关于助听器市场销售的调查分析
转载Augusdi 最后发布于2013-10-13 23:48:20 阅读数 2878  收藏
展开



              ----耳带助听器
 
一、世界助听器市场情况简述
（一）世界助听器市场情况
目前，世界助听器市场年销售7-800万台左右，销售额近100亿美元，世界助听器市场销售主要集中在美国、德国、英国等发达国家，其中，美国助听器市场销售占全球市场的40%左右。与世界其它销售市场一样，由于受2008年开始的金融危机影响，世界和美国的市场销售量均有所下降。
（二）世界助听器主要生产商
目前，全球排名靠前的6家助听器生产企业是：德国西门子、瑞士峰力（Ph0nak）、丹麦瑞声达（GN Resound）、丹麦奥迪康、丹麦唯听、美国斯达克（Starkey），这6家企业都已经进入中国市场，像美国斯达克、丹麦瑞声达，已经分别在南京和厦门建立了大型助听器生产基地。另外，还有国外一些二线品牌企业，如加拿大的优利康、丽声等也开始进入中国市场销售；
二、国内助听器市场情况分析
（一）目前，我国助听器行业的基本情况
1、我国助听器行业的发展概况
（1）我国助听器行业的发展，起步晚，发展速度快，尤其是在验配点和销售数量的增长速度方面，均遥遥领先于世界平均发展水平，所以，世界主要跨国公司纷纷将制造基地扎根中国，或合作、或独资建厂，在很大程度上促进了我国助听器行业的快速发展。
（2）数字助听器目前已经基本取代了传统的模拟助听器技术。
（3）国内内资助听器企业的发展严重萎缩，国产产品在国内的市场销售举步维艰，国外产品或中外合资企业产品的市场份额超过九成以上；
（4）我国助听器行业发展与市场销售出现了一些新动向，几百近千元的国产助听器少人问津，上万元的洋助听器却非常畅销，国外助听器产品纷纷放弃庞大的老年人市场，面向儿童的几万元的高端产品一直风头不减，儿童的高端产品已经占据助听器销售市场的大半江山；
（5）相对于我国的智残人口数量，和每年的助听器20万左右的销售量，总体来看，助听器的使用率仍然很低，市场潜力很大。
2、我国助听器行业的主要生产企业及生产经营情况、主要产品与技术情况
目前，我国的助听器生产企业主要以中外合资为主，主要的生产企业及经营情况有：
（1）奥迪康（上海、南京）听力技术有限公司，是世界上最早生产助听器的生产厂家丹麦奥迪康国际听力集团进入中国设立的公司，员工近2000人，年营业额数亿人民币；
（2）西门子1995年在中国设立的力斯顿（苏州）听力技术有限公司，员工200余人，年营业额3000万元人民币；
（3）厦门新声科技有限公司，国内最大的内资企业，产品出口，年营业额近亿元人民币；
（4）其他一些规模比较大的外资公司还有：瑞声达听力技术（中国）有限公司、斯达克听力技术（苏州）有限公司、峰力（中国）听力技术有限公司、唯听助听器（上海）有限公司、丽声助听器（福州）有限公司。
 
