Quarterly hearing aid unit sales (2014-2019) with private/commercial sector sales shown in blue and VA dispensing activity shown in red.
According to statistics generated by the Hearing Industries Association (HIA), Washington, DC, hearing aid net unit sales in the United States increased by 2.5% during the first quarter (Q1) of 2019, totaling 1,000,653 units—the second time unit volume has ever exceeded 1 million in a quarter (the first time was in Q2 2018). Sales in the private/commercial sector increased by 1.5%, while dispensing activity at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), which made up 19% of the entire market, increased by 6.7%.
Last year, hearing aid sales rose by 5.7% in the first quarter, and 5.3% for the full year (for the private sector, 7.2% for the first quarter and 5.95% for the full year), so the Q1 sales statistics reflect a fairly strong base from the year before. In general, the market has been increasing by about 2-4% annually. (Click here for a review of 2018 US hearing aid sales.)
More than three-quarters (76.6%) of all hearing aids sold in the first quarter were receiver-in-the-canal (RIC/RITE) type devices, which are a sub-type of behind-the-ear (BTE) hearing aids‚ and 10.4% were traditional BTEs. Thus, BTE-style hearing aids made up 87% of the US market in the first quarter. In 2018, BTEs made up 85% of the total market, with RICs constituting 72.5% of all hearing aids dispensed.
