According to a new study by Grand View Research Inc., the global market for hearing aids is set to rise by 3.2 per cent from 2014 to 2020.

This means that in just six years, the hearing aid market could be worth $5,440.5 million.

According to WhaTech, this could be because of the increase in popularity with new smartphone compatible hearing aids and other 100 per cent digital devices. As it stands, behind-the-ear hearing aids take dominate over 55 per cent of the hearing aid industry (as per 2013 records) in terms of shares. A surprising proportion of hearing aid wearers are children, as a behind-the-ear device is a preferred device for those that do struggle with their hearing.

"According to the U.S. National Center of Health Statistics (NCHS) 12 out of every 1,000 American suffering from hearing loss belong to the age group of below 18 years," comments WhaTech.

In addition to this information, the study also detailed that Europe accounted for the largest share of the overall hearing aids market, and that digital hearing aid technology is one of the fastest growing sectors of the hearing aid industry, holding 90 per cent of the technology market in 2013 at over 90 per cent.