Danish Hearing Aids Will Not Be Hit by US Tariffs

Euroweekly News ^ | 15 May 2025 | John Smith

[nickcarraway]

Whilst it has been argued that US President Donald Trump has been turning a deaf ear to Europe with regards to tariffs, in the case of hearing aids, it’s not true.

Three of the world’s largest and longest established hearing aid manufacturers are based outside of Danish capital Copenhagen in an area known locally as the “Silicon Valley of Sound.”

These companies, Demant, GN Store Nord and WS Audiology (as well as Swiss rival Sonova Holding) must have held their collective breaths as Trump announced the levy of tariffs for products imported into the USA but once again, they were spared.

They escaped tariffs during Trump’s first Presidency and have been spared once again as although there are plans to make it financially unattractive to import many medicines into the USA, devices to assist those who suffer from chronic disabilities were given a ‘clean bill of health’!

Although they have escaped at the moment, it is no secret that only one significant manufacturer of hearing aids exists in the USA but as a major importer of these aids, America must be aware that it accounts for a significant proportion of the estimated value of the industry which for next year is forecast as being worth a staggering $14 billion.

Time will tell whether this support for those suffering from this and other long term disabilities will last but in order to change the situation, the US will need to amend chapter 98 of America’s Harmonized Tariff Schedule which lists items that can be brought into that country free of duties.

According to the US website Heathy Hearing, the average price for a hearing aid for an adult ranges from $2,000 to $7,000 and bearing in mind that there is only a limited free health service, the aid will have to be paid for by the individual or an insurance company, so increase due to additional tariffs in the future will not only affect sales but also the American economy.

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TOPICS: Business/Economy; Health/Medicine
KEYWORDS: denmark; hewaringaids

[ClearCase_guy]

What?

[Texas_Jarhead]

ISWYDT

[tumblindice]

Come again?

[Pikachu_Dad]

Eh?

[Pikachu_Dad]

Eh?

[Dr. Sivana]

Somehow . . . some way . . . shouldn’t we get Greenland out of the deal?

[packrat35]

This reminds me of my Dad, whose hearing was pretty bad before he passed. He got his “free” from the VA, and both had gone out. He had to mail them in to be repaired or replaced which took time.

Now he had sold his house in Florida for almost $300,000 and was living in an assisted living so he was good financially, but he refused to just go buy a new hearing aid and waited for the VA to fix them. His last two months before he passed were mostly having to yell and he could still barely understand. I really wished he would have just bought a hearing aid so his last months weren’t so bad.

Sorry for the downer story, but if any of you match this, maybe rethink your priorities...

[kawhill]

I might need a hearing aid. Haven’t figured out yet whether I’m hard of hearing or just stopped listening to a lot of things.

[Paladin2]

[LOL...]

[Bikkuri]

Cinnamon?

[KarlInOhio]

The price of hearing aids makes no sense. It's a microphone, amplifier, speaker, battery and case. I have all of those in a pair of cheap earbuds for $40. Even if you get the fancy ones in might be a couple hundred. And each of those have Bluetooth, which needs about 10,000 times the number of transistors that the audio amplifier needs. Sure, they may need some tuning from an audiologist, but that's a half hour of a medical professional's pay for service.

Maybe in the 1960s an in ear hearing aid was cutting edge micro technology, but not now.

[Inyo-Mono]

I wear hearing aids, they have been a lifesaver. As someone once remarked, being hard of hearing is about the only disability for which people become angry at you for having.