The British and Irish Hearing Instrument Manufacturers Association (BIHIMA) announced the release of its Q3 2020 results of members’ unit sales, providing “insight into how the UK and Irish hearing aid market is recovering from the effects of lockdown.” According to BIHIMA’s announcement, the latest UK and Irish hearing instrument Q3 data shows that “the private hearing instrument market is recovering well, with the National Health Service market [the largest hearing aid purchaser in the world] picking up at a slower rate.”

BIHIMA says that the “NHS recovery has started, with 195,551 units sold—up from 52,142 in Q2—but is still slow,” with Q3 down 48.6% on Q3 2019 and down 50.1% on the year to date (YTD). The UK private market has “recovered well following lockdown and is showing growth in Q3” with units up 13.6% on Q3 last year, but it is still down 26.3% YTD. Ireland has “bounced back more quickly than the UK,” with Q3 up 14.4% on Q3 2019 and figures are down by only 12.8% YTD.

Related article: US Hearing Aid Sales Rebound Strongly in Third Quarter 2020

The UK/Irish third-quarter 2020 results are similar to those in the United States, where the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) still saw a decrease of 34.5% in units dispensed while the private/commercial market increased by 0.5%, according to statistics generated by the Hearing Industries Association (HIA). Overall, the US market was down by 6.5% in the third quarter, but represented a strong recovery after a 58.6% decline in the second quarter.

BIHIMA also tracks the trends in the styles of technology selected by patients in the private sector. There has been an increase in sales of ITE (In-the-Ear) custom aids at 16.5% compared to 10.5% in Q3 2019. The demand for CIC (Completely-in-the-Canal) and IIC (Invisible-In-the-Canal) custom aids has fallen this year, with sales in Q3 at 5.3% compared with 10.1% in Q3 2019: this follows a trend we saw emerging in Q1, BIHIMA says.

“Our industry is recovering from the effects of lockdown, but the impact on figures due to reduction in activity and continued restrictions remains, especially in the NHS. Ireland and the UK private market have shown significant growth—we hope to see this continue into Q4 and predict NHS numbers will increase further as the pressures of the pandemic ease,“ said BIHIMA chairman, Paul Surridge.

Download the full market data results here. In its role as the voice for the hearing technology industry, BIHIMA regularly monitors the market and releases the results of its members every quarter. To keep up to date with the latest market information sign up to receive BIHIMA’s quarterly results here

Source: BIHIMA
Image: BIHIMA