound signal amplification, filtering, digital processing, etc. They need to have the characteristics of high speed, low power consumption and high integration to ensure the performance and battery life of hearing aids.

Second, algorithms. In order to realize the various functions of hearing aids, such as noise suppression, feedback control, directional microphone processing, frequency compensation, etc., complex algorithm support is required. These algorithms must be able to intelligently adjust the sound processing method to adapt to the hearing loss of different users and environmental noise conditions.

It can be said that technological progress in these two fields directly affects the performance and user experience of hearing aids. Unfortunately, domestic companies have mainly focused on OEM before, so there are not many companies that have made breakthroughs in these two fields.

In addition, the professional offline fitting channels of hearing aids have also become a shortcoming that domestic companies need to make up.

Unlike conventional equipment such as blood pressure monitors, traditional hearing aid sales are mainly sold in offline specialty stores. Professional fitters use professional hearing aid selection equipment to help hearing-impaired people choose hearing aids suitable for individuals based on their hearing loss status and self-needs, and provide solutions for hearing-impaired people to use hearing aids and rehabilitation in the later stage. After purchasing hearing aids, hearing-impaired people can also repair and maintain hearing aids in offline specialty stores as needed.

At present, the six first-line brands of hearing aids include ReSound, Fengli, Signia, Oticon, Widex, Starkey, etc., all of which are mainly high-end digital machines and customized models, and mainly focus on offline professional fitting sales models. The process for end consumers to access the product is relatively complicated. In other words, the offline fitting channel advantage of the hearing aid category is also another core factor for the giants to consolidate their advantages.

It is precisely because of this that, under the constraints of various factors, hearing aids have become one of the areas that are stuck.

Product technology and channel advantages have made the global hearing aid market a monopoly of giants. IDATE data shows that in 2023, the five major groups will occupy about 96% of the global digital hearing aid market share; specifically in the domestic market, nearly 90% of the share is occupied by international giants.

Despite this, domestic companies surviving in the cracks have not given up the opportunity to break the monopoly of giants.

For example, Jinhao Medical, which mainly engages in foundry, is also developing its own chips. In 2022, its subsidiary Xinhailing successfully mass-produced its self-developed chips and has received the first batch of mass-produced chips delivered by the foundry.

Even United Imaging Medical, which focuses on imaging, has entered this field, and its core advantage lies in chips. Based on its original business advantages, United Imaging Medical is the only company in China that independently develops high-end medical chips. Its general-purpose chips have strong scalability and can be applied to hearing, physiological signal detection and other fields.

Not only medical companies but also Internet companies such as Tencent, Xiaomi, and iFlytek have entered the hearing aid track. The advantage of these companies lies in algorithms.

At the beginning of 2023, iFlytek launched the iFlytek Smart Hearing Aid Premium Edition. The newly launched premium version has a 40dB gain upgrade for people with moderate to severe hearing loss.

In addition, capital is also accelerating its layout, and some new generation companies are accelerating their rise. Boyin Hearing, Zhiting Technology, Aiting Technology and other companies have successively received financing.

This is not difficult to understand. From the current market situation, there are two clear growth logics in the hearing aid market.

First, it is the logic of increasing domestic market penetration. As for overseas, compared with developing countries, people with hearing impairment in developed countries in Europe and America have a more advanced concept of wearing and using hearing aids. According to EuroTrak data, in 2018, the penetration rate of hearing aids in most European countries exceeded 20%, including the United Kingdom, France and other places, which exceeded 40%; the penetration rate of hearing aids in Japan also reached 14.4%.

In terms of the current economic development status and the understanding of hearing aids, there are significant deficiencies in China, which leads to a penetration rate of less than 5% in China. In other words, with the increase in the penetration rate of the domestic hearing aid market, it may bring good growth.

Secondly, it is the logic of domestic substitution. As mentioned above, domestic companies are missing in the hearing aid market, but as the saying goes, the gap is also the driving force for progress.

Perhaps, in the future, hearing aid giants will emerge in China.

Of course, the development of hearing aids today is no longer a simple competition of technology and sales logic, but a competition of user understanding logic.

The core reason is that hearing aids have evolved from simple medical products to consumer products that meet user needs.

Due to the improvement of hearing aid production technology, the functions of hearing aid products have been greatly enriched.

On the one hand, with the advancement of hearing aid product chips, algorithms and other technologies, hearing aids not only serve as hearing impairment rehabilitation equipment and meet basic sound amplification needs, but also have multiple functions such as memory and recoding capabilities, and can even achieve cochlear-like performance such as noise reduction, sound source directional positioning, and sound quality positioning;

On the other hand, due to the widespread application of modern smart electronic devices, hearing aids themselves can be connected to other smart electronic terminal devices through the Internet to achieve data interoperability and multi-scenario applications, and can also add auxiliary functions such as testing ear temperature and heart rate.

In other words, multi-attribute fusion has become an important direction for the development of current smart wearable devices. For example, smart bracelets and watches equipped with blood sugar, blood pressure, heart rate monitoring, sleep management and other functions; while OTC hearing aids start from the medical level and give them more entertainment consumption attributes in addition to meeting the core requirements of hearing assistance.

For example, Sennheiser launched two OTC hearing aids, All-Day Clear and All-Day Clear Slim, in June 2023. The TWS shape can reduce the psychological pressure of hearing-impaired people when wearing them. The intelligent scene detection function can amplify the volume of voice in different environments, and can also be used as headphones to listen to music.

However, the more product functions, the better. With the popularization of hearing knowledge and people's pursuit of a higher quality of life, different hearing-impaired people will choose hearing aid products with different technical parameters or types according to their own hearing conditions, demand application scenarios, economic capabilities and other factors, thus generating a large number of personalized needs.

Popular hearing aid products and personalized customized machines will exist at the same time to meet the needs and preferences of a wide range of different types of users. This also means that companies need to understand user needs and formulate product positioning from a higher dimension.

To put it bluntly, hearing aids are important in martial arts, but the core may be "ideas".

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