Filling the void

China's aging population combined with a growing middle class is expected to provide huge growth potential for global hearing aid makers, with sales of the devices already mushrooming during the past few years, according to a recent industry report.

China accounts for about one fifth of the world's population, and is also the largest hearing aid market. The nation is also experiencing a severe shortage of professionals who can provide quality hearing-care. There are only 10,000 hearing care professionals with various levels of training for a population of about 1.37 billion, the report said.

That professional-to-population ratio is extremely low compared to countries like the United States where it is one professional for 9,000 people and about 13,000 full time audiologists and 9,000 hearing aid dispensers for a population of 314 million people.