Founded on care - Oticon
Founded on care - Oticon
Founded on care - Oticon
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<str<strong>on</strong>g>Founded</str<strong>on</strong>g><br />
<strong>on</strong> <strong>care</strong><br />
– Otic<strong>on</strong> through 100 years
WILLIAM DEMANT
<str<strong>on</strong>g>Founded</str<strong>on</strong>g> <strong>on</strong> <strong>care</strong><br />
– Otic<strong>on</strong> through 100 years
INDEX<br />
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7<br />
Chapter 1<br />
<str<strong>on</strong>g>Founded</str<strong>on</strong>g> <strong>on</strong> <strong>care</strong> . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 – 17<br />
Chapter 2<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> is born . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 – 29<br />
Chapter 3<br />
The “Gang of Four” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 – 41<br />
Chapter 4<br />
The modern Otic<strong>on</strong> . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 – 53<br />
Chapter 5<br />
Research that matters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 – 59<br />
Chapter 6<br />
A century of hearing loss . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 – 71<br />
Chapter 7<br />
William Demant – the man<br />
and the foundati<strong>on</strong> . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 – 75<br />
Notes <strong>on</strong> William Demant’s family tree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 – 77<br />
Timeline 1800-2004 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 – 81<br />
Bibliography, photo credits and illustrati<strong>on</strong> sources . . . . . . . . . 82 – 83
<str<strong>on</strong>g>Founded</str<strong>on</strong>g> <strong>on</strong> <strong>care</strong><br />
– Otic<strong>on</strong> through 100 years<br />
is published by the Otic<strong>on</strong><br />
Foundati<strong>on</strong> in celebrati<strong>on</strong><br />
of the company’s 100th<br />
anniversary. 1904-2004.<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> A/S<br />
Strandvejen 58<br />
2900 Hellerup<br />
Tel. +45 39 17 71 00<br />
Printed by Bording A/S
PREFACE<br />
This Centenary publicati<strong>on</strong> is a tribute to Otic<strong>on</strong> – the oldest hearing aid manufacturer<br />
in the world.<br />
When Hans Jørgen Frederik Demant founded the company in the early 1900s, he was<br />
spurred <strong>on</strong> by a heartfelt desire to help his wife, who was seriously disadvantaged by<br />
her hearing loss. His quest to find a soluti<strong>on</strong> resulted in the purchase of a hearing aid<br />
identical to that used by the Danish-born, British Queen Alexandra at her cor<strong>on</strong>ati<strong>on</strong> in<br />
1902. This instrument was so useful that the Demant family decided to import more,<br />
and so their missi<strong>on</strong> to help other hearing-impaired people began. On 8 June 1904 Hans<br />
Demant signed an agreement to become Denmark’s sole agent for American-produced<br />
General Acoustic instruments and, as they say, “the rest is history” – 100 years of it!<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> was founded <strong>on</strong> the principle of helping hearing-impaired people to improve<br />
their quality of life. A visit to Otic<strong>on</strong>’s headquarters in Hellerup, near Copenhagen, will<br />
quickly c<strong>on</strong>firm that the missi<strong>on</strong> remains unchanged: To help people live the life they<br />
want with the hearing they have. At a recent internal seminar a number of employees<br />
were asked to describe why they enjoyed working at Otic<strong>on</strong>. One engineer replied: “I’m<br />
not here for the m<strong>on</strong>ey, but for the professi<strong>on</strong>al challenges and the fact that this is an<br />
informal organizati<strong>on</strong> where people can plan and manage their own working day.” After<br />
a short pause for thought, he added: “I also think that our products actually help to<br />
solve people’s problems, which is a good thing.”<br />
This Centenary publicati<strong>on</strong> is primarily about people: those who have managed the<br />
company, those who have worked there and, most especially, those with hearing loss.<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong>’s first 100 years have been characterized by an entrepreneurial spirit combined<br />
with great stability – a combinati<strong>on</strong> that has made it <strong>on</strong>e of Denmark’s most successful<br />
internati<strong>on</strong>al companies. During this time the company’s most important pers<strong>on</strong>ality<br />
was William Demant, who worked for Otic<strong>on</strong> for 75 years.<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> has enjoyed c<strong>on</strong>siderable recogniti<strong>on</strong> over the years – the latest accolade being<br />
the “European Company of the Year” award. The company has also underg<strong>on</strong>e a sensible<br />
c<strong>on</strong>solidati<strong>on</strong>, establishing an even firmer foundati<strong>on</strong> for the future.<br />
The Otic<strong>on</strong> Foundati<strong>on</strong> wishes to offer its c<strong>on</strong>gratulati<strong>on</strong>s to Otic<strong>on</strong>, its management<br />
and its employees <strong>on</strong> the occasi<strong>on</strong> of its 100th anniversary.<br />
On behalf of the Otic<strong>on</strong> Foundati<strong>on</strong><br />
Knud Sørensen<br />
Chairman of the Board
Chapter 1<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong>’s founder<br />
Hans Jørgen Frederik Demant and wife Camillia Louise.
<str<strong>on</strong>g>Founded</str<strong>on</strong>g> <strong>on</strong> <strong>care</strong><br />
In the 1850s, Denmark was evolving at<br />
lightening speed. Trade, commerce and<br />
industry were booming, and the cities were<br />
a powerful magnet for the many people<br />
living in rural areas. One of the people<br />
setting out for the opportunities of the city<br />
was Hans Stefan Ant<strong>on</strong> Ludvig Demant, a<br />
man who would go <strong>on</strong> to create the foundati<strong>on</strong><br />
for <strong>on</strong>e of Denmark’s greatest commercial<br />
successes: Otic<strong>on</strong>.<br />
Most people know Odense as the birthplace of<br />
Hans Christian Andersen, but the city was also<br />
home to Otic<strong>on</strong>, the company that was to<br />
become <strong>on</strong>e of the leading hearing aid manufacturers<br />
in the world.<br />
Tower clocks and sewing machines<br />
Hans Stefan Demant was born in 1828 and<br />
lived in the same era as the father of fairytales,<br />
Hans Christian Andersen. At the age<br />
of 16, Demant became a watchmaker’s<br />
apprentice. By the time war broke out in<br />
1848, he was fully qualified in his trade.<br />
As a soldier, he earned an extra shilling or<br />
two repairing friends’ watches, so by the<br />
time he returned home he had m<strong>on</strong>ey in<br />
his pocket. In 1854, even though times<br />
were hard, Demant was able to open his<br />
own watch-making business in Odense.<br />
Good advice was expensive, but good<br />
ideas were free – and Demant had plenty.<br />
He began manufacturing sewing machines,<br />
and despite fierce competiti<strong>on</strong> from the<br />
str<strong>on</strong>g American brand, Singer, business<br />
went well. Demant made virtually all of<br />
the comp<strong>on</strong>ents for the sewing machines<br />
in his own ir<strong>on</strong> foundry, and his factory<br />
employed carpenters, painters and unskilled<br />
labourers. By 1870, he began exporting<br />
products and four years later, the<br />
factory had 50 employees and a 4-horsepower<br />
steam engine as its main source of<br />
energy. In a few short years, Hans Stefan<br />
Demant had become a wealthy man.<br />
Time for two wheels<br />
In 1882, Demant produced 1,400 sewing<br />
machines per year, but a recessi<strong>on</strong> and<br />
increasing competiti<strong>on</strong> from Singer forced<br />
him to become more innovative. Demant<br />
now saw his future in bicycles. Horses and<br />
carriages were experiencing increasingly<br />
cramped c<strong>on</strong>diti<strong>on</strong>s in the rapidly growing<br />
cities and bicycles became the new mode<br />
of transport. Demant began manufacturing<br />
“velocipedes” and “bicycles”. With a large<br />
fr<strong>on</strong>t wheel and pedals c<strong>on</strong>nected directly<br />
F o u n d e d o n c a r e<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> 1904 – 2004<br />
The Otic<strong>on</strong> adventure<br />
began with the manufacture<br />
and sale of bicycles<br />
and sewing machines.<br />
Denmark’s first hearing<br />
aid was probably sold<br />
from this shop in<br />
K<strong>on</strong>gensgade 57 in<br />
Odense.<br />
to the wheel, they were noisy and rather<br />
shaky over the cobblest<strong>on</strong>es, but nevertheless<br />
another success for Demant.<br />
Hans Stefan Demant passed away in 1897.<br />
Since he was without an heir, his nephew<br />
Hans Jørgen Frederik Demant took over<br />
the business. Three years prior to his<br />
death, Demant had established a family<br />
foundati<strong>on</strong>, and since Hans Jørgen was<br />
already working for his maternal uncle, he<br />
was familiar with both the producti<strong>on</strong> and<br />
the business itself.<br />
9
10<br />
F o u n d e d o n c a r e<br />
Chapter 1<br />
Hans Jørgen Demant helps his wife<br />
Hans Jørgen Demant was born in 1854. He<br />
married Camilla Louise, and the couple<br />
had five children and were very well<br />
respected in their community. After his<br />
maternal uncle’s death, the producti<strong>on</strong><br />
of sewing machines and bicycles c<strong>on</strong>tinued<br />
unchanged under the brand name<br />
H. Demant.<br />
At the age of 42, Camilla Louise Demant<br />
began to experience hearing difficulties,<br />
which at that time was tantamount to a<br />
life in isolati<strong>on</strong>. Despite several c<strong>on</strong>sultati<strong>on</strong>s<br />
with leading doctors in Vienna and<br />
Berlin, no useful soluti<strong>on</strong> was found. But<br />
a royal cor<strong>on</strong>ati<strong>on</strong> in 1902 put Hans<br />
Demant <strong>on</strong> the trail of new opportunities.<br />
One of the first Danes ever to wear a<br />
Hans Stefan<br />
Demant’s employees<br />
in 1890.<br />
The Demants with their<br />
five children in 1902.<br />
William Demant (far left)<br />
took over the company<br />
after his father’s death.<br />
The two eldest s<strong>on</strong>s (at<br />
the top of the photo)<br />
both emigrated to the<br />
USA.<br />
hearing aid was King Christian IX’s<br />
daughter – England’s Crown Princess<br />
Alexandra. As she approached her cor<strong>on</strong>ati<strong>on</strong><br />
in 1902, a young American by the<br />
name of Miller Reese Hutchins<strong>on</strong> was<br />
summ<strong>on</strong>ed to the English court. In the<br />
late 1890s, Hutchins<strong>on</strong> had achieved success<br />
with the world’s first electric hearing<br />
aid, called the Akoulalli<strong>on</strong>, and he now<br />
offered the Crown Princess a chance to try<br />
his company’s latest inventi<strong>on</strong>. The trial<br />
was a success, and Alexandra heard the<br />
bishop quite clearly during the cor<strong>on</strong>ati<strong>on</strong><br />
cerem<strong>on</strong>y.<br />
“My father had heard about this instrument<br />
from a friend in England, so he went<br />
to L<strong>on</strong>d<strong>on</strong> to buy <strong>on</strong>e for my mother, who<br />
suffered from hearing loss,” recalls Hans’s<br />
s<strong>on</strong>, William Demant, who later became<br />
President of Otic<strong>on</strong>. The hearing aid he<br />
brought home gave Camilla Demant an<br />
opportunity to move out of her isolati<strong>on</strong>.<br />
“The ears thrive <strong>on</strong> sound…”<br />
Camilla Demant and the English Queen
Queen Alexandra had inherited the disease known as otosclerosis from her mother. But thanks to<br />
a hearing aid, she could clearly hear what the bishop said at her cor<strong>on</strong>ati<strong>on</strong> cerem<strong>on</strong>y in 1902.<br />
F o u n d e d o n c a r e<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> 1904 – 2004<br />
11
12<br />
F o u n d e d o n c a r e<br />
Chapter 1<br />
In the past, there were many theories <strong>on</strong><br />
the causes of hearing loss. One of these<br />
was that the ear lacked the exercise it<br />
should have received through sound.<br />
The Massac<strong>on</strong> was designed to provide<br />
a “s<strong>on</strong>ic massage” three times a day for<br />
between two and five minutes at a time.<br />
The ear trumpet was the<br />
most comm<strong>on</strong> instrument<br />
prior to the advent of<br />
electric instruments in<br />
the beginning of the 19th<br />
century.<br />
Alexandra were just two of many hearingimpaired<br />
Danes for whom life was not<br />
easy. In the 1800s, people with hearing<br />
loss were often ignored and c<strong>on</strong>sidered<br />
slow-minded.<br />
Hearing loss was no less comm<strong>on</strong> in the<br />
1800s than it is now. But at the turn of the<br />
century, society had become more aware<br />
of hearing loss and the countless theories<br />
as to its causes. Some specialists were of<br />
the opini<strong>on</strong> that it was caused by a dysfuncti<strong>on</strong><br />
in the middle ear or a thickening<br />
of the eardrum, which prevented sound<br />
from penetrating the real hearing organ<br />
– the inner ear. Doctor H.E. Cook from the<br />
Ear Department at Cornell University in<br />
the USA described hearing loss as follows:<br />
“The ears thrive <strong>on</strong> sound, just as<br />
the muscles thrive <strong>on</strong> movement and the<br />
body <strong>on</strong> food. Deprive the muscles of<br />
movement, and they will perish. The<br />
same goes for the ears.”<br />
This asserti<strong>on</strong> was rather typical of the<br />
age and described what was characterized<br />
as “Catarrhal Ear Disease”. Treatment for<br />
this involved using an instrument that<br />
massaged the inner ear – called a Massac<strong>on</strong><br />
– three times a day for two to five minutes.<br />
The Massac<strong>on</strong> was a battery-driven earpiece<br />
that sent vibrati<strong>on</strong>s into the ear.<br />
Assistive devices for the hard-of-hearing<br />
were few and far between, and people<br />
tried all sorts of methods. The Massac<strong>on</strong><br />
instrument is just <strong>on</strong>e example, and it had<br />
no effect whatsoever. But compared to<br />
other countries, c<strong>on</strong>diti<strong>on</strong>s in Denmark<br />
were relatively good. In 1806, Denmark<br />
became the first country in the world to<br />
start a school for children with hearing<br />
loss. A year later, the first tentative steps<br />
were taken to introduce a type of hearing<br />
service with the establishment of the<br />
Royal Institute for the Deaf & Dumb,<br />
which faced a huge challenge when all<br />
teaching had to be performed in sign language.<br />
Denmark also passed a law for the<br />
educati<strong>on</strong> of deaf children. In 1866, The<br />
Danish Associati<strong>on</strong> for the Deaf was born<br />
purely by chance. A hearing-impaired
Norwegian had lost his job in Copenhagen<br />
and wanted to return to Norway. When a<br />
group of hearing-impaired people, who<br />
were gathered at a restaurant, learned of<br />
his plight, they immediately began a collecti<strong>on</strong>.<br />
The Norwegian got his ticket home,<br />
and the group decided to invest the remaining<br />
m<strong>on</strong>ey in founding a proper<br />
organizati<strong>on</strong> for the deaf.<br />
Bug-proof ear trumpets<br />
The earliest chr<strong>on</strong>icles of n<strong>on</strong>-electric<br />
hearing aids date way back to 1650.<br />
However, it was not until 1800 that the<br />
first mass-produced hearing aids were<br />
launched in L<strong>on</strong>d<strong>on</strong> – albeit n<strong>on</strong>-electric.<br />
Manufacturers went to great pains to camouflage<br />
these instruments. Ear trumpets<br />
built into vases, walking sticks and even<br />
hair bands were not an uncomm<strong>on</strong> sight.<br />
Some ear trumpets were equipped with a<br />
small wire grid – a feature designed to prevent<br />
insects flying into the user’s ear canal.<br />
Enter Alexander Graham Bell<br />
One of the first attempts at designing electric<br />
hearing aids was made in 1876 when<br />
Scottish-born Alexander Graham Bell invented<br />
an instrument designed to improve<br />
his wife’s hearing. He invented it at about<br />
the same time as he invented the teleph<strong>on</strong>e.<br />
In 1898, an American company called<br />
Akouph<strong>on</strong>e Co. introduced the first commercial<br />
electric hearing aid – the <strong>on</strong>e that<br />
Queen Alexandra used in 1902 at the cor<strong>on</strong>ati<strong>on</strong>.<br />
Called the “Akoulalli<strong>on</strong>”, it cost<br />
400 US dollars.<br />
Akouph<strong>on</strong>e Co. later became the General<br />
Acoustic Co. Their Acoustic<strong>on</strong> instruments<br />
marked the beginning of the transiti<strong>on</strong> to<br />
commercial electric hearing aids. In the<br />
period 1902-1928, Americans refined these<br />
instruments, producing models for different<br />
needs and budgets. For mild to moderate<br />
hearing loss the price was 40 dollars. For<br />
more severe hearing loss, they developed a<br />
stati<strong>on</strong>ary tabletop model for 100 dollars.<br />
The first instruments had large microph<strong>on</strong>es<br />
– because the larger the microph<strong>on</strong>e,<br />
the str<strong>on</strong>ger the sound would be.<br />
Demant becomes Danish agent<br />
The news that Camilla Demant had begun<br />
to hear better with the aid of an electric<br />
hearing aid spread fast. Hans Jørgen<br />
Demant was so<strong>on</strong> c<strong>on</strong>tacted by a number<br />
of potential customers, asking whether he<br />
could bring more instruments to Denmark.<br />
Demant so<strong>on</strong> realized that there was a<br />
bright future in being the Danish agent for<br />
these new devices. At that time, he had no<br />
plans to produce his own hearing aids.<br />
Demant sent a telegram to General<br />
Acoustic in New York, and the c<strong>on</strong>tract<br />
making him the sole agent was signed <strong>on</strong> 8<br />
June 1904. Demant began selling the<br />
instruments from his home the following<br />
F o u n d e d o n c a r e<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> 1904 – 2004<br />
spring. The following year, he began placing<br />
American-style advertisements in the<br />
newspapers. Electric hearing aids were<br />
completely new to Denmark, and Hans<br />
Jørgen Demant was aware that he had to<br />
advertise in order to generate sales.<br />
In the beginning of 1904, Hans Jørgen<br />
Demant entered the sale of his very first<br />
instrument in Denmark into his accounting<br />
book. It cost 195 Danish kr<strong>on</strong>er – or<br />