（二）国内助听器市场情况分析
1、基本情况
目前世界助听器市场年销售规模在7-800万台左右，其主要集中在发达国家，中国的优质助听器销售仅占全球3%的市场份额，年销售额20万台左右。与成熟市场相比，中国目前有182.5万听障患者具有使用助听器的意愿，但没有实现，中国助听器市场潜力较大，但国外产品占90%以上。
目前我国形成江苏和在厦门两在助听器生基地，全球排名靠前的6家助听器生产企业都已进入中国市场，这些企业包括德国西门子、瑞士峰力、丹麦瑞声达、丹麦奥迪康、丹麦唯听、美国斯达克等。有数据显示，2008年受全球金融危机影响，中国助听器产品出口数量同比下降了12%左右。
2、助听器事业逐步步入高速发展阶段
改革开放的三十年，极大的加速了我国助听器事业的发展速度，尤其是在验配点和销售数量的增长速度方面，恐怕遥遥领先于世界平均发展水平。这也是为什么世界主要跨国公司纷纷将制造基地扎根中国的原因之一。我国自20世60年代正式开始制造助听器，1979年开始正式验配助听器。其后，各大跨国企业纷纷以各种形式进入中国，并大多在大陆地区成立了独资企业和生产基地。苏州、上海和厦门无疑成了世界助听器加工的主要场所（其中三家是其全球最大和最重要的生产基地）。激烈的竞争迫使制造商几乎与国际同步介绍其尖端产品到中国大陆，有时也特别生产适合于发展中国家的低端产品，其服务水平也一步步接近国际水准。同时，我国针对生产企业采用了与国际接轨的审核和验证制度。这些跨国公司在销售自己产品的同时，也举办了大量的培训班，弥补了国家机构培训力量不足的情况。同时，多数企业与政府合作，近年来积极参与慈善捐赠活动和全民爱耳护耳宣传活动。
3、助听器零售快速发展，验配技术水平参差不齐
在零售方面，全国预估有4000多家验配店（点），现在一个大城市几十家甚至上百家专卖店（中心）已经随处可见，县城里也有验配中心了。虽然这些机构几乎都拥有合法的经营执照，但是验配技术水平差距巨大。2008年全国验配的助听器总数大约 30～40万个（2004年约为25万个），这在全球都是一个不小的数量。近十年来总量的年增长百分比略快于国家GDP的增长速度。约有7%～10%的听障患者使用了助听器，这比十年前的2%可以说有了较大进步。但是单耳佩戴、使用盒式或低端模拟助听器的比例还是相当高。验配的助听器总量约70%～80% 来自于私人机构，总量的50%左右来自于没有形成规模的私人店面。助听器验配的价格档次、患者接受的程度存在着严重的地域差别。在大中城市，老年性聋患者多使用3000～5000元左右的产品，而儿童使用多在5000元以上且常常为双耳佩戴。儿童接受干预和康复治疗的时间越来越提前，错误接受“治疗”的患儿越来越少。但是部分儿童家长因为心理原因常常选择功率不够的定制式产品，导致康复效果受限。即便是正在工作的成年人，现在也越来越多的接受使用助听器（尽管对外观要求很高常常选择定制式产品）。这些要得益于我国经济发展、“爱耳日”宣传和儿童听力筛查的进一步普及等因素。
4、我国助听器事业发展市场潜力巨大
由于我国助听器事业的飞速发展，使大多数听障者可以就近接受先进的产品服务，使他们走出了残障的阴影。但是，因为发展速度太快，才需要我们冷静想一想如何更好、更快的发展。因为，即便是几十万的验配量与我们2780万残疾听障人士相比也有巨大差距。也就是说绝大多数需要助听器者，仍然因为各种原因没有得到他们应该得到的服务。
5、我国助听器市场发展所面临的问题
（1）价廉物美与推行助听器验配制度的矛盾
我国出台的助听器验配师制度，是在国家政策层面为我国助听器市场发展提供了保障，助听器验配康复是一项高科技的人性化服务，应该大力推广，作为生产企业和验配机构，应该多多研究和实施如何让患者听得清楚和维修方便的方案，应该让患者切实体会到是在为他们的生活质量服务。问题是，每个消费者都喜欢价廉物美的产品，这与国家推行助听器验配康复制度是矛盾的，如何协调？
（2）缺乏听力教育，更缺乏专业人士
我国的验配师制度最近几年才刚刚起步，同样我们的听力学教育也起步不过十几年，因此，我国不仅听力教育缺乏，听力方面的专业人士更加缺乏。对助听器市场的正常发展都是极为不利的。
（3）市场服务缺乏品牌
目前，在全国的4000余家助听器选配机构中，超过半数以上属于私营的验配店。虽然有几间较大的连锁店，但是真正形成品牌优势的不多。
在美国助听器验配患者会选择验配店和验配师，而不是哪个品牌的助听器。
在中国，患者看病选择的是医院或知名专家，而不在意医院使用的是否是进口药或者用的是否是国外医疗器械。而我国目前患者选择助听器常常首先询问是否是进口品牌或听说某某品牌很好等等。另外，各地聋儿康复中心也大多开展了验配工作，但是并未形成一个全国统一的服务品牌效应。而医院的验配也常常仅限于医院内部。因此，建立服务品牌也是市场发展的方向。
（4）市场品牌宣传没有做到实事求是

