COPENHAGEN, March 11 (Reuters) - Denmark's William Demant Holding that owns Oticon expects strong growth for a significant number of years in its new business area of bone-anchored hearing systems, the division's head told Reuters in an interview.
"If you look at the growth for the last five years it has been above 20 percent annually, and we expect that these growth rates will continue for a significant number of years into the future," Oticon Medical's Jes Olsen told Reuters late on Tuesday.
William Demant estimates the market for bone-anchored hearing systems is worth $60-70 million globally. It is dominated by Australia's Cochlear, with a market share above 90 percent.
Unlike conventional hearing aids, the bone-anchored devices require a surgical procedure to implant them in the bone behind the ear. They can help people with a malfunctioning ear canal or middle ear, or those that are deaf in one ear.
The wholesale price for a bone-anchored hearing aid is between $4,000 and $6,000, excluding considerable costs for implanting, fitting and training, Olsen said.
"Due to strong product improvements from us and probably also from Cochlear, we expect that prices will rise, if anything," Olsen said.
Demant will launch a complete product series in the second half of the year in the U.S., Britain, the Netherlands and Scandinavia.