about half the price of the tickets to New<br />
York purchased by American-dream-seeking<br />
Danish emigrants. That year, Hans<br />
Demant became a wealthy man, with an<br />
annual income of 1,800 kr<strong>on</strong>er and a private<br />
fortune of 39,500 kr<strong>on</strong>er.<br />
On 30 April 1907, Demant entered a new<br />
agreement making his company the absolute<br />
sole agent for the General Acoustic<br />
Co. As part of the agreement, he made a<br />
commitment to open new shops in Denmark,<br />
Norway and Sweden.<br />
The year after he became the agent for Acoustic<strong>on</strong>, Hans Demant began his own marketing<br />
campaigns, using American-style adverts. This particular advert for electric hearing aids may<br />
well be the first of its kind in Denmark. It was printed in the Odense Weekly Review <strong>on</strong> 27<br />
January 1905. In this ad, both “Acoustic<strong>on</strong>” and “Massac<strong>on</strong>”are spelled incorrectly – an<br />
error that was corrected the following week.<br />
13
14<br />
F o u n d e d o n c a r e<br />
Chapter 1<br />
Both William and Jørgen Demant were studying at the Copenhagen Dental College when their father, Hans, died in<br />
1910. The brothers decided to try to sell his surplus stock of hearing aids and this proved easier than anticipated.<br />
They placed adverts in local newspapers and then made sales from hotels. Business went so well that William and<br />
his mother decided to c<strong>on</strong>tinue, while Jørgen completed his educati<strong>on</strong> as a dentist.<br />
In his father’s footsteps<br />
Within a few years, what had begun as a<br />
small sideline became Demant’s primary<br />
activity. On 4 April 1910, Hans Jørgen<br />
Demant passed away after a l<strong>on</strong>g struggle<br />
with diabetes. After the funeral, his widow<br />
Camilla Louise and his s<strong>on</strong> William took<br />
over the helm of the company.<br />
“After father’s death I sent a telegram to<br />
America, asking whether I could take over<br />
father’s agency. The answer was “Yes”,<br />
and eight days later, I was <strong>on</strong> my way to<br />
New York. In 1911, we became the representative<br />
for the whole of Scandinavia,<br />
opening offices in Oslo and Malmö. In<br />
1913, I became the sole agent for Finland<br />
and Russia, where we set up offices in<br />
Helsinki and St. Petersburg respectively,”<br />
writes William Demant in his memoirs.<br />
Brothers in success<br />
William and his brother Hans Jørgen went<br />
<strong>on</strong> many business trips, making sales from<br />
hotels. Prior to their trips, the Demant<br />
brothers advertised their products in local<br />
newspapers.<br />
Many hearing aids were ordered from<br />
New York, which William was able to sell<br />
easily, but then came World War I. While<br />
the Great War raged from 1914-18, neutral<br />
little Denmark began to feel the c<strong>on</strong>sequences.<br />
During the first few days of the<br />
war, panic ensued at the Copenhagen<br />
Stock Exchange, and this was closely followed<br />
by escalating prices and a breakdown<br />
in supplies. Demant’s offices in St.<br />
Petersburg and Helsinki had to close. But<br />
William c<strong>on</strong>tinued to focus <strong>on</strong> building an<br />
internati<strong>on</strong>al distributi<strong>on</strong> network for his<br />
neighbouring markets, and he diversified,<br />
investing in the sale of hearing aid systems<br />
for churches.<br />
Battle of the churches<br />
By 1907, Hans Jørgen Demant had developed<br />
the market for Acoustic<strong>on</strong> church<br />
hearing aid systems, and William c<strong>on</strong>tinued<br />
to sell to this market despite hard<br />
times.<br />
Demant had many a c<strong>on</strong>versati<strong>on</strong> with<br />
priests and churchwardens who were not<br />
always open-minded to his proposals. For<br />
example, the vicar at Sankt Johannes<br />
Church in Århus refused to acknowledge<br />
that any hard-of-hearing people existed in<br />
his parish. Demant’s determinati<strong>on</strong> to sell<br />
church hearing aids finally bore fruit, and<br />
by 1923, Acoustic<strong>on</strong> instruments had
F o u n d e d o n c a r e<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> 1904 – 2004<br />
Founder of Carlsberg, brewer Carl Jacobsen commissi<strong>on</strong>ed<br />
the building of the Church of Jesus in<br />
Copenhagen. In 1907, the church purchased a<br />
hearing aid system – an Acoustic<strong>on</strong> Model BB,<br />
which featured a double microph<strong>on</strong>e and four<br />
earpieces.<br />
15
16<br />
F o u n d e d o n c a r e<br />
Chapter 1<br />
“The Acoustic<strong>on</strong> c<strong>on</strong>sists of three different parts c<strong>on</strong>nected by a flexible<br />
cord. 1: The earpiece, which is held to the ear. 2: The sound receiver, which<br />
can be attached to the clothes. And 3: The battery which – <strong>on</strong>ce c<strong>on</strong>nected<br />
to each end of the cord – can be hidden in a pocket or under a bodice.”<br />
This descripti<strong>on</strong> in the Acoustic<strong>on</strong> User Guide revealed a fairly large<br />
instrument that had to be worn both in the ear and <strong>on</strong> the body itself.<br />
In the beginning of the 19th century,<br />
hard-of-hearing churchgoers often had<br />
great difficulty following the serm<strong>on</strong>s,<br />
since the pulpit was not equipped<br />
with a microph<strong>on</strong>e. William Demant<br />
recognized great opportunities in the<br />
sale of church hearing aid systems.<br />
been installed in 70 churches. And William<br />
Demant had become the undisputed market<br />
leader.<br />
A dedicated agent<br />
In 1920, William Demant’s offices were no<br />
bigger than 62 spm. Demant travelled<br />
extensively, visiting customers and making<br />
agreements with hospitals and hearing<br />
clinics. He was fascinated by his work and<br />
suggested to the Americans at every available<br />
opportunity how they might improve<br />
the functi<strong>on</strong>ality and quality of their instruments<br />
by altering their c<strong>on</strong>structi<strong>on</strong>. Most<br />
of his suggesti<strong>on</strong>s were received politely,<br />
but ignored completely. When Demant
communicated with Acoustic<strong>on</strong> in New<br />
York, he did so by telegram <strong>on</strong>ly.<br />
“C<strong>on</strong>temporary hearing aids were made of<br />
carb<strong>on</strong>. They had very powerful amplifiers,<br />
but they were desperately heavy and<br />
clumsy. The sound was transmitted via a<br />
large earph<strong>on</strong>e that weighed 185 grams,”<br />
writes William Demant, describing the<br />
instruments of the period. It was not until<br />
1928 that hearing aids could be produced<br />
with a relatively small earpiece that could<br />
rest directly in the outer ear. In 1932,<br />
American scientist Hugo Lieber invented<br />
“The B<strong>on</strong>e C<strong>on</strong>ductor” – a vibrator that<br />
transmitted sound through the skull and<br />
directly to the hearing nerve in the inner<br />
ear. It suited all types of hearing loss, but<br />
was particularly useful for problems in the<br />
The Acoustic<strong>on</strong> Cor<strong>on</strong>ati<strong>on</strong> instrument, dated<br />
1937. Hearing aids with “b<strong>on</strong>e c<strong>on</strong>ductor”,<br />
which were invented by American Hugo Lieber<br />
in 1932, became available from 1933.<br />
middle ear or eardrum. The B<strong>on</strong>e C<strong>on</strong>ductor<br />
was a breakthrough in hearing aid<br />
research.<br />
Crash and crisis<br />
When World War I ended, yet another crisis<br />
loomed <strong>on</strong> the horiz<strong>on</strong> – the crash of<br />
the New York Stock Exchange in 1929.<br />
The US crash left severe scars <strong>on</strong> Europe,<br />
where several countries found themselves<br />
under severe ec<strong>on</strong>omic pressure. In November<br />
1931, Denmark’s currency reserves had<br />
almost run dry, and the government was<br />
forced to intervene in order to halt the<br />
downward spiral. The Foreign Exchange<br />
C<strong>on</strong>trol Office was established, <strong>on</strong>e of<br />
whose tasks was to regulate the import of<br />
foreign goods. This involved imposing<br />
harsh restricti<strong>on</strong>s <strong>on</strong> American products.<br />
F o u n d e d o n c a r e<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> 1904 – 2004<br />
Such major changes had colossal impact<br />
<strong>on</strong> William Demant’s business. Prior to the<br />
stock market crash, Dictograph Products<br />
(formerly Acoustic<strong>on</strong>) had begun to supply<br />
<strong>on</strong>ly semi-completed instruments, which<br />
were cheaper and demanded less currency.<br />
William had to regularly approach Dictograph<br />
Products for permissi<strong>on</strong> to produce<br />
the parts of instruments that were always<br />
missing due to the restricti<strong>on</strong>s imposed by<br />
the Foreign Exchange C<strong>on</strong>trol Office. As<br />
usual, approval was <strong>on</strong>ly given for semilicenced<br />
producti<strong>on</strong> from the USA because<br />
no other alternatives were available:<br />
Any<strong>on</strong>e wanting to trade with Denmark<br />
had to accept these c<strong>on</strong>diti<strong>on</strong>s.<br />
17
Chapter 2<br />
Charles Lehmann<br />
In 1946, William Demant went into partnership with<br />
Charles Lehmann to establish the “American Danish<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong>” company, which later became Otic<strong>on</strong>. Charles<br />
Lehmann was a valued friend, and Demant visited him<br />
many times in the USA. Demant kept a photo of<br />
Lehmann in his office until the day he died.
Otic<strong>on</strong> is born<br />
By the 1930s, William Demant had w<strong>on</strong><br />
customers all over Scandinavia. He had<br />
five sales people who travelled the entire<br />
regi<strong>on</strong> by car, giving dem<strong>on</strong>strati<strong>on</strong>s and<br />
selling hearing aids at hotels and in<br />
people’s homes.<br />
The body in focus<br />
By the 1930s, science and technology had<br />
moved into the fast lane. The standard of<br />
living had much improved, the average<br />
lifespan had increased, and people nurtured<br />
their bodies with diet and exercise.<br />
The health craze had spread to most of<br />
the western world, and in March 1939,<br />
William Demant rented a stand at the<br />
Health Exhibiti<strong>on</strong> at the Forum Centre in<br />
Copenhagen. The event was a box-office<br />
hit attracting an astounding 200,000 visitors.<br />
Demant had borrowed a gigantic<br />
model of an ear from a health museum in<br />
Dresden as a teaching aid for people visiting<br />
the “Acoustic<strong>on</strong> W. Demant” stand.<br />
He also promoted the systems he had<br />
installed in cinemas, theatres and hospitals.<br />
Science marches in<br />
William Demant was a visi<strong>on</strong>ary who had<br />
a str<strong>on</strong>g desire to incorporate more scientific<br />
methods in his business. He was<br />
quick to acknowledge the necessity of<br />
being able to perform systematic hearing<br />
tests, which were by no means standard<br />
practice at that time. William therefore<br />
imported a machine called an Aurogauge<br />
and employed a young audiometrist to<br />
teach his staff to perform hearing tests<br />
with it. The goal was to get closer to the<br />
individual “hearing curve” to more closely<br />
match people’s needs. William Demant’s<br />
initiatives in the late 1930s were the first<br />
manifestati<strong>on</strong>s of the audiology that would<br />
make Otic<strong>on</strong> a leader in its field in the<br />
decades to come.<br />
The first modern instruments<br />
Hearing aid development moved fast,<br />
spurred by inventi<strong>on</strong>s such as the B<strong>on</strong>e<br />
C<strong>on</strong>ductor. What was unknown at the<br />
time was that the B<strong>on</strong>e C<strong>on</strong>ductor was<br />
very suitable for those whose hearing loss<br />
had arisen from defects in the middle ear<br />
or eardrum. It was thoroughly unsuitable<br />
for sensorineural hearing loss, however,<br />
which is caused by weaknesses in the<br />
mechanisms of the inner ear or in the<br />
hearing nerve.<br />
In the 1930s, Acoustic<strong>on</strong> and two German<br />
manufacturers made further improvements<br />
to the electric hearing aid in areas<br />
O t i c o n i s b o r n<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> 1904 – 2004<br />
For many years, hearing tests were c<strong>on</strong>ducted<br />
with the aid of a tuning fork,<br />
which made them rather haphazard.<br />
William Demant introduced more scientific<br />
methods, and his company was <strong>on</strong>e<br />
of the first in Denmark to import equipment<br />
for hearing tests (today called<br />
audiometers).<br />
Until approximately 1940,<br />
most hearing aids were black,<br />
because most people dressed<br />
in black. Coloured models<br />
would not come until much<br />
later.<br />
19
20<br />
O t i c o n i s b o r n<br />
Chapter 2<br />
At the health exhibiti<strong>on</strong> in Copenhagen in 1939, William Demant displayed his entire<br />
range of hearing aids plus systems for hospitals, churches, restaurants and theatres.
such as sound quality, durability and<br />
effectiveness. Then development really<br />
began to take off. Instruments became<br />
electric thanks, in particular, to the massive<br />
research performed by the American<br />
Army. During this period, amplifiers with<br />
radio valves were introduced into hearing<br />
aids, powered by two batteries. The<br />
valves were brought in from the small,<br />
portable radios the army used.<br />
Danish producti<strong>on</strong><br />
In the 1930s, William Demant produced<br />
parts of hearing aids <strong>on</strong> licence. It was<br />
important for him to acquire the best<br />
equipment in order to produce superior<br />
quality instruments, but importing goods<br />
from the USA was difficult, and delivery<br />
times often protracted. So Demant began<br />
building much of the equipment in Denmark.<br />
In the early summer of 1939, he<br />
imported ten Acoustic<strong>on</strong> instruments.<br />
Since the customs authorities classified<br />
them as radio equipment, the price was<br />
very high, and after five m<strong>on</strong>ths, Demant<br />
was forced to aband<strong>on</strong> trying to sell them.<br />
In 1940, Demant introduced the first<br />
Danish-produced hearing aid, the<br />
Acusticus. It was a copy of an Acoustic<strong>on</strong><br />
model, and Demant had deftly “c<strong>on</strong>jugated”<br />
the American name.<br />
Business was booming for Demant:<br />
Producti<strong>on</strong> of amplifier systems was going<br />
well, which prompted him to take <strong>on</strong><br />
more staff and create a new department<br />
called Acoustic<strong>on</strong> Sound Techniques. In<br />
1939, there were 15 employees in the<br />
company’s new commercial and producti<strong>on</strong><br />
offices in Copenhagen.<br />
Demant <strong>on</strong> the silver screen<br />
In the 1930s – as cinema films gained an<br />
enthusiastic audience – a new market<br />
gradually emerged. In the silent movies,<br />
which reached the height of their popular-<br />
ity in the 1920s, filmmakers would add<br />
small capti<strong>on</strong>s to explain the plot. By the<br />
1930s, the “talkies” began to appear in<br />
Denmark, slowly superseding their silent<br />
predecessors. This made it very difficult<br />
for hearing-impaired people to follow the<br />
plot, which opened a new market for<br />
assistive devices.<br />
William Demant quickly identified this<br />
new problem, and his soluti<strong>on</strong> became<br />
hearing aids for cinemagoers. In September<br />
1930, he received a newsletter from<br />
Dictograph Products, describing a new<br />
product the company was planning to<br />
introduce called the Acoustic<strong>on</strong> Seatph<strong>on</strong>e.<br />
It was tailor-made for cinemas.<br />
O t i c o n i s b o r n<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> 1904 – 2004<br />
Innovative thinking was crucial since it<br />
was not enough to just place a microph<strong>on</strong>e<br />
in fr<strong>on</strong>t of the cinema loudspeakers<br />
and then use the well-known church hearing<br />
aids. The sound the loudspeakers collected<br />
was artificial, which resulted in<br />
much poorer sound quality than was<br />
achievable in churches, where the words<br />
of the minister were captured directly<br />
from his lips. After lengthy negotiati<strong>on</strong>s<br />
with The Radio Corporati<strong>on</strong> of America,<br />
permissi<strong>on</strong> was finally given to “tap” the<br />
signal electr<strong>on</strong>ically, before it reached the<br />
loudspeakers. Sound could then be delivered<br />
directly to the armrests at the base<br />
of the cinema seats for collecti<strong>on</strong> by the<br />
user’s hearing aid.<br />
In 1939, William Demant’s American Acoustic<strong>on</strong> Company employed a staff of 15. Demant was a<br />
demanding employer, but he understood the delicate art of creating a str<strong>on</strong>g company culture.<br />
Each day, when he arrived he did his “morning rounds” and talked with the employees.<br />
21
22<br />
O t i c o n i s b o r n<br />
Chapter 2<br />
A state-of-the-age cinema<br />
In 1937, sketches for a new cinema in<br />
Copenhagen appeared, which audiences<br />
would find to be the most modern of its<br />
kind. Architecturally, the building was a<br />
perfect example of c<strong>on</strong>temporary thinking,<br />
with a large foyer incorporating a<br />
kiosk, a restaurant and child-minding<br />
facilities. The cinema had a hearing aid<br />
system, delivered in time for the 1938<br />
opening by the American Acoustic<strong>on</strong><br />
Company. The cinema was state-of-theage,<br />
with good ventilati<strong>on</strong>, comfortable<br />
seats, well-balanced acoustics and even<br />
an organ that appeared miraculously <strong>on</strong> a<br />
special elevator. There were 28 seats for<br />
hard-of-hearing customers, who could<br />
c<strong>on</strong>nect either an earph<strong>on</strong>e or a b<strong>on</strong>e c<strong>on</strong>ducti<strong>on</strong><br />
unit to the system – both of<br />
which could be borrowed from the pers<strong>on</strong>nel.<br />
HEARING AID INSTALLATIONS<br />
are available in the 14 chairs<br />
marked . Under the armrests,<br />
double plugs provide c<strong>on</strong>necti<strong>on</strong>s<br />
for 28 seats. For 10 of these, the<br />
theatre can supply either a B<strong>on</strong>e<br />
C<strong>on</strong>ductor or an earpiece with a<br />
volume c<strong>on</strong>trol. The remaining 18<br />
seats are reserved for hearing-<br />
impaired visitors with own<br />
instruments. More than 1,200<br />
cinemas worldwide are equipped<br />
with Acoustic<strong>on</strong> Installati<strong>on</strong>s for<br />
the hearing-impaired.<br />
CALL FOR AN OFFER.