人耳的听损情况分为三种：传导性耳聋、感音神经性耳聋以及混合性耳聋，但是如何区分这三种耳聋以及他们各有什么特点呢？
1、传导性耳聋的产生机理：存在于外耳或中耳，声音在抵达内耳之前的振动受到阻碍，内耳功能正常，但因为刺激弱而不能产生神经冲动，大多数可以治疗。
纯音测听显示：骨导正常，气导较差，且气导骨导之差大于10dB。
传导性耳聋产生的原因是：外耳道堵塞性病变：外耳道耵聍栓塞、异物、闭锁或肿瘤，骨膜穿孔：由炎症、异物、或爆破声、或扇耳光引起，听骨链固定：大声、扇耳光、交通事故等，中耳炎症：鼓膜炎、分泌性中耳炎、化脓性中耳炎。
传导性耳聋的解决办法：可以到医院进行鼓膜修补、分泌性中耳炎治疗，如治疗效果不好建议选配助听器。
2、感音神经性耳聋的产生机理：发生在内耳、听神经、大脑皮层，占听力损失的95%，主要表现由于衰老、噪音损伤或疾病引起。（内耳的毛细胞、神经等受损）
纯音测听显示：气导、骨导均下降，两者间差距小于10dB。
感音神经性耳聋产生的原因：感音性聋——（耳蜗损伤）耳蜗毛细胞出现损伤或坏死，如噪声性聋、药物性聋。神经性聋——（听神经损伤）由于听神经及其以后的部位病变。中枢性聋——（脑干和大脑皮层病变）可以由于脑肿瘤、脑外伤等引起。
感音神经性耳聋的解决办法：感音性聋和神经性聋通过医疗手段几乎是不可能治愈的，正确的选配助听器是首选的有效途径；中枢性聋选配助听器时要注意使用者的言语识别率。
3、混合性耳聋的产生机理：传导性耳聋和感音神经性耳聋同时存在。
纯音测听显示：气导和骨导都不正常，且气导与骨导之差大于10dB。
混合性耳聋的解决办法：首选助听器。

Hearing Aid of the Future
SAR prof’s new technology could help people hear by looking

Sargent research engineer Sylvain Favrot wears the portable eye-tracker component of the visually guided hearing aid (VGHA) developed by Professor Gerald Kidd and other researchers. Photo by Cydney Scott


