Developing a market for hearing aids in L.M.I.C.s will require affordability and availability of optimal hearing aids and services. Products and services can be defined as “optimal” if they meet a target/preferred product profile, meet the needs of the end user and are of suitable quality (i.e., compliant with high engineering and clinical standards). To achieve this, we propose five strategic objectives (S.O.) that can strengthen the market in both the near and longer-term:
A healthy market, defined as sustainable where demand meets supply, requires consensus around service delivery norms and product selection (S.O. #1). This consensus would serve as the foundation to build service delivery infrastructure via the public and private sector and rationalise procurement mechanisms (S.O. #2&3). More predictable and growing demand will enable economies of scale and support market shaping interventions proposed in S.O. #4 to support suppliers and distributors entering L.M.I.C. markets. There are game-changing technologies that can help increase coverage emerging and would benefit from investments now (S.O. #5).