In the 1920s, “talkies” began to supersede silent movies, and audiences could listen to Charlie<br />
Chaplin instead of having to follow the plot <strong>on</strong> capti<strong>on</strong> boards. However, this caused problems for<br />
people with hearing loss. In 1938, the Palladium cinema opened in Copenhagen, where – with the<br />
aid of William Demant’s “Acoustic<strong>on</strong> Seatph<strong>on</strong>e” – hearing-impaired people could follow the<br />
soundtrack from specially modified seats.<br />
Radio systems for hospitals<br />
William Demant’s inventiveness also<br />
manifested itself in the form of stati<strong>on</strong>ary<br />
amplifiers. In the beginning of 1938,<br />
Demant negotiated with the public<br />
authorities in Copenhagen to install a<br />
complete radio system for residents at a<br />
large nursing home. His idea was to place<br />
the earph<strong>on</strong>e <strong>on</strong> the patient’s pillow,<br />
behind the ear, so that the sound would<br />
<strong>on</strong>ly be heard by that pers<strong>on</strong>. This was<br />
the perfect soluti<strong>on</strong> for hospital wards<br />
where peace and quiet were essential.<br />
Demant was bursting with ideas for new<br />
applicati<strong>on</strong>s for hearing aids. In the mid-<br />
30s, he asked Dictograph Products<br />
whether it would be possible to mount a<br />
hearing aid <strong>on</strong> a barbershop stool, because<br />
a hairdresser wanted to be able to play the<br />
radio for customers during their haircut or<br />
shave. Demant also talked to the President<br />
of the Danish State Railways about the<br />
possibility of installing earph<strong>on</strong>es in<br />
express diesel-trains so that passengers<br />
could listen to the radio without disturbing<br />
other travellers. Even though far from<br />
all of William Demant’s ideas reached<br />
maturity, they do c<strong>on</strong>vey an accurate<br />
impressi<strong>on</strong> of how creative this gentleman<br />
really was.<br />
World War and occupati<strong>on</strong><br />
During the 1930s, it became clear to the<br />
European governments that the political<br />
situati<strong>on</strong> in Germany was taking a turn for<br />
O t i c o n i s b o r n<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> 1904 – 2004<br />
The American Acoustic<strong>on</strong> Company and William<br />
Demant came up with many imaginative ideas and<br />
marketing campaigns. What could be more amazing<br />
than being able to c<strong>on</strong>tinue listening to the radio,<br />
while the band of the Danish Life Guards marched<br />
through the ward?<br />
23
24<br />
O t i c o n i s b o r n<br />
Chapter 2<br />
the worse. The Nazis were becoming more<br />
aggressive, and it was <strong>on</strong>ly a matter of<br />
time before the regi<strong>on</strong> erupted. On 1<br />
September 1939, German troops invaded<br />
Poland, which immediately provoked a<br />
declarati<strong>on</strong> of war by England and France.<br />
World War II was a reality, and squadr<strong>on</strong>s<br />
of heavy German bombers dr<strong>on</strong>ed over<br />
Copenhagen <strong>on</strong> 9 April 1940. The Nazis<br />
occupied Denmark, and Danes felt the<br />
c<strong>on</strong>sequences immediately. The government<br />
introduced rati<strong>on</strong>ing and prices skyrocketed.<br />
Germany had taken complete<br />
c<strong>on</strong>trol of Denmark, which also meant<br />
dominance over its commercial life.<br />
Employers and employees had to accept<br />
that hard times lie ahead.<br />
“Send word via Siberia…”<br />
When war struck Denmark, William<br />
Demant was forced to find new creative<br />
ways to produce and sell hearing aids.<br />
The situati<strong>on</strong> in Scandinavia was chaotic,<br />
to put it mildly. All corresp<strong>on</strong>dence<br />
between the USA and William Demant<br />
went via a stock-cube factory in<br />
Helsingborg in Sweden. On 22 May 1940,<br />
Demant wrote to Dictograph Products in<br />
the USA describing the c<strong>on</strong>diti<strong>on</strong>s: “The<br />
situati<strong>on</strong> is not very encouraging. Most<br />
trade is paralyzed, with the excepti<strong>on</strong> of<br />
foodstuffs. People in the Oslo office<br />
seemed hopeful, but I have heard nothing<br />
from them in over a m<strong>on</strong>th. The Scandinavians<br />
believe that this war will last for<br />
about four years. Unfortunately, our stocks<br />
of Acoustic<strong>on</strong> instruments will <strong>on</strong>ly last<br />
between 9 and 12 m<strong>on</strong>ths. I have c<strong>on</strong>sidered<br />
becoming the agent for Siemens,<br />
even though their products are inferior to<br />
the Acoustic<strong>on</strong>. I would <strong>on</strong>ly do this to<br />
maintain sales and keep my people in<br />
World War II and Denmark’s occupati<strong>on</strong> had serious c<strong>on</strong>sequences for William Demant.
employment, until supplies of the Acoustic<strong>on</strong><br />
instrument recommence. We can<br />
<strong>on</strong>ly import instruments from Germany,<br />
since all imports from England, France<br />
and the USA have been blocked. Please<br />
send word via Siberia and Italy, since we<br />
may still be able to receive goods from<br />
there.”<br />
Own producti<strong>on</strong> in the shadow of war<br />
By 18 September, Demant was no l<strong>on</strong>ger<br />
able to import goods from the USA, and<br />
he wrote to Dictograph Products again. To<br />
avoid shutting down his offices in Copenhagen,<br />
Oslo and Helsinki, he had begun to<br />
produce parts for the latest Acoustic<strong>on</strong><br />
instrument in Denmark. In his letter, he<br />
writes: “To survive I must c<strong>on</strong>sider<br />
becoming an agent for any product that<br />
might be offered me. We expect to make at<br />
least 1,000 instruments per year. Sales in<br />
Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland<br />
have exceeded 500. Add to this, whatever<br />
we are allowed to sell in Holland, Belgium,<br />
Italy and perhaps France, plus<br />
whatever comes out of the new agencies<br />
in Switzerland, Rumania and Bulgaria.<br />
We are also looking at Germany as a<br />
potential market.”<br />
C<strong>on</strong>tinuing the relati<strong>on</strong>ship with Dictograph<br />
Products was difficult, and in order<br />
to reach a clear agreement William<br />
Demant asked his brother Hans, who lived<br />
in New York, to meet them and explain<br />
the situati<strong>on</strong>. Danish stocks had run dry,<br />
and there were no products to sell, so<br />
Demant decided to produce the instruments<br />
himself. Previously, his business<br />
had been built <strong>on</strong> imports from abroad,<br />
which had been given a Danish touch in<br />
the form of packaging and user instructi<strong>on</strong>s.<br />
World War II indirectly paved the way for<br />
Demant’s so-called “Model K”. As Demant<br />
O t i c o n i s b o r n<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> 1904 – 2004<br />
Because of shortages caused by World War II, William Demant decided to produce his own hearing aids.<br />
After the war, these became so popular that Demant began an export business. In 1950, the company<br />
moved producti<strong>on</strong> to a new locati<strong>on</strong>, and the offices in central Copenhagen doubled in size.<br />
writes: “It was marvellous to see the first<br />
Danish instruments become a reality.<br />
They became an immediate success, and<br />
in additi<strong>on</strong> to excellent sales <strong>on</strong> the<br />
domestic market, we are beginning to sell<br />
to Holland, France and Italy.”<br />
Jew transports<br />
Demant felt the effects of the war in more<br />
ways than <strong>on</strong>e: In 1943, a young Jewish<br />
gentleman by the name of Heinz Hess<br />
visited Demant’s offices. Demant’s lawyer,<br />
Alfred Levins<strong>on</strong>, had arranged the meeting.<br />
Hess had heard that Demant was well<br />
c<strong>on</strong>nected and that he knew of a naval<br />
officer in Copenhagen who was helping<br />
refugees escape to Sweden. Heinz Hess<br />
lived with three other young Jews in<br />
Denmark, and he wanted to escape to<br />
Sweden and travel <strong>on</strong>wards to England to<br />
join the Internati<strong>on</strong>al Brigade. William<br />
Demant set up the meeting, but the escape<br />
25
26<br />
O t i c o n i s b o r n<br />
Chapter 2<br />
failed. Hess writes: “Before I had a chance<br />
to reach the disembarkati<strong>on</strong> point the<br />
Gestapo arrived. I managed to escape for a<br />
while, but they caught me and sent me to<br />
Theresienstadt.” Unfortunately, although<br />
Hess survived his impris<strong>on</strong>ment at the<br />
c<strong>on</strong>centrati<strong>on</strong> camp, his colleagues did<br />
not. Some<strong>on</strong>e had betrayed them – but<br />
later <strong>on</strong>, it turned out that it was not<br />
Demant’s c<strong>on</strong>tact.<br />
William Demant now fell under the scrutiny<br />
of the enemy, and a few days later,<br />
Charles Lehmann and<br />
William Demant established<br />
American Danish<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> (later Otic<strong>on</strong>) in<br />
1946. Demant valued<br />
Lehmann’s friendship<br />
greatly, and he visited him<br />
in the USA many times.<br />
The photo of Lehmann was<br />
a gift, which Demant kept<br />
in his office until he died.<br />
the Germans ransacked his home. Demant<br />
was out at the time, and since they were<br />
unable to find anything incriminating, the<br />
Germans took <strong>on</strong>e half of every pair of his<br />
shoes and burned them in the street outside.<br />
William despised the Nazis, and<br />
when his sister married a Nazi sympathizer,<br />
William washed his hands of her<br />
completely.<br />
Against all odds and thanks to new producti<strong>on</strong><br />
in Denmark, William Demant<br />
managed not <strong>on</strong>ly to lead the company<br />
safely through World War II but also to<br />
earn a living. The company sold more<br />
than 100 instruments per year and no <strong>on</strong>e<br />
lost their job. The rented offices in Copenhagen<br />
were a hive of activity, with the<br />
ground floor acting as a showroom with<br />
display cases full of hearing aids. The<br />
fourth floor housed the administrative and<br />
producti<strong>on</strong> departments, where <strong>on</strong>e engineer<br />
supervised a small team of ladies<br />
who welded and screwed the instruments<br />
together. Four days after Liberati<strong>on</strong> Day <strong>on</strong><br />
5 May 1945, Demant received a telegram<br />
from Dictograph Products in the USA with<br />
the words: “Our heartiest c<strong>on</strong>gratulati<strong>on</strong>s<br />
<strong>on</strong> the peace in Europe.”<br />
Copenhagen to New York – return<br />
By the end of World War II, the world was<br />
a different place. The western world had<br />
experienced changes the likes of which no<br />
<strong>on</strong>e had ever seen before. The first few<br />
post-war years c<strong>on</strong>tinued to be hard, with<br />
rati<strong>on</strong>ing and a general scarcity of goods.<br />
William Demant applied for Marshall Aid<br />
to kick-start producti<strong>on</strong>. Former accountant<br />
and Chairman of the Board, Palle<br />
Rasmussen, helped to formulate the applicati<strong>on</strong>:<br />
“Almost every<strong>on</strong>e back then<br />
received Marshall Aid, but not William<br />
Demant. He reinvested all the m<strong>on</strong>ey he<br />
earned and saved nothing at all. And<br />
that’s why they refused him,” recalls Palle<br />
Rasmussen.<br />
In 1946, William Demant joined forces<br />
with American hearing aid manufacturer,<br />
Charles Lehmann, who also was fascinated<br />
by the technological developments in<br />
the field of audiology. Lehmann was<br />
Demant’s close pers<strong>on</strong>al friend and the exmanager<br />
of Dictograph Products. Together<br />
they founded the American Danish Otic<strong>on</strong><br />
Company, with headquarters in Copenhagen.<br />
The agreement made Lehmann<br />
resp<strong>on</strong>sible for purchasing the hearing aid
comp<strong>on</strong>ents and shipping them to<br />
Denmark.<br />
When imports of American hearing aids<br />
began again, Dictograph Products no<br />
l<strong>on</strong>ger wanted Demant to be a licenced<br />
manufacturer. Following a visit to New<br />
York in 1946, Demant returned with<br />
enough comp<strong>on</strong>ents for 500 instruments<br />
in his luggage. These were transformed<br />
into the very first Otic<strong>on</strong> instrument – the<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> TA.<br />
A sales tour through Russia<br />
During the period 1904 to 1939, Otic<strong>on</strong><br />
focused <strong>on</strong> importing rather than exporting<br />
hearing aids. In 1947, tthe company<br />
finally began its first exporting activity<br />
– initially within Scandinavia <strong>on</strong>ly. But<br />
Demant was ever <strong>on</strong> the lookout for new<br />
opportunities. In 1947-48, he went to<br />
Russia <strong>on</strong> a sales trip. He began in Finland,<br />
where he hired a translator who<br />
could accompany him <strong>on</strong> his journey.<br />
Together the two men travelled from<br />
St. Petersburg to Moscow and <strong>on</strong> to the<br />
Black Sea, selling instruments as they<br />
went. They lived the high life al<strong>on</strong>g the<br />
way, as Demant enjoyed parties and<br />
socializing. When the trip ended in<br />
Helsinki, Demant expected the translator<br />
to demand a sky-high fee for his help.<br />
Instead, the man thanked him profusely<br />
for the greatest experience of his life.<br />
Both the journey and the parties had been<br />
more than payment enough.<br />
William Demant earned plenty of m<strong>on</strong>ey<br />
in Russia, and he became determined to<br />
expand the internati<strong>on</strong>al sales network<br />
even further. In 1949, he employed two<br />
managers, but he had no intenti<strong>on</strong> of becoming<br />
less active himself. One manager<br />
was the young Erik Westermann, who<br />
became Export Manager, and the other<br />
was Christian Tøpholm, who became<br />
Factory Manager. “My brother, Per<br />
Westermann, already worked as a<br />
Commercial Artist for Mr. Demant, and<br />
prior to my interview, he was kind enough<br />
to send me some Otic<strong>on</strong> brochures, so I was<br />
well prepared. This impressedWilliam<br />
Demant,” Erik Westermann recalls. “He<br />
also allowed me to write the company’s<br />
sales letters, of which I remember <strong>on</strong>e in<br />
particular: It showed a picture of dozens<br />
of hearing aids, all stacked up in a pyramid<br />
with a capti<strong>on</strong> that read: “This is how<br />
many Siemens instruments we have seen<br />
returned.” The copy was a bit risky, but<br />
back then people would use any trick in<br />
the book to make a sale,” says Erik<br />
Westermann.<br />
A well-timed expansi<strong>on</strong><br />
Otic<strong>on</strong>’s transiti<strong>on</strong> from dealer to manufacturing<br />
company had g<strong>on</strong>e smoothly,<br />
and the budding export business and sales<br />
of the Otic<strong>on</strong> TA now tripled the company’s<br />
turnover. In 1950, William Demant<br />
moved producti<strong>on</strong> to a new site in<br />
Copenhagen.<br />
The timing could not have been better,<br />
because <strong>on</strong> 1 April 1951 the government<br />
decided that all hearing-impaired people<br />
O t i c o n i s b o r n<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> 1904 – 2004<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong>’s first hearing aid.<br />
The name Otic<strong>on</strong> was taken from the Greek<br />
word “Oti”, meaning “Ear”, and the Latin word<br />
“C<strong>on</strong>”, meaning “With”. Literally translated,<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> means “with ear”.<br />
In 1950, Otic<strong>on</strong>’s<br />
audiologists<br />
toured the entire<br />
country offering<br />
c<strong>on</strong>sultati<strong>on</strong>s at<br />
hotels and inns.<br />
27
28<br />
O t i c o n i s b o r n<br />
Chapter 2<br />
In 1951, producti<strong>on</strong> was running smoothly, and Otic<strong>on</strong> was able to release an export catalogue in English. The following<br />
year, Otic<strong>on</strong> tried to c<strong>on</strong>quer the American market. At the 1952 Internati<strong>on</strong>al Hearing Aid Associati<strong>on</strong>’s C<strong>on</strong>venti<strong>on</strong><br />
in Chicago, Otic<strong>on</strong> exhibited its products thanks to the invaluable support of Charles Lehmann.<br />
in Denmark should be offered a hearing<br />
aid through the health insurance system.<br />
In the beginning of 1951, the government<br />
set up an organizati<strong>on</strong> where users, manufacturers,<br />
handicap insurance companies<br />
and lip-reading schools were all represented.<br />
The so-called Hard-of-Hearing<br />
Law ensured that any Danish citizen<br />
between the ages of 16 and 67 could get a<br />
hearing aid free-of-charge. The idea had<br />
been copied from England, where hearing<br />
tests and state-manufactured hearing aids<br />
had been free-of-charge since 1948.<br />
Hearing-impaired Danes welcomed this<br />
move, and enquiries about hearing aids<br />
streamed in. Within a relatively short<br />
time, 7,000 Danes had requested a free<br />
c<strong>on</strong>sultati<strong>on</strong>. The Danish hearing <strong>care</strong><br />
centres were unable to meet demand, and<br />
the waiting time so<strong>on</strong> exceeded <strong>on</strong>e year.<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> takes the lead<br />
The creati<strong>on</strong> of the Hearing Service<br />
placed new demands <strong>on</strong> hearing aid<br />
manufacturers. In Denmark, there were<br />
two manufacturers: Danavox, which specialized<br />
in electro-acoustic devices<br />
(including hearing aids), and Otic<strong>on</strong>. But<br />
products from Siemens, the German hearing<br />
aid manufacturer, were also available<br />
<strong>on</strong> the Danish market. Unlike England,<br />
where hearing aids were produced by the<br />
state, it was decided that Denmark would<br />
benefit from competiti<strong>on</strong> between companies.<br />
Denmark had become an internati<strong>on</strong>al<br />
leader not <strong>on</strong>ly in terms of technology<br />
but also public service initiatives. The<br />
future looked bright for Otic<strong>on</strong>, which<br />
– thanks to many years of experience, a<br />
broader producti<strong>on</strong> selecti<strong>on</strong> and an open<br />
domestic market – had become the leader<br />
in Denmark. Exports were also <strong>on</strong> the<br />
increase: Otic<strong>on</strong>’s primary market was<br />
Europe, while its sec<strong>on</strong>dary markets<br />
included the USA and South America.<br />
Exports rose from 582,752 kr<strong>on</strong>er in 1949<br />
to more than 1 milli<strong>on</strong> kr<strong>on</strong>er in 1952,<br />
despite exorbitant customs tariffs that,<br />
price-wise, made it difficult to compete<br />
<strong>on</strong> the American market.<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> also encountered some problems:<br />
In the beginning of the 1950s, the Danish<br />
Associati<strong>on</strong> for the Hard-of-Hearing had<br />
promised the government that they could<br />
handle the market for government-issued
hearing aids. The government therefore<br />
took over the distributi<strong>on</strong> of these instruments,<br />
but because of this, the c<strong>on</strong>tributi<strong>on</strong><br />
margin of 800 kr<strong>on</strong>er <strong>on</strong> an ordinary<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> instrument completely disappeared.<br />
The sales price dropped to 200 kr<strong>on</strong>er.<br />
William Demant was terrified at the prospect<br />
of such losses, and not without<br />
reas<strong>on</strong>. At a public tender, Otic<strong>on</strong>’s main<br />
competitor, Danavox, w<strong>on</strong> an order for<br />
1,500 hearing aids – the equivalent of <strong>on</strong>e<br />
year’s worth of sales at Otic<strong>on</strong>. To survive,<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> expanded the export market,<br />
which helped the company to successfully<br />
ride out this particular storm.<br />
Instruments go behind the ear<br />
By 1953, technology was developing rapidly.<br />
The transistor was used for the first<br />
time in hearing aids, making them a good<br />
deal lighter. Instruments became cheaper,<br />
more effective and smaller. They also used<br />
far less battery power than their larger,<br />
clumsier predecessors. The transistor also<br />
provided more room for creativity: From<br />
early body-worn models, hearing aids<br />
worked their way up to a breast pocket,<br />
and from there to various sites around the<br />
head. Microph<strong>on</strong>es could even be built<br />
into the middle pearl of a pearl necklace.<br />
The cable ran parallel to the string of the<br />
necklace, ending near the ear where the<br />
rest of the instrument was located. People<br />
were very innovative, and hearing aids<br />
were camouflaged in tie pins, hair slides<br />
and hair bands right up until the 1960s.<br />
Shortly after, the first Behind-the-Ear<br />
(BTE) instrument was introduced. The<br />
ear-worn part of the instrument, about the<br />
size of a cigarette lighter, was not particularly<br />
attractive. But the combinati<strong>on</strong> of<br />
size, durability and the fact that they were<br />
easier to manage when worn behind the<br />
ear was unbeatable, and this type of<br />
instrument is still in producti<strong>on</strong> today.<br />
O t i c o n i s b o r n<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> 1904 – 2004<br />
The Otic<strong>on</strong> T3 was introduced in 1953 and was <strong>on</strong>e of Europe’s first transistorized instruments.<br />
Former Otic<strong>on</strong> employee, 72-year-old Anders Quitzau, remembers this breakthrough as he<br />
gazes at a small leather-covered box with a velvet trim: “The T3 was designed by Engineer<br />
Jensen, so they christened it “Model Jensen” internally. At the Christmas party in 1953,<br />
Mr. Demant gave us a Christmas b<strong>on</strong>us in a Model Jensen box. We all got a b<strong>on</strong>us, the<br />
equivalent of a whole m<strong>on</strong>th’s pay.”<br />
29
Chapter 3<br />
The “Gang of Four”<br />
Bengt Danielsen (Financial C<strong>on</strong>troller), Henning Mønsted Sørensen<br />
(Export Manager), Bent Sim<strong>on</strong>sen (Sales Manager) and Torben E. Nielsen<br />
(Chief Engineer).