The White Stripes is one of Erick Gallun’s favorite bands. But years before the rock duo split in 2011, he’d stopped going to see them. Gallun recalls his last, ill-fated attempt, when he was a postdoctoral fellow at BU and the band was performing in a New Hampshire hockey rink. His wife had a great time, but for Gallun, who is deaf in one ear, the experience was a bust. His right ear couldn’t filter out the reverberations in the rink, making the event about as frustrating as a feedback-riddled cell phone conversation. “The concert was essentially ruined,” he says.
Although Gallun didn’t have a hearing aid then, he says he doubts the one he’s using now would have made much difference. But in 2012, he tested a device he believes could get him back into the rock music scene: the visually guided hearing aid (VGHA), being developed by a Sargent College professor.
The VGHA can approximate or even surpass the normal human ear’s ability to choose what to tune into and what to ignore. It does this by making two preexisting technologies—an eye-tracker and an acoustic beam–forming microphone array—work together to counter some of the problems in typical hearing aids. Right now, the VGHA is a lab-based prototype whose components connect via computers and other equipment, but with further development, it could become a pair of portable hearing aid glasses.
Gerald Kidd says typical hearing aids sometimes fail to offer help for people with hearing loss in noisy environments because they amplify everything. Photo by Chitose Suzuki
Gerald Kidd, a SAR professor of speech, language, and hearing sciences and a specialist in psychoacoustics (the study of the perception of sound), came up with the idea for the VGHA in 2011. He’s now put it together at SAR’s Sound Field Laboratory with the help of an international research team and grants from the National Institutes of Health. Kidd believes that his team, which includes Sylvain Favrot, a research engineer in the SAR speech, language, and hearing sciences department, and staff at Sensimetrics Corporation of Malden, Mass., is the first to integrate these two technologies. And the test results are impressive: no other hearing aid, Kidd says, can do what this device can.
The VGHA is the latest advance in Kidd’s work to solve “the cocktail party problem,” where people with hearing loss struggle to follow conversations in noisy environments. It’s a big issue: nearly 20 percent of Americans age 12 or older have hearing loss severe enough to make communication difficult, Johns Hopkins Medicine reported in 2011. Typical hearing aids may not help much in some situations, Kidd says—they amplify everything, even those voices and sounds you want to tune out. One hearing aid in development tries to fix this by using the wearer’s head movements to guide the aid’s microphones. But this can tire the user, he says, and it’s relatively slow: we can’t turn our heads as quickly as we turn our attention. The VGHA addresses these problems by using eye movement (which is quicker than head movement) to steer the aid’s microphones, “like an acoustic flashlight that you’re shining on what you want to listen to,” Kidd says.
Gallun, now a research investigator at the National Center for Rehabilitative Auditory Research, tested the VGHA as a consultant on the project—with exciting results. Sitting in a listening booth at Sargent wearing the VGHA’s eye-tracking component—Mobile Eye-XG—he listened to recorded voices speaking from slightly different directions. He was to pick out what one particular voice was saying—no easy feat with impaired hearing, given that all the voices were speaking at once. But by looking in the direction of his cue, he “told” the eye-tracker to make the VGHA’s microphone component amplify the voice he wanted, helping him hear what it was saying. “I’ll take two!” Gallun enthused to the team. He’s excited about the VGHA’s potential not only for himself, but also for the veterans he works with at the Portland Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Oregon, many hearing-impaired from exposure to blasts.
Although the VGHA is still a prototype and needs further testing, Kidd hopes enthusiasm for the technology will propel its development. Interested hearing aid companies, he says, could make the device wearable and attractive. Kidd and Favrot also speculate that the VGHA could piggyback on emerging technologies like Google Glass—lightweight glasses whose capabilities range from projecting driving directions to responding to voice commands.
Whenever the VGHA reaches consumers, you can expect Gallun to get his hands on one. All he’ll need then is a White Stripes reunion.
This article was originally published in the 2013–2014 issue of Inside Sargent.
Julie Rattey can be reached at jrattey@bu.edu.


source from:  http://www.bu.edu/articles/2014/hearing-...the-future

Timeline of a hearing aid: from concept to completion
Contributed by Debbie Clason, staff writer, Healthy Hearing
February 24, 2016
Many hearing aids fit almost invisibly in the ear canal. Can you spot the narrow tubing in this picture?

