Demant was founded in 1904 when Hans Demant began importing hearing aides to the Danish town of Odense to bring sound to his hearing impaired wife Camilla. The company expanded into the next generation with the help of son William Demant and began producing its own hearing aids. Today over 100 years later, Demant is one of the world’s leading hearing healthcare companies, offering the broadest selection of treatments for people living with hearing loss worldwide. It manufactures four hearing aid and implant brands through licensing agreements, including Oticon, Bernafon, Sonic and Philips, plus a full line of instruments for conducting hearing tests.

Philips hearing aids, credit: Demant

Believing that hearing is a key factor to cognitive development and living a full life, Demant is committed to innovation through new technologies. To support these efforts, the firm is at the forefront of research into how the brain makes sense of sound. Based on this, it launched the BrainHearing project, a scientific research initiative focused on driving development of new hearing technologies that support the brain. For example, the research team recently published results showing active hearing aid use may protect against dementia.

Oticon hearing aids, credit: Demant

In 2020, this Denmark-based company launched a number of new projects, including a line of premium audio headsets for business and gamers, a new line of hearing aids with breakthrough sound technology for noise feedback filtering, and an update to its flagship cochlear implants to accommodate swimming. In addition, the firm has seen quick adoption of new intelligent audio and video communications solutions for people living with hearing loss. R&D efforts are focused on expanding its products via artificial intelligence, cloud and connectivity solutions.

As of 6/30/21, Demant was held in the Knowledge Leaders Strategy.