2023 hearing industry preview
2022 has been a big year for hearing aids. With new technology moving into health and wearables, remote adjustments, advances in noisy environments and even some exciting new form factors, we thought it would be a fun exercise to sit down and crystal ball what we think 2023 is going to deliver next for the hearing industry.
Five biggest trends in 2023:
1. Hearing aids will keep evolving into wearable-type devices. This means more features, more functionality outside of traditional hearing. Features such as fall detection, lost hearing aid tracking, hands-free calling and much more is slowly becoming standard in all hearing aids and will accelerate into 2023.
2. Form factors will keep evolving. Hearing aid manufacturers are beginning to do a lot more work to understand hearing aid wearers better. This work is beginning to show in a range of unconventional hearing aid form factors beginning to appear in the market. Products such as the designer, jewellery styled Styletto AX and the Phonak Slim are just two examples of products designed to meet a younger and more modern demographic of hearing aid wearer. This is a very positive shift in that it not only makes hearing aids more aesthetically pleasing, but it also begins the process of breaking the stigma that hearing loss is something that only happens to elderly people, which is simply not the case.
3. The hearing care provider space will continue to split in two. The last few years Australia has had a huge consolidation of hearing clinics to the point where nearly 80% of the hearing clinic market is now owned and operated by manufacturers or large chains. With this seismic change in the industry, we have seen two types of hearing clinic emerge from this; budget providers, and high care hearing clinics, the two at present seem to be going in opposite directions with their business models with little to no overlap.
4. Remote care will get better and become easier to access. At present most hearing aids that connect via Bluetooth feature some kind of remote adjustment feature set. While in its infancy, we see this technology getting better and easier for both the client and the clinician to utilise in the coming months. Imagine being on holiday overseas and being able to get adjustments and changes to your hearing aid from your specialist through your phone. It is almost here!
5. Hearing aid prices will stabilise, maybe even slightly go down. The reason for this is that quite a few new hearing aid manufacturers are beginning to enter the market. Bose, Sony, Samsung to name a few. While their products might not be very good in the next few years while they catch up, this market pressure we except to see some downward pressure on the existing hearing aid manufacturers to address this and stay competitive in the marketplace. End result is good news for you!
Five best hearing aids going into 2023:
1. Signia - Pure 7AX. Why? Rechargeable and a brilliant all rounder device. One of the longest battery lives of any rechargeable device, this product also now comes with two-way hands-free calling. We expect this device to remain very popular into early 2023.
2. Phonak - Audeo Lumity 90. Why? In preview right now with our clients and officially released January 19th, we rate the Audeo Lumity 90 for its impressive feature set for dealing with speech in noisy environments. we also love the impressive new app that comes with this device on your phone. Plus, it is also rechargeable! We expect this to stay as Phonak's flagship product through 2023.
3. Starkey - Evolv 2400 AI. Why? The swiss army knife of the products on this list, the Evolv 2400 AI is the do it all hearing aid. Every feature you can think of, this product has it. It even has a feature called "mask-mode" to help you hear what people wearing masks are saying. Our particular favourite has to be fall detection though, now allowing your hearing aids to contact a family member in the event you have a serious fall.
4. Signia - Silk 7X. Why? Put simply, comfort and discretion. The Silk 7X is the only hearing aid on the market that is a completely in the canal device utilising the open fit protocol for maximum comfort. The small size also allows it to hide away in the ear for the perfect blend of comfort and discreetness.
5. Starkey - Evolv 2400 CIC with Bluetooth. Why? This product brings the feature set of its bigger brother the Evolv 2400 AI into a discreet in the ear product. It is also the smallest product on the market that has full Bluetooth functionality for two-way hands-free calling to mobile phones and much more.
More information on hearing aids can be found here.
So, there you have it, our predictions on the hot takes and hot products in the hearing industry as we move into 2023. We look forward to seeing how on the money we were with our predictions and how long these products will dominate 2023.