Hearing aids have come a long way from the ear trumpets and large, box-shaped instruments previous generations used to amplify sound in their environment. Today, hearing devices are small enough to fit almost invisibly inside the ear canal while still containing technology so advanced it can distinguish speech from background noise and work compatibly with other technology you use on a daily basis.
How long does it take to make hearing aid? From concept to completion, the process can take more than ten years and involve as many as 500 engineers, consumers, hearing healthcare professionals and retailers – all of whom are focused on creating usable instruments which will enhance quality of life for those who wear them.
1. Research and development
Developing a new, high-end product can involve 200-300 people over a period of three to four years, especially when the manufacturer is introducing a new platform and design but all hearing devices begin as an idea. Many of them come from people just like you – individuals with hearing loss who want to hear well in every listening situation. You tell your hearing healthcare professional what your hearing challenges are and they relay that information back to the hearing aid companies.
Ideas for new hearing aid designs also come from hearing health professionals and retailers, as well as from the latest technology. Once hearing aid companies understand what challenges users are facing, they begin the process of manufacturing a solution.
“Technology is changing all the time. So is the concept of aging,” Mandy Mroz, Digital Director for Healthy Hearing said. “Today’s 65 year-olds don’t consider themselves old. Consumers are very engaged in health and hearing health and have high expectations. That’s a new type of patient for the hearing health professional.”
For example, cell phone technology prompted companies to develop devices which can be controlled with smart phone applications. The goal was to develop user-friendly devices which are easy for the young – and the young at heart – to use on a daily basis.
If the technology doesn’t exist, development is the most time consuming part of the process. For example, one of the biggest complaints current hearing aid users have is the ability to distinguish voices from other background noise. In 2013, researchers at Ohio State University found a way to break sound into units of either speech or noise, then discard the noise. Dr. Eric Healy, a professor of Speech and Hearing Science at OSU who worked on the new technology, said he hopes the technology will be on the market within the next 10 years.
2. Testing
Prototypes with new technology must undergo clinical testing in order to gauge its effectiveness. Companies give their data to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in order to secure permission to market it to consumers. That’s because hearing aids are classified as medical devices and must meet strict guidelines.
For example, the FDA recently allowed marketing of a new hearing aid that uses a laser diode and direct vibration of the eardrum to amplify sound. The EarLens Contact Hearing Device (CHD), manufactured by EarLens Corporation of Menlo Park, California, is designed for use by adults with mild to severe sensorineural hearing impairment. The CHD uses the user’s own eardrum as a speaker and enables amplification over a wider range of frequencies.
Another example of new technology currently in the testing phase comes from researchers at the University of Stirling in Scotland who are currently working on a hearing device that will contain a miniaturized camera that can lip-read, process the visual information in real time, and help the user seamlessly switch between audio and visual cues. The researchers expect the new software will enhance communication for users in difficult listening environments, such as noisy restaurants or public transportation venues like airports and train stations.
The concept is one that Gerald Kidd, a professor of speech, language and hearing sciences and specialist in psychoacoustics at Sargent College at Boston University, has been working on since 2011.
A prototype of Kidd’s VGHA device has been in the testing phase since late 2014. He’s hoping hearing aid manufacturers will become interested enough in the device’s potential to make it wearable.
3. Design and manufacturing
Once the technology has been tested and approved by the FDA, engineers must collaborate on design and manufacturing. Although the components themselves may not be expensive, making them fit into attractive, wearable devices can be tricky. Today’s consumer prefers inconspicuous devices which work unobtrusively in the background and won’t interfere with their active lifestyles.
Some manufactures have their own production facilities because the devices require such specific skills and equipment to make that it’s difficult to outsource them. Large production facilities can produce as many as several thousand instruments every week.
4. Education
It’s no secret that hearing aid technology has changed dramatically in the last 50 years. Not long ago, hearing healthcare professionals used screw drivers to manually adjust their patient’s hearing devices. Today, digital hearing aids are accurately programmed from a computer and customized to each patient’s specific hearing loss and lifestyle.
That’s exciting for consumers with hearing loss, but it means hearing healthcare professionals must be constantly learning about new devices are on the market to understand how to fit them for the best possible results.
5. Distribution
Finally, the device is ready to offer to the general public. Many of the big companies, such as Oticon, Starkey, and Widex, only supply their products to hearing healthcare professionals who directly fit and sell to patients they see in person. That’s because research indicates individuals will have more success wearing their hearing aids if hearing loss has been correctly diagnosed, patients have been carefully counseled and the hearing aid has been properly fit and adjusted.
What does all of this mean? Although making a hearing device is a time-consuming process, the consumer can be assured the hearing devices they receive from qualified, licensed hearing healthcare professionals have been thoroughly researched, manufactured, tested and FDA approved. Although the process may take as many as ten years, the successful result it provides for those with hearing loss is worth the wait. 