The “Gang<br />
of Four”<br />
In 1954, Otic<strong>on</strong> celebrated its 50th Jubilee<br />
in great style. On 8 June, all 150 employees<br />
were invited to dine at a fashi<strong>on</strong>able<br />
restaurant in Copenhagen. They looked<br />
back with pride <strong>on</strong> half a century of<br />
achievement. The company had become<br />
the preferred supplier of instruments to<br />
the Danish hearing centres and had,<br />
through scientific and technological innovati<strong>on</strong>s,<br />
made life easier for many thousands<br />
of hearing-impaired people.<br />
To celebrate its 50th Jubilee, Otic<strong>on</strong> published<br />
a small booklet. William Demant<br />
wrote the preface, in which he described<br />
how his father’s desire to alleviate his<br />
mother’s hearing loss motivated him to<br />
found the company.<br />
Structural changes<br />
The next few years would be decisive for<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong>. The company would enter a fastergrowing<br />
market, take <strong>on</strong> new employees,<br />
change its organizati<strong>on</strong>al structure – even<br />
its management. In 1956, Otic<strong>on</strong>’s turnover<br />
had grown to almost 4 milli<strong>on</strong> kr<strong>on</strong>er. The<br />
company had always been family-owned,<br />
but in 1957, it became a limited company<br />
– Aktieselskabet William Demant. Demant<br />
transferred the family shares to the<br />
William Demants og Hustru Ida Emilies<br />
F<strong>on</strong>d (the Otic<strong>on</strong> Foundati<strong>on</strong>), which<br />
became the new owner of the company.<br />
According to the charter, the purpose of<br />
the Foundati<strong>on</strong> was “to ensure that all<br />
future profits are invested, partly in<br />
T h e “ G a n g o f F o u r ”<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> 1904 – 2004<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong>’s employees enjoying their Jubilee dinner at the Nimb restaurant in Copenhagen in 1954.<br />
research and development in areas that<br />
seek to compensate for hearing loss, and<br />
partly in past and present employees and<br />
their families”.<br />
Demant loses a fight<br />
William Demant was approaching 70, and<br />
from time to time, his str<strong>on</strong>g pers<strong>on</strong>ality<br />
caused c<strong>on</strong>flicts. In 1956, he had a serious<br />
disagreement with his two managers,<br />
Christian Tøpholm and Erik Westermann.<br />
It culminated in both of them leaving<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> to start Denmark’s third hearing<br />
company – Widex. The “divorce” went far<br />
from smoothly. Christian Tøpholm had<br />
been the technician who had optimized<br />
producti<strong>on</strong>, and Erik Westermann had<br />
been the salesman with all the c<strong>on</strong>tacts.<br />
31
32<br />
T h e “ G a n g o f F o u r ”<br />
Chapter 3<br />
In 1958, when William Demant<br />
turned 70, he began a slow<br />
withdrawal from the company’s<br />
everyday affairs. But it<br />
was not until 1968 that he<br />
officially relinquished his<br />
post, and Bent Sim<strong>on</strong>sen<br />
took over as President.<br />
Shop windows with hearing<br />
aid displays were a comm<strong>on</strong>place<br />
sight <strong>on</strong> the high<br />
streets. This is how Otic<strong>on</strong> displayed<br />
its products in 1960.<br />
The “Gang of Four”<br />
William Demant began searching for a<br />
successor, to whom he could entrust the<br />
future of the company. Otic<strong>on</strong> was now<br />
managed by Bengt Danielsen (Financial<br />
C<strong>on</strong>troller), Henning Mønsted Sørensen<br />
(Export Manager), Torben E. Nielsen<br />
(Chief Engineer) and Bent Sim<strong>on</strong>sen<br />
(Sales Manager). As managers they were<br />
all relatively young – between the ages of<br />
29 and 33 – and they were quickly nicknamed<br />
the “Gang of Four”.<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong>’s internati<strong>on</strong>al expansi<strong>on</strong>, emerging<br />
technologies and the broadening of<br />
producti<strong>on</strong> and distributi<strong>on</strong> had become<br />
too much for Demant to manage al<strong>on</strong>e. He<br />
was getting older, and his business philosophy<br />
and customer c<strong>on</strong>tacts no l<strong>on</strong>ger<br />
matched a growing internati<strong>on</strong>al company.<br />
Demant transferred more and more<br />
resp<strong>on</strong>sibility to his four directors, recognizing<br />
the need to build a professi<strong>on</strong>al<br />
organizati<strong>on</strong> and distributi<strong>on</strong> network<br />
with agents and subsidiary companies.<br />
Henning Mønsted Sørensen joined the<br />
Sales Department in 1954. “I remember<br />
that I often had to help out in the shop,<br />
selling batteries to customers,” says<br />
Sørensen. Two years later, Torben E.<br />
Nielsen was hired as Laboratory Engineer<br />
in the Development Department – the<br />
same year that Bent Sim<strong>on</strong>sen became<br />
Sales Manager at the age of 30.<br />
Bent Sim<strong>on</strong>sen became Demant’s chosen<br />
successor, and in 1959, he was appointed<br />
Executive Vice President. Sim<strong>on</strong>sen had<br />
served with the Foreign Service, and his<br />
elegant demeanour and excellent language<br />
skills had impressed Demant to such a<br />
degree that he hired him virtually <strong>on</strong><br />
sight. Bent Sim<strong>on</strong>sen swiftly became a<br />
key player at Otic<strong>on</strong>. He prepared guidelines<br />
and budgets for sales and producti<strong>on</strong>,<br />
and he organized regular meetings<br />
between Otic<strong>on</strong>’s many departments. He<br />
was good at nurturing his c<strong>on</strong>tacts both in<br />
Denmark and abroad and particularly<br />
skilled at maintaining good relati<strong>on</strong>s with
the Danish Hearing System. Such qualities<br />
were crucial to Otic<strong>on</strong> in the 1960s.<br />
The “Gang of Four” managed Otic<strong>on</strong> for<br />
three decades – from the Swinging Sixties<br />
to the waning eighties.<br />
New opportunities<br />
The Swinging Sixties actually began in<br />
1958 with a str<strong>on</strong>g ec<strong>on</strong>omic surge that<br />
washed over the entire western world. A<br />
wave of industrializati<strong>on</strong> shifted the<br />
dynamics from agriculture to industry,<br />
and internati<strong>on</strong>al trade blossomed. The<br />
1960s turned Denmark and the rest of<br />
western society upside down. For the<br />
individual, it meant more prosperity,<br />
more financial freedom and access to<br />
material goods the like of which few<br />
people had ever experienced before.<br />
And the Danes purchased everything<br />
from detached houses to cars, fridges<br />
and freezers.<br />
The ec<strong>on</strong>omic boom of the 1960s and<br />
growth in the domestic market propelled<br />
by government purchases of hearing aids<br />
was a development Otic<strong>on</strong> could feel. In<br />
the late 1950s, the company had already<br />
acknowledged the fact that the old factory<br />
was run down and that more elbowroom<br />
was needed. Otic<strong>on</strong> began looking for<br />
larger premises. Relocati<strong>on</strong> took place in<br />
July 1961.<br />
In 1962, a journalist from Codan Magazine<br />
arrived to interview William Demant<br />
about Otic<strong>on</strong> and its new building, the<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> House. It was <strong>on</strong>e of the most<br />
modern c<strong>on</strong>temporary buildings, with<br />
three floors, 3,000 m 2 of floor space and<br />
room for 300 employees. As the journalist<br />
writes: “We are sitting in Mr. Demant’s<br />
private office in Otic<strong>on</strong>’s factory in the<br />
leafy industrial estate of Lersøparken.<br />
Apart from the low hum of machinery<br />
emanating from somewhere in the building,<br />
this place seems pleasantly quiet.<br />
Now and then, sounds penetrate from outside<br />
– a car passing by or a voice from the<br />
neighbouring building site.”<br />
Denmark, the Welfare State<br />
During the 1960s, Denmark became not<br />
<strong>on</strong>ly a more prosperous society but also a<br />
welfare state. Public services increased<br />
al<strong>on</strong>g with budgets, and new thinking in<br />
the field of socio-political norms, principles<br />
and ideologies helped to set a new<br />
course for the future. The goal was to<br />
create social security, and it involved<br />
many changes in legislati<strong>on</strong>. The social<br />
security net was strengthened, a law was<br />
passed <strong>on</strong> public <strong>care</strong>, health insurance<br />
revisi<strong>on</strong>s were made, and social security<br />
benefits were increased.<br />
Denmark was a pi<strong>on</strong>eer within hearing<br />
health<strong>care</strong>, but the system came under<br />
pressure not <strong>on</strong>ly from the general public<br />
but also financially. In the 1950s, the<br />
Ministry of Social Affairs had established<br />
three state hearing centres, whose brief<br />
was to perform examinati<strong>on</strong>s with a view<br />
to providing free hearing instruments.<br />
“When I began working at the State<br />
Hearing Centre in the mid-60, the waiting<br />
lists were horrendous. After the hearing<br />
test, people were given the instruments<br />
the Hearing Centre recommended – which<br />
were not necessarily the <strong>on</strong>es they would<br />
have preferred,” explains Kurt Danielsen,<br />
a speech and hearing therapist at Otic<strong>on</strong><br />
in Denmark. The Ministry of Social<br />
Affairs hoped that three hearing centres<br />
would be sufficient to meet people’s<br />
needs, but the waiting lists indicated<br />
otherwise. Despite a well-structured<br />
Hearing Service, people sought Otic<strong>on</strong>’s<br />
help when it came to hearing aids. The<br />
service the company offered was popular<br />
– and free – and it still exists today.<br />
T h e “ G a n g o f F o u r ”<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> 1904 – 2004<br />
With the ec<strong>on</strong>omic boom and the<br />
fast-growing market for hearing<br />
aids, the decisi<strong>on</strong> to move to a<br />
new factory was perfectly timed.<br />
William Demant was proud. Well<br />
before the building work commenced,<br />
he displayed a model of<br />
the new factory in his office. In<br />
1961, he took Executive Vice<br />
President Bent Sim<strong>on</strong>sen to see<br />
the building. The two men had no<br />
idea that after just three years,<br />
they would need to expand yet<br />
again. In 1964 and 1967, parts of<br />
producti<strong>on</strong> were relocated to new<br />
offices in Copenhagen.<br />
33
34<br />
T h e “ G a n g o f F o u r ”<br />
Chapter 3<br />
The history of the hearing<br />
therapists dates back to<br />
1959, when the Hearing<br />
Service collaborated with the<br />
Royal Danish School of<br />
Educati<strong>on</strong>al Studies to create<br />
a course that would qualify<br />
teachers to offer hearing<br />
therapy and speech less<strong>on</strong>s<br />
to adults and children. These<br />
teachers were to help hearing-impaired<br />
children cope<br />
with a normal school day.<br />
In 1962, the Associati<strong>on</strong> for the Hard-of-<br />
Hearing celebrated its 50th Jubilee and took<br />
this opportunity to change its name to<br />
something more c<strong>on</strong>temporary: The<br />
Nati<strong>on</strong>al Associati<strong>on</strong> for Better Hearing.<br />
Technology evolves<br />
At Otic<strong>on</strong>, producti<strong>on</strong> was in full swing<br />
and new instruments were released every<br />
year. The quality improved in step with<br />
technology and instruments became smaller.<br />
This pleased the customers, who had<br />
always wanted more discreet instruments.<br />
“The small, triple-transistor instrument<br />
– the Otic<strong>on</strong> T3 – waves goodbye to the<br />
last 50 years and heralds a new era in<br />
hearing aids,” writes William Demant in<br />
1954. It was the transistor that provided<br />
new opportunities to shift the hearing aid<br />
from the chest to behind the ear.<br />
Cosmetics were not the <strong>on</strong>ly reas<strong>on</strong> for<br />
this development; from an audiological<br />
perspective there was also much to gain,<br />
since the closer the instrument was to the<br />
ear, the closer the microph<strong>on</strong>e would be<br />
to the entrance of the ear canal. This was<br />
the optimal positi<strong>on</strong> for a hearing aid<br />
because it provided better sound quality.<br />
The new instruments could also be adjusted<br />
to provide a closer match to the hearing<br />
loss. With the aid of a small screw <strong>on</strong><br />
the instrument, the audiologist could<br />
adjust the frequency resp<strong>on</strong>se so that<br />
people with severe hearing loss in the<br />
high frequencies would receive more<br />
volume for treble t<strong>on</strong>es and thereby a<br />
more tailor-made sound picture.<br />
Of the many new instruments introduced<br />
by Otic<strong>on</strong>, <strong>on</strong>e in particular was reas<strong>on</strong>ably<br />
priced and fulfilled all quality requirements.<br />
It was based <strong>on</strong> a new technique<br />
called Printed Circuitry, whereby layers of<br />
copper allowed the electrical c<strong>on</strong>necti<strong>on</strong>s<br />
between the individual comp<strong>on</strong>ents to be<br />
placed neatly <strong>on</strong> a board, thereby avoiding<br />
dozens of loose wires. This reduced the<br />
price per unit c<strong>on</strong>siderably, and in order<br />
to win a tender launched for 10,000 BTE’s,<br />
Bent Sim<strong>on</strong>sen dropped the price even<br />
further. The strategy worked, and Otic<strong>on</strong>
w<strong>on</strong> the tender. “Hearing glasses” crafted<br />
from celluloid were also selling well.<br />
These were some of the first spectacles in<br />
the world to accommodate an entire hearing<br />
aid <strong>on</strong> <strong>on</strong>e side bar.<br />
The next technological milest<strong>on</strong>e was the<br />
transiti<strong>on</strong> from Behind-the-Ear (BTE) instruments<br />
to In-the-Ear (ITE) styles. The<br />
first ITE’s arrived in the late 1960s, primarily<br />
from the USA, but the problem<br />
was that performance-wise, they were<br />
technologically inferior. The quality of the<br />
battery, microph<strong>on</strong>e and sounding body<br />
could not match that of their larger BTE<br />
counterparts. The first Danish ITE models<br />
were not even particularly discreet. One<br />
ear doctor, who actually suffered from<br />
hearing loss, said: “They look like some<br />
kind of disease that’s <strong>on</strong> its way out of the<br />
ear! I wouldn’t dream of wearing such an<br />
instrument myself.” Not until the end of<br />
the 1970s would technology support an<br />
improvement in the standard of ITE<br />
instruments.<br />
Tough competiti<strong>on</strong>, locally and globally<br />
The hearing aid industry found itself in<br />
an internati<strong>on</strong>al market characterized by<br />
str<strong>on</strong>g growth. With a solid domestic<br />
“Hearing glasses”<br />
gained popularity very<br />
quickly. One of the<br />
best-known Danish<br />
actors of the period,<br />
Poul Bundgaard,<br />
would wear no other<br />
type of instrument,<br />
because for many<br />
years they were the<br />
most “invisible” of<br />
their kind.<br />
T h e “ G a n g o f F o u r ”<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> 1904 – 2004<br />
Smaller instruments and more up-todate<br />
marketing were just some of the<br />
developments of the 1950s. In<br />
Denmark, the State Hearing Centres<br />
chose to purchase instruments<br />
through public tender. This arrangement<br />
placed great demands <strong>on</strong> the<br />
quality of Otic<strong>on</strong>’s instruments, and<br />
rigorous quality checks had to be performed.<br />
market supported by public funds, plus a<br />
technologically competent workforce,<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> gained a flying head start <strong>on</strong> its<br />
internati<strong>on</strong>al competitors. Denmark was<br />
firmly <strong>on</strong> the world map when it came to<br />
hearing aids. In the 1960s, between 20<br />
and 25 percent of sales went to the three<br />
Danish companies: Danavox, Widex and<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong>. Otic<strong>on</strong> was the largest of the<br />
three, generating 14 to 15 percent of the<br />
world’s total producti<strong>on</strong> of instruments.<br />
Competiti<strong>on</strong> in the industry increased,<br />
and every year there was a race between<br />
manufacturers to produce the smallest,<br />
most effective instruments. The three<br />
Danish manufacturers made improvements<br />
and developed new technological<br />
soluti<strong>on</strong>s, and did so in tight competiti<strong>on</strong>.<br />
Collaborati<strong>on</strong> pays off<br />
In 1963, at the suggesti<strong>on</strong> of the State<br />
Hearing Centres, Otic<strong>on</strong>, Widex and<br />
Danavox formed OTWIDAN – a joint<br />
secretariat that facilitated cooperati<strong>on</strong><br />
35
36<br />
T h e “ G a n g o f F o u r ”<br />
Chapter 3<br />
The ladies of Otic<strong>on</strong>, assembling hearing aids in 1960.<br />
between the three companies and audiological<br />
clinics. OTWIDAN would be<br />
resp<strong>on</strong>sible for making joint offers <strong>on</strong> public<br />
tenders in order to avoid all three companies<br />
having to invest huge sums <strong>on</strong><br />
developing special products for Danish<br />
Hearing System, which <strong>on</strong>ly <strong>on</strong>e company<br />
would end up delivering. Such products<br />
were impossible to sell <strong>on</strong> the commercial<br />
markets. In 1964, an offer was developed<br />
for a jointly produced BTE, and OTWIDAN<br />
w<strong>on</strong> a tender for 25,000 instruments.<br />
Producti<strong>on</strong> was divided between the three<br />
companies, and in this manner, rivals<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong>, Widex and Danavox managed to<br />
work together.<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> c<strong>on</strong>quers the world<br />
The Danish market for hearing aids was<br />
approaching saturati<strong>on</strong> point. If Otic<strong>on</strong><br />
was to c<strong>on</strong>tinue to grow, it could <strong>on</strong>ly be<br />
through exports. In the beginning of the<br />
1960s, Otic<strong>on</strong> had <strong>on</strong>e subsidiary proper,<br />
namely in Sweden. In Norway, a lady by<br />
the name of Mrs. Bruse attended to sales.<br />
Mrs. Bruse worked from home, but this in<br />
no way dampened her enthusiasm. When,<br />
after 50 years in the company, she was<br />
summ<strong>on</strong>ed to the royal court to receive a<br />
decorati<strong>on</strong> for meritorious services from<br />
the Norwegian King, she almost managed<br />
to sell him a hearing aid – even though<br />
his hearing was perfect!<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> was <strong>on</strong> a missi<strong>on</strong> to develop<br />
exports even further. Bent Sim<strong>on</strong>sen had<br />
a background in Foreign Trade and had<br />
previously worked as an Export Manager.<br />
Together with Henning Mønsted, he began<br />
to travel extensively. The two men built a<br />
network of agents with sales in 100 countries.<br />
From 1961 <strong>on</strong>wards, they entered<br />
agency agreements in West Germany,<br />
France, Holland, Belgium, Great Britain,<br />
Switzerland, Italy, Spain, Israel, Turkey,<br />
India, Mexico, Brazil, Canada and the<br />
USA.<br />
In the summer of 1963, Export Manager<br />
Henning Mønsted journeyed to the Far<br />
East and Australia to follow up <strong>on</strong> new<br />
markets. Australia looked particularly<br />
promising and Japan was coming al<strong>on</strong>g<br />
too. But Otic<strong>on</strong>’s expansi<strong>on</strong> did not stop<br />
here. On 1 September 1964, the first<br />
European subsidiary, Otic<strong>on</strong> Nederland<br />
B.V. in Holland, became a reality. General<br />
Manager Gerard J.J. van der Wel climbed<br />
<strong>on</strong> board almost from the start. “I was<br />
employed in 1965. Three of us were sitting<br />
in the Director’s private apartment in<br />
Amsterdam with our entire stock in the<br />
broom cupboard. We were selling about<br />
75 instruments a m<strong>on</strong>th, and my salary<br />
was 375 gilders per m<strong>on</strong>th. That was<br />
almost the equivalent of the price of a<br />
single instrument back then. We were pi<strong>on</strong>eers<br />
in Holland, but we got to grips with<br />
the Dutch market very quickly, and within<br />
just three years we had almost quadrupled<br />
our sales,” recalls Gerard van der Wel.<br />
The Dutch subsidiary was the first of<br />
many Otic<strong>on</strong> subsidiaries. In 1965, Otic<strong>on</strong><br />
Inc. opened an office in New Jersey, USA,<br />
and during the following decade, a new<br />
subsidiary opened each year, beginning<br />
with Switzerland, and Norway, Germany,<br />
Scotland, Japan, Italy, New Zealand and<br />
France so<strong>on</strong> followed.
