In the current Chinese medical device industry, competition is extremely fierce, and many fields have become saturated, making it difficult to find new growth points or development space.

But this set of data shows that there is a huge resource gap in the intervention of hearing loss in the elderly population in China. According to the "China Elderly Hearing Loss and Hearing Aid Application Survey" released by Tmall Health, Beijing Hearing Association, and Sonova Group, there is one professional hearing service provider for every 90000 people in China, which is much lower than the United States (9000:1).

This huge gap not only reflects the scarcity of human resources allocation in this field in China, but also reflects the large scale of the population with hearing loss.

1. There are 120 million elderly people with hearing loss, and the wearing rate of hearing aids is less than 5%
Hearing loss is a severely underestimated issue in China.

According to the report "Research on Hearing Loss and Hearing Aid Application in the Elderly in China", the current population of elderly people with hearing loss in China has reached 120 million. As age increases, the risk of hearing loss significantly increases. After the age of 40, hearing loss decreases by an average of 1.5 decibels per year, and about one-third of people over the age of 65 have moderate to severe hearing loss.

Hearing loss not only affects speech communication ability, but also leads to a decline in emotional and social skills, increases the incidence of Alzheimer's disease, and reduces risk aversion. It is worth noting that the incidence of Alzheimer's disease in elderly people with mild, moderate, and severe hearing loss is 2 times, 3 times, and 5 times higher than that of elderly people with normal hearing, respectively.

Elderly people suffer from auditory and speech communication disorders due to their inability to hear, which can lead to psychological problems such as loneliness, anxiety, depression, and social isolation. Experts refer to this phenomenon as "deafness leading to autism". This phenomenon of autism not only affects the quality of life of the elderly, but also poses health risks to them.

The research report shows that there are "irreversible, late intervention, low attention, and limited resources" phenomena in hearing loss among the elderly population in China.

In the face of hearing loss in the elderly, timely intervention is key, and one of the most effective intervention methods is to wear hearing aids. The use of hearing aids can significantly improve the quality of life of patients with hearing loss, slow down the decline of thinking and memory functions, and reduce the risk of severe depression.

However, in the past five years, only 14% of people have undergone hearing tests, and the wearing rate of hearing aids in China is less than 5%, far lower than developed countries (the penetration rate of hearing aids in the UK and France is over 40%, while in the US it is about 27%).

2. The market share of online hearing aids has increased to 21%, with a greater emphasis on invisibility, comfort, and intelligence
Although the awareness of intervention for hearing problems urgently needs to be improved and the gap in professional talents cannot be filled overnight, the scale of the hearing aid industry is still steadily increasing year by year.

As a professional medical device, the hearing aid market is showing a trend of annual growth worldwide. In 2023, the global hearing aid market sales reached 9.81 billion US dollars, and it is expected to reach 15.21 billion US dollars by 2030, with a compound annual growth rate of 6.47%. In China, the size of the hearing aid market is also constantly expanding, reaching 6.661 billion yuan in 2023, a year-on-year increase of 2.6%.

With the development of technology, online remote fitting of hearing aids has become possible, providing a new path to solve the problem of hearing loss in the elderly population and bringing new increments to the industry scale. Research data shows that the market share of online hearing aids is expected to increase from 16% in 2021 to 21% in 2024, and the per capita purchase amount of hearing aids is also on an upward trend year by year. This trend indicates that online fitting is gradually being accepted by the market and is expected to become one of the mainstream hearing aid solutions.

According to the "Research on Hearing Loss and Hearing Aid Application among Elderly People in China", nearly 70% of online purchasing users are concentrated in the age group of 30-50, mostly purchased by their children for parents with hearing loss. Among users who have purchased hearing aids, the average daily wearing time is 6.7 hours, mainly used for mobile phone calls, family gatherings, and communication with children.

Research shows that the majority of users who choose online fitting believe that there are more options available online, fitting is more convenient, and there is no need to worry about resistance from the elderly. When choosing hearing aids, more emphasis will be placed on product features such as invisibility, comfort, and intelligence.

Of particular note is that the proportion of people who purchase hearing aids on online platforms choosing "sound amplifiers" has decreased from about 60% at the beginning of 2022 to about 15% today, and the proportion of fitting grade hearing aids has begun to rise.

Source: http://qixieke.com/Font/index/detailPage.html?id=3236-120