Orignal article from:

https://www.healthyhearing.com/report/52...completion

Debbie Clason, staff writer, Healthy Hearing

Debbie Clason holds a master's degree from Indiana University. Her impressive client list includes financial institutions, real estate developers, physicians, pharmacists and nonprofit organizations. Read more about Debbie.

Hearing aids have come a long way since the weird and wonderful vacuum tube contraptions of the 1800s, but it’s only within the last few decades that a truly transformative wave of fashionable, functional devices have started to appear. But how did this happen? Medical Technology takes a look back at the history of digital hearing aids, from the first devices of the 1990s to the innovative AI-powered technologies of the present day.






1995 – Oticon develops the first digital hearing aid
Oticon introduced the JUMP-1 digital hearing aid platform, the world’s first digital hearing aid device. The devices were offered to 14 approved audiological centres worldwide, to enable them to develop their own digital solutions for hearing impaired patients. The behind the ear (BTE) device supported software which allowed reprogramming, and attempted to utilise different signal-processing systems over extended periods of time, to allow for normal daily use. The dame technology was used in Oticon’s first commercially available hearing aid, the DigiFocus, which was brought to the market the next year.
1996 – Widex makes the first digital hearing aid for commercial use
Widex’s Senso was the first digital hearing aid to be fully commercialised. The Senso boasted fully-automatic digital adjustment, with the user needing only to choose whether to activate the microphone or telecoil input. Everything else was adjusted automatically, meaning unwanted noise could be efficiently filtered out. Senso was fitted to the needs of an individual user by their clinician, and had its own built-in audiometer.
Widex sold 100,000 of the Senso just six months after their launch. A survey by Bergen University Hospital established that Senso users found it easier to understand speech in noisy surroundings than users of other devices, a problem many manufactures had struggled with for years. The survey also found that Senso users kept their aids in for more hours of the day than users of other hearing aids.
2001 – Oticon employs voice-targeting technology
Oticon began to use the VoiceFinder speech processing system in its Adapto hearing aid. VoiceFinder allowed fully prescribed amplification when speech was present, but dialled down to ‘comfort mode’ when no one was talking. This meant Adapto was able to optimise a user’s understanding of speech without simply increasing volume and leaving them overwhelmed with other sounds, as well as decreasing feedback and distortion when listening to their own voice.
2004 – Oticon Syncro becomes the first aid to utilise AI for processing
Artificial intelligence (AI) reached hearing aid technology in 2004, when the Oticon Syncro began to use AI to in its voice priority processing (VPP) system. This system was able to take the aid’s Multi-band Adaptive Directionality, Tri-State Noise Reduction and Voice Aligned Compression to the next level.
Prior to Syncro, features such as directional microphones, noise reduction and feedback cancellation could struggle to function in unpredictable sound environments such as busy streets, office settings and crowded restaurants. However, using the AI VPP, Syncro was able to process different combinations of its unique features in parallel to select the specific combination that gave the clearest signal at a given point in time.
2005 – Bluetooth wireless technology is introduced to hearing aids
Starkey Laboratories introduced the ELI device, enabling hearing aids to be compatible with Bluetooth-enabled mobile phones for the first time. Named by Time magazine as one of the best inventions of the year
The device was designed to plug into the bottom of behind-the-ear hearing aids and route calls directly from the phone through ELI and into the aid. For users of other type of hearing aid, the ELI device could be work on a necklace and linked to the hearing aid via analog wireless.
2010 – Widex releases the first hearing aid designed for babies
Widex released the BABY 440 hearing aid, the first digital aid specifically designed for babies. Set up to provide high quality sound to infants with minimal to moderate-severe hearing loss, the aid’s miniature size and light but tough materials meant it fit comfortably and securely in small ears.
2014 – GN ReSound launches the first Made-for-iPhone hearing aids
The ReSound LiNX and corresponding Beltone First were the world’s first Made-for-iPhone (MFi) hearing aids. As well as being powerful enough to address 90% of hearing losses, the devices’ MFi connectivity allowed direct streaming of sounds from iPhone, iPad and iPod products, allowing users to treat their aids are wireless headphones or to talk on the phone without the need for an intermediary device.
The ReSound Smart app designed to accompany the devices allowed users to set preferred volume levels and treble/bass settings for the audio streamed into their hearing aids, as well as use geotagging to adjust the aids’ settings to the acoustics of frequently-visited places like home, work and favourite restaurants. The app also featured a geotagging function to help users locate their hearing aids if misplaced.
2016 – IoT enabled hearing aids reach consumers
The Oticon Opn is the first Internet of Things (IoT) enabled hearing aid, which could be programmed to communicate directly with a range of connected devices such as doorbells, smoke detectors and baby alarms through its If This Then That (IFTTT) technology. This enables a sound such as a spoken notification or chime to be delivered through the hearing aids when these devices are triggered, ensuring the users’ hearing loss doesn’t mean they miss vital notifications from the devices.
The Opn does this using a patented dual communication system called TwinLink that combines binaural processing with streamer-free internet connectivity, without compromising battery life or physical size.
2019 – Starkey launches sophisticated AI-powered health monitoring aid
The Livio AI hearing aid is the first ever to use integrated sensors and AI to monitor the user’s health. Through the accompanying Thrive app, Livio AI hearing aids use accelerometers and gyroscopes to track the wearer’s physical and mental health for an overall daily wellness score.
Ideal for elderly and frail aid users, these sensors can detect when a fall occurs and send a text message to up to three emergency contacts, using AI to detect what is an isn’t within the normal range of motion for the user to avoid any false alarms.