The USA was <strong>on</strong>e of Otic<strong>on</strong>’s most important<br />
markets. “America was particularly<br />
interesting because the rate of exchange<br />
made us very competitive there. Our latest<br />
target group – the American Universities<br />
– were beginning to spawn audiologists,<br />
who either went to work at hospitals or<br />
became self-employed. From the Danish<br />
army, we hired a number of young electr<strong>on</strong>ics<br />
mechanics, who travelled the<br />
length and breadth of America for us.<br />
They were our spearheads, because at that<br />
time, they could provide more detailed<br />
product informati<strong>on</strong> than their American<br />
colleagues in sales. Their Danish accents<br />
actually turned out to be an advantage;<br />
most audiologists were young females who<br />
found these foreigners rather charming.<br />
Bent Sim<strong>on</strong>sen also helped by putting us<br />
in touch with the Veterans’Administrati<strong>on</strong>,<br />
who provided hearing aids to war veterans.<br />
This Administrati<strong>on</strong> became <strong>on</strong>e of<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong>’s regular customers, as did Sears<br />
& Roebuck, the large American retail<br />
chain, which purchased large numbers of<br />
instruments,” explains Henning Mønsted.<br />
“Having achieved promising results in<br />
America, Bent Sim<strong>on</strong>sen felt that it was<br />
time to c<strong>on</strong>quer England. This campaign<br />
began in 1960 and lasted 20 years, with<br />
the result that both the Ministry of Health<br />
and the General Post Office, who were<br />
resp<strong>on</strong>sible for technology and purchasing<br />
for the British hearing health service,<br />
became customers,” says Henning Mønsted.<br />
Together with Sweden, England so<strong>on</strong><br />
became <strong>on</strong>e of the largest European customers.<br />
But more distant and more exotic<br />
countries were also to join the list of new<br />
markets – China being just <strong>on</strong>e of the<br />
countries to place a huge order.<br />
Countless man-hours were invested in setting<br />
up the subsidiaries. “I used a lot of<br />
time helping our subsidiaries al<strong>on</strong>g – I<br />
was probably involved in setting up the<br />
first 13 or 14 of them. Those years were<br />
really exciting, and it was rare for a female<br />
to be given such opportunities in the<br />
1960s. When I flew out to a subsidiary, as<br />
a rule I was the <strong>on</strong>ly businesswoman <strong>on</strong><br />
the plane,” recalls Lis Høien, who worked<br />
as an accountant for Otic<strong>on</strong> for 34 years.<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong>’s entrance into the internati<strong>on</strong>al<br />
arena was also reflected in the company’s<br />
logo.<br />
Modern marketing across the Atlantic<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> was recognized as a leading hearing<br />
aid manufacturer. The company<br />
invested many resources in training distributors<br />
and providing services to people<br />
in the trade, agents and sales staff in the<br />
subsidiaries. 500 opini<strong>on</strong> leaders from the<br />
east and west coasts of the USA were<br />
flown in by jumbo jet to participate in the<br />
enormous “Otic<strong>on</strong>gresses”. “We began to<br />
invite groups of opini<strong>on</strong> leaders to Denmark<br />
– from ear specialists to audiologists,<br />
distributors and journalists. Through our<br />
close relati<strong>on</strong>s with the three hearing<br />
centres, these groups visited Denmark <strong>on</strong><br />
professi<strong>on</strong>al study trips. We also made<br />
films and slideshows that shed light <strong>on</strong><br />
T h e “ G a n g o f F o u r ”<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> 1904 – 2004<br />
the work of the hearing health service, and<br />
these photos were used by Otic<strong>on</strong>’s c<strong>on</strong>sultants<br />
to explain the latest technological<br />
advances,” explains Henning Mønsted.<br />
“Otic<strong>on</strong>gresses” were held well into the<br />
1970s.<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> was highly respected, and Bent<br />
Sim<strong>on</strong>sen was known and received all<br />
over the world as “Mr. Hearing Aid”.<br />
When Otic<strong>on</strong> presented research results at<br />
internati<strong>on</strong>al symposiums, they were met<br />
with huge approval. Each year, at the<br />
major exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s in L<strong>on</strong>d<strong>on</strong>, Chicago and<br />
Germany, the company’s dominant positi<strong>on</strong><br />
was c<strong>on</strong>firmed. Otic<strong>on</strong> was now the<br />
world’s largest manufacturer of hearing<br />
aids and the undisputed market leader,<br />
even in America.<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> defies the oil crisis<br />
World-ec<strong>on</strong>omic developments came to an<br />
abrupt halt with the oil crises in the<br />
1970s, which caused a drop in producti<strong>on</strong><br />
and a rise in prices and salaries. C<strong>on</strong>sumerism<br />
and full employment gave way to<br />
unemployment and a gloomy climate in<br />
the business community. Many western<br />
companies were forced to tighten their<br />
belts with rounds of job cuts. But at<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong>, the positive trend that had begun<br />
in the 1960s c<strong>on</strong>tinued. Things were going<br />
well – very well indeed – and Otic<strong>on</strong> was<br />
a star in the Danish firmament.<br />
Finding producti<strong>on</strong> workers to handle<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong>’s steady workload was a major<br />
problem in the 1970s. It was particularly<br />
acute in the Copenhagen area, so Otic<strong>on</strong><br />
moved producti<strong>on</strong> to Thisted in the western<br />
part of Denmark. At the prospect of<br />
dozens of new jobs, the Thisted Borough<br />
welcomed Otic<strong>on</strong> with open arms, and the<br />
company finally found the producti<strong>on</strong><br />
envir<strong>on</strong>ment it had been looking for. With<br />
the help of regi<strong>on</strong>al development grants,<br />
37
38<br />
T h e “ G a n g o f F o u r ”<br />
Chapter 3<br />
the Borough Council commissi<strong>on</strong>ed the<br />
building of a factory, and while this building<br />
was under c<strong>on</strong>structi<strong>on</strong>, they turned<br />
an old school into a temporary producti<strong>on</strong><br />
site. The new factory was inaugurated in<br />
1973.<br />
While the energy crisis raged in 1973, Otic<strong>on</strong> – much to the envy of<br />
many recessi<strong>on</strong>-plagued companies – moved into newer and larger<br />
producti<strong>on</strong> facilities in Thisted in the western part of Denmark.<br />
The factory in Thisted was not the <strong>on</strong>ly<br />
new development: One of the c<strong>on</strong>diti<strong>on</strong>s<br />
for securing a very large order of instruments<br />
for the British Ministry of Health<br />
was that the instruments would be produced<br />
locally. For Otic<strong>on</strong>, the hunt was<br />
<strong>on</strong> for suitable facilities, and the search<br />
ended in Hamilt<strong>on</strong> in Scotland, in a factory<br />
building that had previously housed Rolls<br />
Royce. The workforce was well qualified,<br />
and the Scots attended a crash course in<br />
Denmark to learn about producti<strong>on</strong>. In June<br />
1974, Otic<strong>on</strong> celebrated the first deliveries<br />
of hearing aids crafted in Scotland.<br />
Unique research at Eriksholm<br />
During the 1970s, hearing aids c<strong>on</strong>tinued<br />
their swift technological development.<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> was enjoying unparalleled popularity<br />
with well-c<strong>on</strong>structed BTE instruments<br />
that were referred to as “The Rolls Royce<br />
of hearing aids” because of their superior<br />
quality. These instruments were incredibly<br />
durable – some lasting up to 20 years.<br />
Product development was still very important.<br />
In order to maintain a healthy lead,<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> decided in 1975 to establish a<br />
special department for psycho-acoustic<br />
research. Here the focus would not be <strong>on</strong><br />
developing hearing aids, but <strong>on</strong> exploring<br />
the relati<strong>on</strong>ship between sound and hearing<br />
and how people experienced various<br />
amplificati<strong>on</strong> principles in real life. This<br />
type of research was uncharted territory<br />
and required extensive c<strong>on</strong>tact with hearing<br />
aid users.<br />
“We knew everything there was to know<br />
about telecoils, current c<strong>on</strong>sumpti<strong>on</strong> and<br />
life spans etc., but very little about how<br />
hearing aids actually helped the user,”<br />
says Torben E. Nielsen who, together with<br />
Henning Mønsted, took the initiative to set<br />
up the research department. A site was<br />
selected in 1977 – an old manor house by<br />
the name of Eriksholm – and it was the<br />
first and <strong>on</strong>ly centre of its kind to be established<br />
by a hearing aid manufacturer.<br />
Eriksholm Research Centre’s missi<strong>on</strong> was<br />
to generate new knowledge and ideas for<br />
technological development.
In 1973, the British Ministry of<br />
Health placed an order for 100,000<br />
instruments, provided that the<br />
instruments were produced in<br />
Great Britain. A year later, the<br />
Scottish subsidiary in Hamilt<strong>on</strong><br />
was inaugurated, and representatives<br />
from both the British government<br />
and Otic<strong>on</strong>’s management<br />
attended.<br />
Exports to east and west<br />
Financial and commercial developments<br />
in Otic<strong>on</strong> c<strong>on</strong>tinued to improve, and by<br />
the end of the 1970s, Otic<strong>on</strong>’s share of the<br />
world market for hearing aids was almost<br />
15 percent, while the two other Danish<br />
manufacturers, Danavox and Widex,<br />
shared approximately 10 percent between<br />
them. Almost 95 percent of Otic<strong>on</strong>’s producti<strong>on</strong><br />
was destined for distant shores,<br />
and the management devoted much time<br />
to internati<strong>on</strong>al travel. Offices opened in<br />
the USA, and sales representatives visited<br />
the eastern bloc countries to generate<br />
sales. “We actually held the m<strong>on</strong>opoly in<br />
East Germany, where we were able to fend<br />
off Siemens altogether. This was partly<br />
because the people there were very satisfied<br />
with the quality of our instruments,<br />
and partly because we had built str<strong>on</strong>g<br />
ties to the university doctors,” explains<br />
Henning Mønsted, who also visited<br />
Poland, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia.<br />
During the oil crisis, Otic<strong>on</strong> opened a subsidiary<br />
in Japan. Henning Mønsted flew<br />
there in 1973 to set up the company, followed<br />
by Bengt Danielsen and Lis Høien,<br />
whose task it was to ensure that everything<br />
ran smoothly in terms of offices,<br />
pers<strong>on</strong>nel, management and accounting.<br />
Compared to other companies – not least<br />
its competitors – Otic<strong>on</strong> in the 1970s was<br />
very export-minded. The company had<br />
divided the export markets organizati<strong>on</strong>ally<br />
in quite a unique manner: Each export<br />
group had <strong>on</strong>e or more western European<br />
countries, <strong>on</strong>e Nordic country, <strong>on</strong>e or<br />
more eastern European countries, <strong>on</strong>e<br />
subsidiary and <strong>on</strong>e c<strong>on</strong>tinent. This fostered<br />
dynamism and helped to increase<br />
market knowledge. The individual export<br />
groups could share their wisdom, and<br />
since they all dealt with countries in the<br />
same regi<strong>on</strong>, they had a great deal in comm<strong>on</strong>.<br />
It also meant more varied destinati<strong>on</strong>s<br />
and travel schedules, as trips alternated<br />
between East Berlin, Africa and<br />
Paris.<br />
Export-wise, Otic<strong>on</strong> was at its peak and<br />
the company was regarded as a pi<strong>on</strong>eer.<br />
A unique agent network encompassing<br />
most western countries had been forged,<br />
and this provided an opportunity to be<br />
first in the market. It was a development<br />
that gained momentum in the 1970s in<br />
T h e “ G a n g o f F o u r ”<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> 1904 – 2004<br />
In the 1970s, 483 out of every<br />
100,000 Danes wore hearing aids.<br />
This was almost twice as many as in<br />
any other country in the world. In<br />
Sweden, the figure was 362, while in<br />
the USA, 237 out of every 100,000<br />
wore hearing aids. In England, the<br />
figure was slightly higher: 250 out<br />
of every 100,000.<br />
39
40<br />
T h e “ G a n g o f F o u r ”<br />
Chapter 3<br />
In the 1980s, BTE hearing<br />
aids lost ground in favour of<br />
more discreet ITE models.<br />
Marketing also changed character.<br />
The focus was now <strong>on</strong><br />
the quality of life and human<br />
dignity, and younger models<br />
were used to target the new,<br />
younger group of less severely<br />
hearing-impaired users.<br />
the Eastern block countries, thanks to better<br />
products, better social c<strong>on</strong>diti<strong>on</strong>s and<br />
the educati<strong>on</strong> of audiometrists and audiologists.<br />
The 1970s was Otic<strong>on</strong>’s “Decade of<br />
Export”. It was a period characterized by<br />
expansi<strong>on</strong> and increases in both market<br />
share and earnings. Bent Sim<strong>on</strong>sen went<br />
everywhere, commanding great respect in<br />
the industry. It was his idea to establish<br />
the European Hearing Instrument<br />
Manufacturers’ Associati<strong>on</strong> (EHIMA), of<br />
which he was Chairman for a number of<br />
years. He also spearheaded the Otic<strong>on</strong><br />
Foundati<strong>on</strong>, where he set up a Scholarship<br />
Committee to ensure that funds were<br />
invested in developments in Danish audiology,<br />
acoustics and the Hearing Service.<br />
On the pers<strong>on</strong>nel fr<strong>on</strong>t, Otic<strong>on</strong> had<br />
acquired a large number of talented and<br />
loyal employees. Many had worked for<br />
the company for 25 years and job security<br />
was legendary. One of the reas<strong>on</strong>s for<br />
creating the Otic<strong>on</strong> Foundati<strong>on</strong> was that it<br />
would make Otic<strong>on</strong> a secure place to work.<br />
A small difference<br />
In the late 1970s, Otic<strong>on</strong> ran temporarily<br />
into a headwind: A small American company<br />
called Starkey had introduced a<br />
hearing aid made to fit directly In-the-Ear<br />
(ITE). Initially these smaller instruments<br />
could not match the quality of the larger<br />
BTE styles, but the users preferred them<br />
anyway because they were small and cosmetically<br />
discreet.<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> began to lose ground because the<br />
company had invested in BTE’s, which<br />
provided high sound quality and could be<br />
mass-produced. Otic<strong>on</strong>’s engineers and<br />
ear specialists measured quality in terms<br />
of sound patterns and hearing curves<br />
rather than cosmetics, but the company<br />
had underestimated the importance of<br />
size for appearance-c<strong>on</strong>scious users. In<br />
America, competitors could quickly customize<br />
ITE instruments to fit people’s<br />
needs. Otic<strong>on</strong> lagged behind, and even<br />
though the company launched an ITE<br />
development programme, the damage was<br />
already d<strong>on</strong>e. The market for hearing aids<br />
was experiencing a paradigm shift, in<br />
which Integrated Circuit technology<br />
would revoluti<strong>on</strong>ize the industry. Another<br />
factor was that the customer profile was<br />
changing. Previously, the majority of customers<br />
had been seniors with more severe<br />
forms of hearing loss, now customers<br />
were far younger with milder losses.<br />
The ITE model fulfilled the demand for<br />
In February 1986, Otic<strong>on</strong>’s<br />
management met in the<br />
former Danish West Indies,<br />
where they formulated the<br />
“Partnership Philosophy”.<br />
As the company had no<br />
direct c<strong>on</strong>tact with the<br />
hearing-impaired, close<br />
cooperati<strong>on</strong> between<br />
distributors and clinics<br />
was essential in order to<br />
fulfil customer needs.
