April 5th saw the announcement of the second edition of Olive Union’s Olive Max PSAP. While the company is marketing these earbud/hearing aid hybrid devices as Hearing Aids, countries that follow the FDA’s regulations will be unable to recognize these as true hearing aids until the company gets FDA approval to market the earbuds as OTC hearing aids.
The most interesting thing about the new earbuds is that while for many years brands have been working to create a discrete hearing aid design, Olive has embraced an around-the-ear form factor similar to that of traditional hearing aids. While this is most likely a way for the company to pack in more components for increased functionality, Olive Union believes that the new design looks enough like a pair of TWS earbuds to combat the hearing aid stigma. However, the company is marketing these devices as being able to combat severe hearing loss and so having a larger form factor is most likely a side-effect of the additional components that are likely needed.
SAR’s report on hearing aids evaluates and discusses future market growth of 4 product types: Medical Hearing Aids, PSAPs, TWS Earbuds and DTC Hearing Aids. It analyses the potential merging of some of these markets and the effect on overall growth.