the original link : https://www.medicaldevice-network.com/fe...d-history/

助听器(Hearing Aid)是一种供聋人使用的、补偿听力损失的小型扩音设备，其发展历史可以分为以下七个时代:手掌集音时代、炭精时代、真空管、晶体管、集成电路、微处理器和数字助听器时代。


人类最早、最实用的“助听器”可能是聋人自己的手掌。将手掌放在耳朵边形成半圆形喇叭状，可以很好地收集声音。虽然这种方法的增益效果仅为3dB左右，而且也不是现代意义上的助听器，但是，这是最自然的助听方法。直到现在仍然可以看到一些老年人在倾听别人讲话时用手掌来集音的情况。许多哺乳动物都有硕大的耳朵，所以它们的听力比人要好得多。

受到手掌集音的启发，一些有心人先后发明了各种形状的、简单的机械装置，如象嗽叭或螺号一样的“耳喇叭”，木制的“听板”、“听管”，象帽子和瓶子一样的“听帽”、“听瓶”，象扇子和动物翅膀一样的“耳扇翼”，以及很长的象听诊器一样的“讲话管”，等等。由于人们认为听管越长集音效果越好，所以有的听管竟长达几十厘米，甚至一米多。听别人讲话时用手拿着听管伸到别人的嘴边，样子滑稽可笑，但却使聋人提高了听力。同时，也提醒讲话者尽量大声讲话。这种简单的机械助听装置一直使用了几百年，直到十九世纪，才逐渐被炭精电话式助听器取代。