discreti<strong>on</strong> so important to this group of<br />
people. The BTE models that were<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong>’s hallmark were losing the battle<br />
in America.<br />
The shift in market segmentati<strong>on</strong> and the<br />
preference for smaller instruments were<br />
not the <strong>on</strong>ly obstacles in the industry.<br />
With more internati<strong>on</strong>al competiti<strong>on</strong><br />
from an increasing number of hearing aid<br />
manufacturers, price suddenly became an<br />
important competitive parameter. As an<br />
alternative to the state hearing centres,<br />
more private hearing clinics and distributors<br />
had sprung up, eager to fit hearing<br />
aids, and they were focusing <strong>on</strong> the services<br />
that accompanied the instruments.<br />
Each of these factors put extra pressure<br />
<strong>on</strong> Otic<strong>on</strong>.<br />
Stagnati<strong>on</strong> and divisi<strong>on</strong><br />
On the surface, things seemed to be going<br />
well for Otic<strong>on</strong> financially. But things<br />
were going less well in Product Development.<br />
Based <strong>on</strong> a number of analyses,<br />
management had c<strong>on</strong>cluded that without<br />
new products, Otic<strong>on</strong> could <strong>on</strong>ly expect<br />
to lose m<strong>on</strong>ey in the future. From the<br />
mid-1980s, Otic<strong>on</strong> launched a series of<br />
initiatives to avoid falling further behind<br />
in the technology race. This road was not<br />
without pitfalls. When President R<strong>on</strong>ald<br />
Reagan casually inserted a small American<br />
hearing aid into his ear <strong>on</strong> prime time TV,<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> was dealt a hard blow. Earnings<br />
fell, and the company lost even more<br />
market share.<br />
New blood<br />
For 30 years, the “Gang of Four” had<br />
enjoyed unlimited power both in relati<strong>on</strong><br />
to the Board of Directors at Otic<strong>on</strong><br />
Holding and the other companies. They<br />
had increased Otic<strong>on</strong>’s annual producti<strong>on</strong><br />
60-fold from 5,000 instruments per year<br />
in 1957.<br />
In 1987, a strategy meeting was held at<br />
Eriksholm, but it was not until the “Gang<br />
of Four” went <strong>on</strong> to a restaurant that a<br />
soluti<strong>on</strong> was finally found. It was decided<br />
that Bengt Danielsen would withdraw;<br />
Bent Sim<strong>on</strong>sen, who was approaching 62,<br />
would retire but retain his post as<br />
T h e “ G a n g o f F o u r ”<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> 1904 – 2004<br />
Chairman of the Otic<strong>on</strong> Foundati<strong>on</strong>, and<br />
the two other members of the Board of<br />
Directors, Torben E. Nielsen and Henning<br />
Mønsted Sørensen would – pending<br />
agreement with the new management<br />
– act as intermediate links for a couple<br />
of years.<br />
Bengt Danielsen (Financial C<strong>on</strong>troller), Bent Sim<strong>on</strong>sen (Sales Manager), Torben E. Nielsen (Chief<br />
Engineer) and Henning Mønsted Sørensen (Export Manager). The “Gang of Four” managed Otic<strong>on</strong><br />
through three decades of growth and internati<strong>on</strong>al expansi<strong>on</strong>. “We were aware that new blood was<br />
needed from outside, and that we would have to find the courage to dismiss ourselves. The latter<br />
was not an easy decisi<strong>on</strong>,” recalls Henning Mønsted.<br />
41
Chapter 4<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong>’s headquarters in Copenhagen<br />
In August 1991, Otic<strong>on</strong> moved to its present headquarters in Copenhagen.<br />
The building was previously used as Tuborg’s minerals water factory.
The modern Otic<strong>on</strong><br />
The arrival of Lars Kolind<br />
Lars Kolind’s arrival at Otic<strong>on</strong> in 1988<br />
marked the beginning of a completely new<br />
chapter in the company’s history. Otic<strong>on</strong><br />
was in trouble, and <strong>on</strong> Saturday, 21 May<br />
1988, Kolind – who at that time was<br />
Executive Vice President at Radiometer<br />
– read the headline of an article published<br />
in the Børsen financial newspaper: “Otic<strong>on</strong><br />
seeks new Emperor. Ageing management<br />
team stands down.” In the interview,<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong>’s President, Bent Sim<strong>on</strong>sen, described<br />
the unusual generati<strong>on</strong> shift and<br />
the employees’ desire to see a single director<br />
at the top of the ladder instead of a<br />
four-man management team. When Kolind<br />
read this he remarked to his wife: “I could<br />
handle that job. If they do their homework<br />
properly, they’ll call me <strong>on</strong> M<strong>on</strong>day.” And<br />
that was exactly what happened. Kolind<br />
received a call from Otic<strong>on</strong>’s Chairman of<br />
the Board, Palle Rasmussen, who made<br />
him an offer he could not refuse.<br />
Having worked as a c<strong>on</strong>sultant and<br />
Assistant Director for Risø, the Danish<br />
nati<strong>on</strong>al laboratory, and Executive Vice<br />
President for Radiometer, Kolind was<br />
familiar with the mechanisms of large<br />
companies, and he was surprised at how<br />
much waste was involved in large-scale<br />
operati<strong>on</strong>s. Large companies might have<br />
all the benefits of large-scale operati<strong>on</strong>s,<br />
but they also had many disadvantages:<br />
The larger the company was, the more<br />
energy was required to run it and to keep<br />
employees and departments <strong>on</strong> track – not<br />
to menti<strong>on</strong> to create value for the customers<br />
who ultimately footed the bills.<br />
Kolind believed that there had to be another<br />
way to manage this task – <strong>on</strong>e that<br />
sidestepped all the comm<strong>on</strong> pitfalls. When<br />
he arrived at Otic<strong>on</strong>, he already had a<br />
clear idea that the employees needed to be<br />
given greater resp<strong>on</strong>sibility. Otic<strong>on</strong> had to<br />
aband<strong>on</strong> a structure where a few key<br />
people did all the thinking for every<strong>on</strong>e<br />
else. What was needed was a framework<br />
that would encourage the employees to do<br />
their own brainwork and believe in their<br />
own capabilities.<br />
The eye of the hurricane<br />
The Otic<strong>on</strong> that Kolind waded into was<br />
wallowing in the depths of the worst crisis<br />
it had faced in its entire 83-year existence.<br />
“All the negative signs that I’d seen in<br />
other large companies, I saw repeated in<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong>, but here the patterns were even<br />
clearer. The company was hierarchical<br />
and bogged down in traditi<strong>on</strong>. It was a<br />
very str<strong>on</strong>g company with many positive<br />
elements, but some major changes were<br />
needed,” says Kolind.<br />
Mustering the troops<br />
The first major step in this companysaving<br />
exercise involved gathering<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong>’s two main departments in <strong>on</strong>e<br />
building, and Kolind took this as an<br />
opportunity to take a giant leap forward:<br />
Various pers<strong>on</strong>nel groups were interested<br />
in finding a soluti<strong>on</strong> to the challenges that<br />
faced the company. But when the groups<br />
presented a plan in December 1989, suggesting<br />
that the departments merge under<br />
<strong>on</strong>e roof but keep their functi<strong>on</strong>s separate,<br />
Kolind put his foot down: “The party<br />
stops here. It w<strong>on</strong>’t work. We need something<br />
totally different,” he said. During<br />
the Christmas holiday, Kolind wrote the<br />
memorandum that was to lay the bedrock<br />
T h e m o d e r n O t i c o n<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> 1904 – 2004<br />
for the Otic<strong>on</strong> of the future. What he was<br />
seeking was a new organizati<strong>on</strong> totally<br />
devoid of professi<strong>on</strong>al or functi<strong>on</strong>al barriers<br />
– an envir<strong>on</strong>ment c<strong>on</strong>ducive to teamwork<br />
and innovative thinking. The goal<br />
was simple: To secure Otic<strong>on</strong>’s positi<strong>on</strong><br />
am<strong>on</strong>g the world’s top manufacturers.<br />
Kolind’s visi<strong>on</strong><br />
“Our goal is to become the world’s top<br />
hearing aid manufacturer before the end<br />
of the 1990s. […] Within the next five<br />
years, <strong>on</strong>ly five out of ten medium-sized<br />
manufacturers are expected to survive as<br />
independent companies, and Otic<strong>on</strong> will<br />
Lars Kolind implemented organizati<strong>on</strong>al<br />
changes in Otic<strong>on</strong> that resounded in the<br />
world outside.<br />
43
44<br />
T h e m o d e r n O t i c o n<br />
Chapter 4<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong>'s paper-free and mobile<br />
office landscape was quite a revoluti<strong>on</strong><br />
in the early 1990s.<br />
be <strong>on</strong>e of them,” writes Kolind to the<br />
employees.<br />
In 1989, Otic<strong>on</strong> supplied about 10 percent<br />
of the world’s hearing aids. 95 percent of<br />
the company’s producti<strong>on</strong> went for<br />
export, and 1,200 people were employed<br />
in 13 countries. In 85 other countries,<br />
independent distributors managed sales.<br />
In Kolind’s universe, people were supposed<br />
to shape the future instead of just<br />
react to it. Less than 5 percent of the<br />
approximately 400 milli<strong>on</strong> people in the<br />
world who needed hearing aids actually<br />
wore them. A doubling of the world market<br />
was therefore not unrealistic, according<br />
to Kolind. If the company could join<br />
the ranks of the world’s elite, it would<br />
reap the rewards of market growth.<br />
Winning this elite positi<strong>on</strong> required formulating<br />
three strategies: One to improve<br />
distributi<strong>on</strong>; <strong>on</strong>e to differentiate Otic<strong>on</strong>’s<br />
products; and <strong>on</strong>e to outline how to beat<br />
the global competiti<strong>on</strong>. The company also<br />
had to find a way to reduce costs per<br />
instrument in order to earn enough m<strong>on</strong>ey<br />
to fuel future growth. The first objective<br />
was therefore to increase productivity by<br />
30 percent within three years – an increase<br />
that could not be achieved through<br />
employee cutbacks, but by encouraging<br />
the existing staff to produce 30 percent<br />
more. This ambitious goal demanded a<br />
fundamental restructuring of the company.<br />
Spaghetti <strong>on</strong> the menu<br />
The new method of working involved a<br />
number of radical changes: First, all communicati<strong>on</strong><br />
was to take place electr<strong>on</strong>ically<br />
rather than <strong>on</strong> paper. The company<br />
would no l<strong>on</strong>ger file paper copies of<br />
documents, and the computer’s e-mail<br />
system would become the glue that bound<br />
employees together. Such procedures<br />
became standard practice in the beginning<br />
THINK THINK THE UNTHINKABLE
of the 21st century, but they were almost<br />
unheard of in 1990. Each employee was<br />
given a portable filing cabinet, which they<br />
could roll from <strong>on</strong>e desk to another, whenever<br />
they changed jobs or joined new project<br />
teams. Managers and leaders were<br />
expected to be as mobile as the rest of the<br />
staff. And if people needed peace and<br />
quiet or privacy, they could use specially<br />
designed study rooms, where they could<br />
temporarily withdraw from the open office<br />
envir<strong>on</strong>ment.<br />
This new organizati<strong>on</strong>al c<strong>on</strong>cept commanded<br />
huge attenti<strong>on</strong> from the world<br />
outside, and business c<strong>on</strong>sultants from<br />
near and far travelled to Denmark to study<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong>. What they could not know was<br />
that, behind the scenes, Lars Kolind was<br />
really facing str<strong>on</strong>g oppositi<strong>on</strong>.<br />
Headquarters leads the way<br />
During the first stage of the metamor<br />
phosis, the 130 employees stati<strong>on</strong>ed at<br />
head office in the Product Development,<br />
Sales & Marketing and Finance & Administrati<strong>on</strong><br />
departments – including management<br />
– were invited to test the new theories.<br />
Three types of management jobs were<br />
defined: Project Managers, Competence<br />
Managers and Pers<strong>on</strong>nel Managers. The<br />
Project Managers were to propel the work<br />
forward, the Specialist Area Managers<br />
were to m<strong>on</strong>itor the professi<strong>on</strong>al quality,<br />
and the Pers<strong>on</strong>nel Managers – who were<br />
resp<strong>on</strong>sible for groups of 10 to 15 employees<br />
– were to ensure that people were<br />
given the opportunity to c<strong>on</strong>tribute their<br />
utmost and develop their skills through<br />
new challenges.<br />
“It will become a whole new type of company<br />
where a large team of 130 people<br />
work with 500 or 1,000 different tasks in<br />
varying stages of development. Each task<br />
will have an owner, and the larger <strong>on</strong>es<br />
will have a Project Manager. This will<br />
result in more challenges and more teamwork<br />
across the entire organizati<strong>on</strong>. Otic<strong>on</strong><br />
will become the company where the<br />
majority of what we do will be enjoyable<br />
and something we are good at. Otic<strong>on</strong> will<br />
have very few barriers and will therefore<br />
become far more effective,” wrote Kolind.<br />
Kolind had not expected his memorandum<br />
to be greeted with any resistance up<strong>on</strong> its<br />
publicati<strong>on</strong> <strong>on</strong> 18 April 1990, but despite<br />
the negative attitude of the employees, he<br />
still had the full support of the Board.<br />
Detour to Hellerup<br />
In the summer of 1990, people began to<br />
cooperate more, but <strong>on</strong>ly after a difficult<br />
process which included disagreements<br />
about the geographical locati<strong>on</strong> of the new<br />
headquarters. Faced with extreme resistance<br />
from both management and employees,<br />
Kolind had to aband<strong>on</strong> his original<br />
plan to merge all of the departments<br />
– from producti<strong>on</strong> to development, administrati<strong>on</strong><br />
and sales – and move them to<br />
Thisted in western Denmark. Kolind’s next<br />
suggesti<strong>on</strong> was Tølløse Castle, where he<br />
could envisage developing an Otic<strong>on</strong> university<br />
with research, development and<br />
administrative departments in beautiful<br />
Renaissance surroundings. But this plan<br />
was met with the same lack of enthusiasm,<br />
so Kolind had to find another soluti<strong>on</strong>. It<br />
came in the form of the Tuborg Brewery’s<br />
old factory in Hellerup, near central<br />
Copenhagen.<br />
The relocati<strong>on</strong> debate taught Kolind that<br />
nothing could be achieved without the<br />
support of the staff, so he set up an alternative<br />
taskforce with regular employees.<br />
Then he launched a new project, which<br />
like all others was allocated a number<br />
– 330 – the purpose of which was very<br />
simple: To make Otic<strong>on</strong> 30 percent more<br />
T h e m o d e r n O t i c o n<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> 1904 – 2004<br />
45
46<br />
T h e m o d e r n O t i c o n<br />
Chapter 4<br />
If Lars Kolind was the “ace-in-the-hole” who<br />
would transform Otic<strong>on</strong> into a hyper-modern<br />
company, then Niels Jacobsen was the<br />
“wizard with figures” who would keep the<br />
company <strong>on</strong> a firm financial footing.<br />
productive within three years, starting <strong>on</strong><br />
08.08.91 at 8 a.m. This goal was so simple<br />
that every<strong>on</strong>e could understand it. Almost<br />
50 people joined the project. The <strong>on</strong>ly<br />
c<strong>on</strong>diti<strong>on</strong> for participati<strong>on</strong> was that they<br />
were willing to perform the work needed<br />
to accomplish the project’s goal – in additi<strong>on</strong><br />
to their normal duties.<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> makes history<br />
In the new organizati<strong>on</strong>, all the desks were<br />
identical, so people could move around<br />
very easily. The ability to change was<br />
essential. For the company, it was not<br />
about creating equality so much as removing<br />
obstacles to change. For this reas<strong>on</strong>, all<br />
employees were given new business cards<br />
with no titles at all. It was no l<strong>on</strong>ger the<br />
titles that counted – it was the individual<br />
who mattered.<br />
The day of 8 August 1991 was very <strong>care</strong>fully<br />
orchestrated and attended by a flock<br />
of journalists who were eager to cover the<br />
event. The Otic<strong>on</strong> employees sat at their<br />
desks, and if any of them preferred a different<br />
locati<strong>on</strong> they could just roll their filing<br />
cabinets to a new spot. This approach<br />
had an outstanding effect both externally<br />
and internally: It signalled radical change.<br />
“Otic<strong>on</strong> was making history back then,”<br />
says <strong>on</strong>e employee who saw it all happen.<br />
“There was a powerful force at play which<br />
every<strong>on</strong>e could sense. We were so proud<br />
to be “Otic<strong>on</strong>ers” – we felt as though we<br />
could walk <strong>on</strong> water.”<br />
The strategy behind Project 330 was successful,<br />
not least because the timing was<br />
perfect. There had been countless discussi<strong>on</strong>s<br />
about the organizati<strong>on</strong>al changes<br />
prior to their physical implementati<strong>on</strong>,<br />
and much media interest had been generated<br />
beforehand. This was a deliberate<br />
ploy <strong>on</strong> Kolind’s part to utilize external<br />
opini<strong>on</strong> as a tool to put pressure <strong>on</strong> those<br />
members of the inner circle who stubbornly<br />
remained sceptical.<br />
Two <strong>on</strong> top<br />
Such radical organizati<strong>on</strong>al changes had<br />
demanded significant resources, and the<br />
many development activities were bleeding<br />
the company dry. This was not financially<br />
viable in the l<strong>on</strong>g run, and the<br />
Board of Directors believed that Kolind<br />
should work with a Co-Director – some<strong>on</strong>e<br />
who could provide equilibrium for<br />
Kolind’s outgoing management style and<br />
who could manage the operati<strong>on</strong>al side of<br />
the company.<br />
Niels Jacobsen came to the company with<br />
a str<strong>on</strong>g background in finance and operati<strong>on</strong>s<br />
and with experience from companies<br />
such as Thrige-Titan, Atlas and Ori<strong>on</strong>. If<br />
Lars Kolind had been the ace-in-the-hole<br />
who could transform Otic<strong>on</strong> into a modern<br />
company, then Niels Jacobsen was the<br />
man to maintain a sound financial foundati<strong>on</strong>.<br />
There was no official divisi<strong>on</strong> of<br />
resp<strong>on</strong>sibility between the two, and the<br />
goal was to create management unity so<br />
that together they could drive Otic<strong>on</strong><br />
forward.<br />
“Niels was my diametric opposite, but he<br />
was the perfect choice for Otic<strong>on</strong>. He<br />
asked me right away: “Are you <strong>on</strong> some<br />
kind of 60s trip, or do you want to run a<br />
business?” We wanted to run a business<br />
of course, and that’s what we decided to<br />
do. We had some pretty volatile discussi<strong>on</strong>s<br />
from time to time, but we were<br />
always able to resolve things. A lot of<br />
people – particularly journalists –<br />
believed that there must have been antag<strong>on</strong>ism<br />
between us, but they couldn’t have<br />
been more mistaken. We complemented<br />
each other perfectly and worked together<br />
very well,” says Kolind.
