Founded on care

On the 9th of August, 1902, the Danish-born Crown Princess Alexandra wears a hearing aid for her coronation as Queen of England,

The following year, driven by a heartfelt desire to help his hearing-impaired wife, Hans Demant travels from Denmark to England to buy the same type of hearing device.

Driven by the desire to improve the lives of his wife and all people in need of hearing support, Hans Demant wins a contract with General Acoustic Co. and begins the import and distribution of the first hearing devices to Denmark: the electric Acousticon devices.

Hans Demant's son, William, takes over the company upon his father's death. William travels to the production facilities in the USA to learn about the manufacture and repair of Acousticon hearing devices.

In the wake of World War I and of the infamous Wall Street crash of this year, trading restrictions make it difficult to import finished goods. William begins to import incomplete devices with no wires or batteries, and completes production on Danish soil.

During World War II (1939-1945), William Demant is unable to import goods from USA, England or France. He decides to produce components for the latest Acousticon devices in Denmark. He then manufactures the first Danish-made licensed hearing device — the Acousticus — a copy of the original Acousticon model.

Following a disagreement with Dictograph products (formerly General Acousticon Company), William Demant enters into partnership with American hearing aid producer, Charles Lehman. Together they establish the American-Danish Oticon Corporation, headquatered in Copenhagen.

Oticon celebrates its 50th year of business with all 155 employees invited to an event in Copenhagen. Oticon can proudly call itself the leading provider of hearing aids to the Danish public sector.

Oticon expands its global presence with Oticon Corp. opening in the USA. Oticon companies are founded in Switzerland, Norway, Germany, Scotland, Japan, Italy, New Zealand and France. The largest overseas markets are England and Sweden, and later on, China.

Spurred by international developments, Oticon introduces the first ultra-discreet in-the-ear hearing device. Global competition is heating up.

Headquarters move to a new location at Strandvejen. Under the motto "Time to think the unthinkable" new and revolutionary ways of working are introduced across the whole company.

With Lars Kolind and Niels Jacobsen leading the way, Oticon enters a new phase of transformation. Niels Jacobsen later takes over to drive Oticon forward to international success.

Oticon launches the first fully digital hearing device, DigiFocus. The advanced amplification of sound is programmed to fit the individual's hearing loss. This takes us one step closer to the full wireless connectivity we can offer today. 

Oticon introduces the slogan "People First" and is known across the world not only as the world's second largest manufacturer of hearing devices, but also for its organizational structure, teamwork and view on employees. Oticon celebrates its centenary on June 8th.

Oticon launches Epoq. Two hearing aids can now continuously communicate with each other to provide a very life-like sound picture. The new solution provides a better sense of the sound scene in the user's environment, and it allows for connectivity with e.g. mobile phones, and music players.

Oticon is stronger than ever. People First remains our promise, reflecting how everything we do always begins with the people we are doing it for.

Today, Oticon hearing aids support the way the brain works and make sense of sound.

The basic philosophy of BrainHearing™ is to support your brain by giving it the conditions it needs to create meaning from sound – instead of overloading it by turning up the volume.

With the launch of Oticon Opn™, Oticon tackles a challenge that even the most advanced hearing solutions can’t solve — the ability to handle noisy environments with multiple speakers.

In addition to easy connection to smartphones and wireless devices, Opn is the first hearing aid to connect to the Internet.

Oticon introduces a new guiding principle “Life-Changing Technology” and offers the most comprehensive product portfolio in the industry.

Now even more children and adults can benefit from Oticon hearing solutions that improve not only hearing but overall quality of life.