1878年，美国科学家Bell发明了第一台炭精式助听器。这种助听器是由炭精传声器、耳机、电池、电线等部件组装而成。

1890年，奥地利科学家Ferdinant Alt制备出了第一代电子管助听器。

1904年，丹麦人Hans Demant与美国人Resse Hutchison共同投资批量生产助听器。到二十世纪40年代，已经有气导和骨导两种类型的助听器了。这个时期的助听器在技术上已经有了较大的发展和提高，虽然能够满足一些聋人的需要，但是，还有许多缺点，如噪声太大，体积笨重如17寸电视机，不易携带，等。

1920年，热离子真空管(热阴极电子管)问世不久，就出现了真空管助听器。随着真空管技术的不断发展，助听器体积逐渐变小，实现了主机和电池的分离。1921年，英国生产了第一台商业性电子管助听器。由于电子管需要两个电源供电(一是加热电子管中的灯丝，使之发放电子;二是驱动电子通过电栅到达阳极)，因此这种助听器体积大而笨重，虽然增益和清晰度较好，但几乎无法携带。随着时间的推移，汞电池代替了锌电池，使电池的体积显著减小，电池与助听器终于可以合为一体了。第二次世界大战时，出现了如印刷电路和陶瓷电容等新技术材料，使得一体式助听器的体积显著缩小，这样，助听器就可以随身携带了。逐渐地，助听器也采用了削峰(peak clipping, PC)和压缩( automatic gain control, AGC)等技术。

1943年，开始研制集成式助听器，将电源、传声器和放大器装在一个小盒子内，为现代盒式助听器的雏形。同年，丹麦建立了两家工厂批量生产助听器，一家是Oticon，一家是Danavox。助听器的体积也越来越小，最后，竞能象香烟盒一样大，携带已非常方便。

1948年，半导体问世，电子工程师们立即将半导体技术应用于助听器，获得较好效果。采用一部分半导体元件，可以使助听器的体积进一步缩小，如果全部采用半导体元件，声反馈将不可避免。

1953年，晶体管助听器问世，使助听器向微型化发展提供了可能性。1954年，出现了眼镜式助听器。为了避免声反馈，设计者将接受器和麦克风分别装在两边的眼镜腿上，但未能实现双耳配戴。1955年，推出了整个机身都在单个镜腿上的眼镜式助听器，使双耳同时配戴助听器成为可能。

1956年，制成了耳背式助听器，不仅体积进一步减小，优越性也超过了眼镜式和盒式助听器，成为全球销售量最大的助听器。

1957年，耳内式助听器问世。新的陶瓷传声器频率响宽阔平坦，克服了以往压电晶体的不足。钽电容的出现，使电容体积进一步减小，晶体管电路向集成电路这一小型化方向快速发展。

随着大规模集成电路的出现，助听器的体积进一步减小，耳内式助听器出现以后不久，半耳甲腔式、耳道式、完全耳道式助听器相继出现，在很大程度上满足了患者心理和美观上的需要。

1958年，我国开始生产盒式助听器，目前已能生产耳内式、耳背式助听器。

1988年出现的可编程助听器，利用遥控器变换多个聆听程序，以达到最舒适的听觉感受。可编程助听器采用广角麦克风和指向性麦克风助听器，可在日常生活中和嘈杂环境中运用不同的聆听模式，使听到的声音更为清晰。配带指向性助听器的人虽然目光未投向您，但是，他在专心收听您的讲话，故似乎有监听的特殊用途。据传，美国前总统克林顿就配戴这样的助听器。

近年来又推出了“数码”助听器，数字信号处理能力极强，为选配提供更大的灵活性。

经历了一百多年的风风雨雨，今天的助听器已经有了耳内式、耳背式、盒式、眼镜式、发卡式、钢笔式、无线式等多种形状，助听效果明显提高。我们相信，在不久的将来，助听器的体积会越来越小，功能会越来越强大，并能造福所有的聋人