“When I joined Otic<strong>on</strong>, my most important<br />
missi<strong>on</strong> was to establish good working<br />
relati<strong>on</strong>s with Lars,” says Niels<br />
Jacobsen. “We chose not to operate in separate<br />
spheres, and this meant working<br />
closely together to make everything functi<strong>on</strong><br />
properly. Both of us were involved in<br />
all processes, and both of us made decisi<strong>on</strong>s.<br />
It was an interesting exercise to<br />
establish a set of shared values and a comm<strong>on</strong><br />
goal for the company. We wanted<br />
people to see that no matter which of us<br />
they c<strong>on</strong>sulted <strong>on</strong> a particular matter, the<br />
answer would be the same. This required<br />
intense cooperati<strong>on</strong>, and during the first<br />
few years, we spent many hours talking<br />
things over.”<br />
Healthy differences<br />
If the idea had been to get Otic<strong>on</strong>’s management<br />
to functi<strong>on</strong> as <strong>on</strong>e entity, it succeeded<br />
bey<strong>on</strong>d all expectati<strong>on</strong>s. Thanks to<br />
an unwavering determinati<strong>on</strong> to reach<br />
agreement based <strong>on</strong> the strength of <strong>on</strong>e’s<br />
arguments, Lars Kolind and Niels<br />
Jacobsen managed to navigate Otic<strong>on</strong><br />
through treacherous waters and into <strong>on</strong>e<br />
of the smoothest periods of growth in the<br />
company’s history. The advantages of<br />
partnering two such c<strong>on</strong>trasting pers<strong>on</strong>alities<br />
also became apparent internati<strong>on</strong>ally.<br />
At each annual planning meeting with the<br />
subsidiaries, the two directors would<br />
never visit the same companies. Their<br />
unique management styles made this<br />
T h e m o d e r n O t i c o n<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> 1904 – 2004<br />
exercise highly successful, because different<br />
issues came into focus, depending <strong>on</strong><br />
which of the two was visiting a particular<br />
subsidiary.<br />
Niels Jacobsen’s drastic remedy<br />
Niels Jacobsen’s primary objective was to<br />
get Otic<strong>on</strong>’s finances firmly back <strong>on</strong> track.<br />
“I approached this task with the attitude<br />
that we had to get down to some serious<br />
business, which meant solving problems<br />
as they arose. Initially, I was quite surprised<br />
at the lack of financial c<strong>on</strong>trol. So<br />
my main c<strong>on</strong>cern for the first six m<strong>on</strong>ths<br />
was to stem the flow,” says Niels Jacobsen.<br />
“This meant closing down a lot of projects<br />
that were so l<strong>on</strong>g-term that they could not<br />
For almost 30 years, the managers<br />
of Otic<strong>on</strong>’s subsidiaries<br />
have attended an annual c<strong>on</strong>ference<br />
to discuss topics such as<br />
cooperati<strong>on</strong> between subsidiaries<br />
and distributors. The late Bent<br />
Sim<strong>on</strong>sen introduced this idea in<br />
the mid-70s when he was Sales<br />
Manager. The c<strong>on</strong>ference alternates<br />
biannually between<br />
Denmark and <strong>on</strong>e of the other<br />
twenty countries in which the<br />
company is represented.<br />
47
48<br />
T h e m o d e r n O t i c o n<br />
Chapter 4<br />
From 1994, Otic<strong>on</strong>’s Annual Report included<br />
profiles of famous Danes who used the company’s<br />
products. The first was Erik Hoffmeyer,<br />
Director of the Nati<strong>on</strong>al Bank of Denmark.<br />
possibly help to straighten out our ec<strong>on</strong>omy<br />
within the first few years. We had to<br />
take a short-term view of things to turn<br />
the cash-flow situati<strong>on</strong> around.”<br />
Every<strong>on</strong>e felt the effects of Jacobsen’s dramatic<br />
remedy, but the strategy nevertheless<br />
bore fruit. The breach in the cash<br />
dam was firmly plugged in 1992, and after<br />
three m<strong>on</strong>ths Otic<strong>on</strong> registered more<br />
income than expenses.<br />
On track<br />
In 1993, the company c<strong>on</strong>tinued to make<br />
headway. The combinati<strong>on</strong> of more creative<br />
product development and marketing<br />
together with cost-saving manoeuvres culminated<br />
in 1993 in two awards: The<br />
Computerworld Smiths<strong>on</strong>ian Award in<br />
the USA and the IT prize in Denmark.<br />
In August 1993, Lars Kolind and Chairman<br />
of the Board, Sven Folmer Thomsen,<br />
released a message for Otic<strong>on</strong> Holding<br />
stating that performance in the first half<br />
of 1993 had been very satisfying. Turnover<br />
had risen to 312 milli<strong>on</strong> kr<strong>on</strong>er, and<br />
the company’s liquidity had improved by<br />
31 milli<strong>on</strong> kr<strong>on</strong>er. This growth was largely<br />
due to two products: MultiFocus and<br />
PerS<strong>on</strong>ic.<br />
During this period, Otic<strong>on</strong> created<br />
“Otic<strong>on</strong> 4 Kids” – a special programme<br />
for children with hearing loss. The programme<br />
was developed in the USA,<br />
where Otic<strong>on</strong> worked closely with audiologists<br />
in children’s clinics. Within three<br />
m<strong>on</strong>ths, 1,000 children had signed up for<br />
the programme, which was designed to<br />
make it easier for them to accept hearing<br />
aids and view them as a natural communicati<strong>on</strong><br />
accessory rather than a handicap<br />
product.<br />
In 1994, Otic<strong>on</strong>’s operating profit before<br />
tax rose by 61 percent to 134 milli<strong>on</strong><br />
kr<strong>on</strong>er, and the Annual Report menti<strong>on</strong>ed<br />
that more than 100,000 people were now<br />
using MultiFocus. Otic<strong>on</strong>’s producti<strong>on</strong><br />
factory at Thisted was awarded the<br />
Annual Prize for the Envir<strong>on</strong>ment for its<br />
c<strong>on</strong>tributi<strong>on</strong> to the external envir<strong>on</strong>ment<br />
and the working envir<strong>on</strong>ment. Otic<strong>on</strong><br />
planned to become the world’s best hearing<br />
aid manufacturer through a combinati<strong>on</strong><br />
of organic growth and acquisiti<strong>on</strong>s.<br />
The first step was to create a company<br />
with a str<strong>on</strong>g earning capacity, and Otic<strong>on</strong><br />
was already well <strong>on</strong> the way.<br />
Ready for more<br />
1995 was a turning point in Otic<strong>on</strong>’s history.<br />
The introducti<strong>on</strong> of more stringent<br />
On 11 May 1995, Otic<strong>on</strong> was listed <strong>on</strong> the<br />
Copenhagen Stock Exchange and members of<br />
the general public were given an opportunity to<br />
become co-owners. Since December 1999,<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> has been featured <strong>on</strong> the Danish Blue-<br />
Chip index – the KFX-index – which comprises<br />
the 20 most traded shares <strong>on</strong> the Copenhagen<br />
Stock Exchange.
procedures had been completed with such<br />
success that the company had gained the<br />
c<strong>on</strong>fidence to do even more. On 30 January<br />
1995, Otic<strong>on</strong> Holding acquired a Swiss<br />
company called Ascom Audisys AG (now<br />
known as Bernaf<strong>on</strong>). Audisys was approximately<br />
<strong>on</strong>e third of the size of Otic<strong>on</strong>, with<br />
370 employees and an annual turnover of<br />
235 milli<strong>on</strong> kr<strong>on</strong>er. The company had<br />
achieved recogniti<strong>on</strong> for its introducti<strong>on</strong> of<br />
digital, programmable hearing aids. This<br />
technology made it easier for hearing <strong>care</strong><br />
professi<strong>on</strong>als to adjust the instrument to<br />
resp<strong>on</strong>d to the user’s hearing loss. The purchase<br />
of Audisys was the first major acquisiti<strong>on</strong><br />
in Otic<strong>on</strong>’s history, and it was a<br />
resounding success.<br />
With a single blow this acquisiti<strong>on</strong> put<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> right <strong>on</strong> the heels of the two global<br />
leaders: German-born Siemens and<br />
American-born Starkey. The purchase of<br />
Bernaf<strong>on</strong> was the first of 30 to 40 major<br />
and minor acquisiti<strong>on</strong>s performed by the<br />
company up to the present day, and it put<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong>’s ambiti<strong>on</strong> to <strong>on</strong>e day become registered<br />
<strong>on</strong> the Danish Stock Exchange into a<br />
perspective analysts could understand.<br />
The intent to register Otic<strong>on</strong> <strong>on</strong> the<br />
Copenhagen Stock Exchange emerged<br />
during the crisis of 1989-90. The Otic<strong>on</strong><br />
Foundati<strong>on</strong>, which had been sole owner of<br />
the company, decided to give Lars Kolind<br />
and employees the opportunity to become<br />
co-shareholders – a move that brought in<br />
c<strong>on</strong>siderable resources. It was decided by<br />
shareholder agreement that the company<br />
be registered <strong>on</strong> the Copenhagen Stock<br />
Exchange by no later than 1995. On 11<br />
May 1995, this became a reality.<br />
The digital race<br />
Rumours in the industry that Ph<strong>on</strong>ak was<br />
about to launch a digital instrument motivated<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> to speed up the development<br />
of its own digital hearing aid in an attempt<br />
to outmanoeuvre the competiti<strong>on</strong>. Just a<br />
few m<strong>on</strong>ths after the Stock Exchange<br />
registrati<strong>on</strong>, Otic<strong>on</strong> introduced its most<br />
advanced product, DigiFocus. This revoluti<strong>on</strong>ary<br />
instrument was unveiled in<br />
September 1995 to a huge internati<strong>on</strong>al<br />
fanfare. Over the next few years, the competitors<br />
raced against the clock to complete<br />
the development of both BTE and<br />
ITE digital instruments. DigiFocus was<br />
commercially launched in 1996 as the<br />
fully digital ear-worn instrument capable<br />
of improving people’s ability to understand<br />
speech in noisy listening situati<strong>on</strong>s.<br />
It became the most prize-winning hearing<br />
aid ever with three major awards: The<br />
Danish Industrial Design Prize, the<br />
European IT prize and the European<br />
Design Prize. Otic<strong>on</strong> c<strong>on</strong>tinued to grow,<br />
and in 1996 the company’s net turnover<br />
exceeded 1 billi<strong>on</strong> kr<strong>on</strong>er.<br />
Elsewhere in the world, things were also<br />
progressing well. In Hamburg, c<strong>on</strong>structi<strong>on</strong><br />
of new offices for Otic<strong>on</strong> GmbH<br />
began to accommodate important expansi<strong>on</strong><br />
activities in Germany. 1997 was also<br />
the year Otic<strong>on</strong> acquired Ph<strong>on</strong>ic Ear Inc.<br />
in California – <strong>on</strong>e of the world’s leading<br />
suppliers of wireless communicati<strong>on</strong><br />
equipment for hearing-impaired users<br />
in the educati<strong>on</strong> sector.<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> Holding rechristened<br />
The similarity of names between the<br />
group known as Otic<strong>on</strong> Holding and the<br />
subsidiary Otic<strong>on</strong> A/S was becoming<br />
more and more of a disadvantage. At the<br />
May 1997 Annual General Meeting, a<br />
decisi<strong>on</strong> was made to change the parent<br />
company’s name from Otic<strong>on</strong> Holding<br />
A/S to William Demant Holding A/S.<br />
“When we acquired Bernaf<strong>on</strong> in 1995 we<br />
could already feel that both Bernaf<strong>on</strong> and<br />
T h e m o d e r n O t i c o n 49<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> 1904 – 2004<br />
The kite in William Demant Holding’s logo<br />
symbolizes all the qualities a holding company<br />
should possess: A clear overview,<br />
visi<strong>on</strong> and astute management.<br />
the world outside interpreted it as though<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> had taken over the company, even<br />
though it was the holding company that<br />
was actually the new owner. So as we<br />
approached the acquisiti<strong>on</strong> of Ph<strong>on</strong>ic Ear,<br />
which operates in many corners of the<br />
hearing aid industry, we decided to give<br />
the holding company a neutral name that<br />
would not cause people to think of <strong>on</strong>e<br />
brand rather than another,” explains Niels<br />
Jacobsen.<br />
The name-change served two purposes:<br />
Internally, it meant that employees in the<br />
acquired company did not feel that they<br />
were being taken over by employees of<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong>. And externally, it meant that the<br />
newly acquired companies could c<strong>on</strong>tinue<br />
to operate as independent entities with<br />
their own brands.<br />
A new millennium dawns<br />
In the autumn of 1997, Lars Kolind chose<br />
to withdraw after nine years at the helm,<br />
and in December 1997, Niels Jacobsen<br />
was appointed President & CEO of<br />
William Demant Holding A/S. “The Board<br />
of Directors decided quite quickly that I<br />
should carry <strong>on</strong> al<strong>on</strong>e, so things settled<br />
down immediately. Many issues took a<br />
more commercial turn because the balance<br />
changed when Lars Kolind left. But<br />
I was very <strong>care</strong>ful not to fall in the opposite<br />
ditch. I learned a lot during the years<br />
Lars and I worked together, and I was<br />
determined not to lose sight of our softer<br />
values,” explains Niels Jacobsen.
50<br />
T h e m o d e r n O t i c o n<br />
Chapter 4<br />
Niels Jacobsen was the natural choice for<br />
President and CEO, when Lars Kolind left<br />
the post in 1997.<br />
By this time, Otic<strong>on</strong> had grown so large<br />
that the company needed another makeover.<br />
Previously, Niels Jacobsen and Lars<br />
Kolind had been resp<strong>on</strong>sible for 10 to 15<br />
Competence Managers, who in turn<br />
looked after other employees at headquarters.<br />
But now, with a staff of 180, it<br />
was time to take a different tack.<br />
The soluti<strong>on</strong> was a team structure comprising<br />
three teams, each of which was<br />
managed by two Team Leaders. Each team<br />
would have its own business area: Highend<br />
Instruments, Medium and Low-end<br />
Instruments and Technological Development.<br />
The team leaders would be supplemented<br />
by a number of Competence<br />
Managers. The business model describing<br />
the way the team leaders would interact<br />
was inspired by the way Lars Kolind and<br />
Niels Jacobsen had shared the workload,<br />
and the principles were the same: The<br />
leaders should work closely together, and<br />
whenever decisi<strong>on</strong>s affecting the directi<strong>on</strong><br />
of a team had to be made, may the str<strong>on</strong>gest<br />
argument win. The physical framework<br />
for the new structure was already in place,<br />
in the form of flexible workstati<strong>on</strong>s and<br />
open offices, and the organizati<strong>on</strong>al change<br />
caused no problems for employees, who<br />
by then, were used to change. The<br />
“Spaghetti Organizati<strong>on</strong>” had become<br />
three layers of lasagne. And in the years to<br />
come, each layer would c<strong>on</strong>tribute to<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong>’s growth.<br />
A full-line supplier<br />
As President & CEO, Niels Jacobsen now<br />
had the opportunity to launch an initiative<br />
he had l<strong>on</strong>g been c<strong>on</strong>sidering: To make<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> a full-line supplier. Throughout the<br />
1990s, Otic<strong>on</strong> had focused <strong>on</strong> the development<br />
and sale of instruments in the high<br />
end of the market, making the company a<br />
niche supplier. Niels Jacobsen felt that it<br />
was time to target the broader market with<br />
instruments in the low- and mediumprice<br />
sectors. Winning market share in<br />
these sectors would definitely spur<br />
growth. So a development project was<br />
launched, and in 1999, two new instruments<br />
were born: Ergo and Swift.<br />
Thanks to the new medium-priced instruments,<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> experienced in 1999 a significant<br />
growth in retail for the first time<br />
since 1988, and over the next four years,<br />
sales quadrupled. There had been a definite<br />
shift from being a niche supplier in<br />
the 1990s to becoming a full-line supplier<br />
with a bigger market share.<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> was a great favourite with the<br />
Danish press. One newspaper described<br />
William Demant Holding as <strong>on</strong>e of the<br />
stars of the Danish business community.<br />
On 5 November 1999, the financial newspaper<br />
wrote: “William Demant joins the<br />
major league”, meaning that the company<br />
was now registered <strong>on</strong> the Copenhagen<br />
Stock Exchange’s KFX Index. KFX is the<br />
Copenhagen Stock Exchange’s leading<br />
share index. The index comprises the 20<br />
most actively traded shares of the preceding<br />
six-m<strong>on</strong>th period.<br />
C<strong>on</strong>tinued growth<br />
William Demant Holding c<strong>on</strong>tinued to<br />
strengthen all Group activities. In January<br />
2000, the company acquired the Danish<br />
audiometer manufacturer, Interacoustics,<br />
as an enhancement to and expansi<strong>on</strong> of<br />
the Group’s diagnostics business. This<br />
acquisiti<strong>on</strong> strengthened the company’s<br />
positi<strong>on</strong> in the market. The greatest challenge<br />
at that time was to find the right<br />
partners in the eliminati<strong>on</strong> race that<br />
would shape the future global market for<br />
hearing aids. In this arena, companies<br />
could get their fingers well and truly<br />
burned, so it was wise to proceed cautiously.
When audiometer-manufacturing<br />
company Interacoustics became<br />
available for purchase,William<br />
Demant outbid a group of employees<br />
who had teamed together to<br />
buy their own company.When the<br />
initial ill will at having been<br />
acquired by outsiders – from<br />
Copenhagen no less – abated,<br />
Interacoustics came to appreciate<br />
being owned by William Demant<br />
Holding.<br />
“Both the employees and the management<br />
dreamed of being able to<br />
purchase Interacoustics ourselves<br />
and keep it going. But our size<br />
made us an interesting titbit for<br />
the larger companies in the industry,<br />
and in the ec<strong>on</strong>omic race we<br />
just couldn't go the distance.<br />
When it became clear that Otic<strong>on</strong><br />
would be the victor, we were quite<br />
relieved in a way, because we had<br />
past experience with the company,<br />
and we knew that when it came<br />
to attitudes towards employees<br />
and company culture, we shared<br />
the same values.We knew that we<br />
wouldn't be shut down or relocated<br />
or have to discharge large<br />
numbers of people,” says John<br />
Pedersen, Financial C<strong>on</strong>troller for<br />
Interacoustics.<br />
In 2000, the American business magazine<br />
Forbes placed William Demant Holding<br />
am<strong>on</strong>g the top 20 companies in the world<br />
in its selecti<strong>on</strong> of the world’s top 300 companies<br />
with a turnover of less than 500<br />
milli<strong>on</strong> US dollars. The reas<strong>on</strong> was the<br />
impressive development in William<br />
Demant Holding’s share price, which had<br />
increased by 200 percent. This dem<strong>on</strong>strated<br />
an annual growth in turnover of 25<br />
percent <strong>on</strong> average over a period of eight<br />
years.<br />
Ready to merge<br />
In 2001, several share analysts predicted<br />
that mergers were in store for the world’s<br />
T h e m o d e r n O t i c o n<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> 1904 – 2004<br />
In 2001, earnings in Otic<strong>on</strong>’s subsidiary in Holland had increased so much<br />
that their market share had reached 23 percent. That year, the company’s<br />
General Manager of many years, Gerard J.J. van der Wel (sec<strong>on</strong>d <strong>on</strong> the left),<br />
received the Danish Trade Group’s Award and HRH Prince Henrik’s Commemorative Medal for the<br />
impressive development that has made Otic<strong>on</strong> Nederland Holland’s largest hearing aid distributor.<br />
six largest hearing aid manufacturers,<br />
Siemens, Starkey, William Demant<br />
Holding, GN ReSound, Ph<strong>on</strong>ak and Widex,<br />
who jointly dominated 90 percent of the<br />
world market. Just seven years earlier, 20<br />
companies had dominated 80 percent of<br />
the market, and the analysts now predicted<br />
that within three to four years, <strong>on</strong>ly<br />
three major players would remain. To arm<br />
itself for such mergers The Otic<strong>on</strong><br />
Foundati<strong>on</strong> sought the approval of the<br />
authorities to alter a 44-year old charter.<br />
This would enable the Foundati<strong>on</strong> to<br />
reduce its ownership share from 61.43 percent<br />
to under 50 percent and perhaps as<br />
little as 33 percent in c<strong>on</strong>necti<strong>on</strong> with<br />
51
52<br />
T h e m o d e r n O t i c o n<br />
Chapter 4<br />
In 1998, headset manufacturer Danacom was<br />
incorporated into the William Demant Holding<br />
Group. Danacom then became part of a joint<br />
venture with German Sennheiser.<br />
strategic acquisiti<strong>on</strong>s or mergers between<br />
William Demant Holding and competitors.<br />
2002 got off to a promising start with the<br />
successful introducti<strong>on</strong> in late 2001 of a<br />
new product line called Adapto. In the<br />
autumn, William Demant Holding launched<br />
a new offensive by entering an equal<br />
joint venture with German company, Sennheiser.<br />
The partnership would strengthen<br />
William Demant’s headset-manufacturing<br />
company, Danacom, enabling the company<br />
to put up more of a fight against the two<br />
str<strong>on</strong>gest global players, American company<br />
Plantr<strong>on</strong>ics and GN Netcom. The<br />
Danish/German joint venture was named<br />
Sennheiser Communicati<strong>on</strong>s and headquartered<br />
in Solrød in Denmark. When<br />
William Demant Holding published outstanding<br />
annual accounts later that spring,<br />
it was welcomed and rewarded with share<br />
price increases of more than 18 percent.<br />
“If you look at the way the industry has<br />
developed over the past seven or eight<br />
years, where the number of companies<br />
dwindled from about 20 to roughly six<br />
major players, it shows that partnerships<br />
can still be beneficial. Ownership structures<br />
in the industry can be an obstacle to<br />
mergers, but I have no doubt that we will<br />
witness more joint ventures between companies.<br />
In future, the demands <strong>on</strong> research<br />
and development will be so heavy that it<br />
will become too expensive for companies<br />
to manage certain development projects<br />
al<strong>on</strong>e. It may well be that companies will<br />
work together to develop core technologies,<br />
then go their separate ways to compete<br />
for market share,” Niels Jacobsen<br />
c<strong>on</strong>cludes.<br />
Company of the Year<br />
The positive developments of the 1990s in<br />
all parameters from product development<br />
to the organizati<strong>on</strong>, its employees and its<br />
finances culminated in 2003, when<br />
William Demant Holding was nominated<br />
“European Company of the Year”. The<br />
nominati<strong>on</strong> was based <strong>on</strong> c<strong>on</strong>vincing<br />
financial results and steady growth in an<br />
otherwise subdued market. The organizati<strong>on</strong><br />
behind the award is the European<br />
Business Press, which includes The<br />
Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal,<br />
The Ec<strong>on</strong>omist and 45 other business<br />
publicati<strong>on</strong>s in Europe.<br />
A proud Niels Jacobsen points at business<br />
acumen, timing and c<strong>on</strong>tinuity as being<br />
the most important reas<strong>on</strong>s for the company’s<br />
success. Over the last six to eight<br />
years, William Demant has enjoyed great<br />
stability <strong>on</strong> the employee fr<strong>on</strong>t, and out of<br />
around 30 to 40 managers, <strong>on</strong>ly three<br />
have been in the company under three<br />
years, creating an enormous sense of<br />
It was a proud Niels Jacobsen, who in 2003 accepted the European Company of the Year Award.<br />
Commenting <strong>on</strong> the event, he said: “It’s very uplifting to see the huge effort invested by every<strong>on</strong>e in<br />
William Demant being recognized in this way. In a highly competitive market you cannot achieve<br />
profit margins of between 20 and 25 percent, unless your company is an efficient, well-oiled<br />
machine, and I am happy to say that ours is.”
c<strong>on</strong>tinuity and community. “This company<br />
thrives <strong>on</strong> teamwork. We know the<br />
importance of creating a comm<strong>on</strong> understanding<br />
of where we are going and of<br />
working together to achieve our goals,”<br />
says Niels Jacobsen.<br />
C<strong>on</strong>tinual change<br />
In 2003, the number of employees had<br />
increased, and there was a c<strong>on</strong>cern that<br />
the organizati<strong>on</strong> was becoming too stiff.<br />
The company wanted to maintain its mental<br />
and physical agility as well as a sense<br />
of close proximity. At the same time, the<br />
market for hearing aids was becoming<br />
more complex and new, tougher demands<br />
needed to be met to stay ahead of the<br />
escalating competiti<strong>on</strong>.<br />
This led to a restructure in March 2003,<br />
in which the organizati<strong>on</strong> acquired a new<br />
dimensi<strong>on</strong>: Focus Areas. This new structure<br />
could be viewed as a three-dimensi<strong>on</strong>al<br />
model. The individual business<br />
teams were retained, but each team now<br />
had three dimensi<strong>on</strong>s: Projects, Competencies<br />
and Focus Areas.<br />
A human focus<br />
The team structure and the str<strong>on</strong>g focus <strong>on</strong><br />
the individual employee are reflected in<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong>’s slogan “People First” and the company’s<br />
fundamental human values. These<br />
values are rooted in a desire expressed by<br />
the employees to be viewed as independent,<br />
resp<strong>on</strong>sible individuals – and the management’s<br />
desire to encourage employees<br />
to be self-motivated and open-minded.<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong>’s human values are in no way<br />
static – they are open to debate and c<strong>on</strong>structive<br />
criticism – because this is the<br />
<strong>on</strong>ly way to maintain a nimble and dynamic<br />
mode of operati<strong>on</strong>. “We have recently<br />
reformulated our human values, which<br />
represent a set of attitudes and values that<br />
form the basis for our decisi<strong>on</strong> making.<br />
Missi<strong>on</strong> and Human Values<br />
We have chosen not to be governed by<br />
rules and regulati<strong>on</strong>s, so we have very few<br />
of these, and those we do have are anchored<br />
in comm<strong>on</strong> sense,” says Niels Jacobsen.<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong>’s human values are very clear<br />
indeed: “We are str<strong>on</strong>ger when we act<br />
together than when we act al<strong>on</strong>e. Otic<strong>on</strong><br />
can <strong>on</strong>ly excel if we collaborate across different<br />
areas of resp<strong>on</strong>sibility, projects and<br />
specialist areas. We are flexible. We make<br />
an extra effort. We respect each other. We<br />
lead instead of follow – and this applies to<br />
our internal envir<strong>on</strong>ment as well as our<br />
relati<strong>on</strong>ships with customers and suppliers.<br />
This is how we ensure that Otic<strong>on</strong><br />
c<strong>on</strong>tinues to grow and develop.”<br />
“We must believe in ourselves”<br />
“The people of Otic<strong>on</strong> feel as though they<br />
are at the centre of the universe. People<br />
respect each other’s point of view,” says<br />
Project Leader Peter Anker Nielsen, who<br />
joined Otic<strong>on</strong> in 1998. Peter feels part of<br />
<strong>on</strong>e big family. “We praise each other a lot,<br />
T h e m o d e r n O t i c o n<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> 1904 – 2004<br />
“The people of<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> feel as<br />
though they are<br />
at the centre of<br />
the universe.<br />
People respect<br />
each other’s point<br />
of view.”<br />
and we are very creative. We get feedback<br />
in our daily lives, and we have a great<br />
deal of freedom and resp<strong>on</strong>sibility,” says<br />
Peter Anker Nielsen.<br />
Such positive statements are typical coming<br />
from Otic<strong>on</strong> employees. The company<br />
is described as an excellent place of work,<br />
with good workmates and good products.<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> develops at a pace the employees<br />
find comfortable, and the company has<br />
solid fundamental values – all guided by<br />
a philosophy that says: “Do your very<br />
best”. The fact that people are working for<br />
“a good cause” also means something for<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> and its employees. This is certainly<br />
part of the job for the audiologists, who<br />
spend all their time helping people with<br />
hearing loss. But it also means a lot to the<br />
other members of staff to be working for a<br />
company whose products help to improve<br />
people’s quality of life, and where a porti<strong>on</strong><br />
of the earnings is put to good use via<br />
a Foundati<strong>on</strong>.<br />
53
Chapter 5<br />
Eriksholm<br />
Every old building has a story – and Eriksholm is no excepti<strong>on</strong>. The house<br />
was originally built in 1862 from materials reclaimed from the old Customs<br />
and Excise building in Helsingør. The house changed owners numerous<br />
times prior to being purchased by Otic<strong>on</strong> in 1976. After extensive<br />
remodelling, the centre was inaugurated <strong>on</strong> 16 September 1977.
Research that matters<br />
It was the desire to strengthen Otic<strong>on</strong>’s<br />
ability to meet tougher future competiti<strong>on</strong><br />
that encouraged the company to create<br />
Eriksholm Research Centre in 1977. The<br />
company’s visi<strong>on</strong> was to create a centre<br />
for research not <strong>on</strong>ly into technology, but<br />
also into hearing. The goal was to gather<br />
knowledge about the need for, and use of,<br />
hearing aids in order to generate ideas for<br />
developing new instruments. Research<br />
needed to be brought out of the laboratory,<br />
and hearing aids needed to be tested in<br />
the reality against which they would be<br />
weighed and measured.<br />
Eriksholm was chosen, because it is situated<br />
well north of Copenhagen, a healthy<br />
distance away from the development and<br />
marketing departments. The centre needed<br />
to maintain a neutral positi<strong>on</strong>, if it<br />
were to become a hub of internati<strong>on</strong>al<br />
research and knowledge sharing. The fact<br />
that research was performed <strong>on</strong> neutral<br />
ground and that it was not directly product-oriented<br />
paved the way for the many<br />
excellent relati<strong>on</strong>ships Eriksholm enjoys<br />
today with research institutes all over the<br />
world. The independent research instituti<strong>on</strong><br />
is referred to as Eriksholm rather<br />
than “Otic<strong>on</strong>’s Research Centre”. One of<br />
the first results of this aut<strong>on</strong>omy was the<br />
development of methods for fitting hearing<br />
aids. These new methods not <strong>on</strong>ly had<br />
impact <strong>on</strong> Otic<strong>on</strong>’s products, but were<br />
also used to fit hearing aids all over the<br />
globe.<br />
It’s all about people<br />
Eriksholm’s research supports Otic<strong>on</strong>’s<br />
visi<strong>on</strong> to “Help people live the life they<br />
want with the hearing they have”. Good<br />
hearing is essential for social interplay<br />
between people, and it has a profound<br />
effect <strong>on</strong> their quality of life. The majority<br />
R e s e a r c h t h a t m a t t e r s<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> 1904 – 2004<br />
of Eriksholm’s research is performed in<br />
the field and is based <strong>on</strong> experiments<br />
involving hearing aid users. Tests are performed<br />
in different acoustic envir<strong>on</strong>ments<br />
and listening situati<strong>on</strong>s – such as communicati<strong>on</strong><br />
<strong>on</strong> a <strong>on</strong>e-to-<strong>on</strong>e basis, in groups<br />
or in noisy listening envir<strong>on</strong>ments.<br />
The work c<strong>on</strong>ducted with the aid of hearing-impaired<br />
volunteers has meant a great<br />
deal to Otic<strong>on</strong> and generated c<strong>on</strong>siderable<br />
The light and open design of<br />
Eriksholm’s auditorium, with<br />
views <strong>on</strong>to the park, give visitors<br />
a feeling of being close to nature.<br />
55
56<br />
R e s e a r c h t h a t m a t t e r s<br />
Chapter 5<br />
In 1986, Eriksholm opened its own museum. Well-known Danish actresses, Karen Berg and Karin<br />
Nellemose, in character as two old ladies, inaugurated the museum <strong>on</strong> 6 June.<br />
new knowledge and ideas for the development<br />
of future products. “50 years ago,<br />
technology was a limiting factor. We had<br />
lots of ideas about what could be d<strong>on</strong>e,<br />
but we lacked the wherewithal to implement<br />
them. Then the technology improved,<br />
propelling development forward. Now it’s<br />
time to c<strong>on</strong>centrate <strong>on</strong> the human aspects.<br />
At Eriksholm, we put people’s needs,<br />
preferences and capabilities first, as our<br />
slogan says: People First. We make new<br />
discoveries through working with hearing<br />
aid users. The most important task of any<br />
scientist is to listen and be inspired. We<br />
must transform ideas into something that<br />
can be used in the world outside – some-<br />
thing that can become a product that is<br />
both commercially attractive and clinically<br />
effective,” says Dr. Graham Naylor, who<br />
joined Otic<strong>on</strong> in 1993 and has been Co-<br />
Director of Research at Eriksholm since<br />
2001.<br />
The people of Eriksholm believe that the<br />
greatest scientific challenge today is to<br />
meet the needs of the listener. Technology<br />
should not be applied just for the sake of<br />
it. This demands great respect for the individual,<br />
because while some want an<br />
instruments that provides good speech<br />
understanding in noisy surroundings,<br />
others might prefer an instrument that<br />
prioritizes comfort. The needs of the user<br />
always come first, and the mass-produced<br />
instruments of the past have now been<br />
replaced by advanced hearing aids that<br />
can be customized to meet each pers<strong>on</strong>’s<br />
unique listening needs and pers<strong>on</strong>al preferences.<br />
Sound and lifestyle<br />
One of Eriksholm’s primary focus areas in<br />
the new millennium is “acoustic lifestyle”.<br />
When assisting people with hearing loss, it<br />
is important to focus not <strong>on</strong>ly <strong>on</strong> their<br />
hearing but also <strong>on</strong> their lifestyle. Eriksholm<br />
hopes to provide much needed<br />
insight by gathering more knowledge in<br />
this area, including the types of listening<br />
and communicati<strong>on</strong> situati<strong>on</strong>s people<br />
encounter, the kind of jobs they have, and<br />
the roles they play in everyday life. Over<br />
the next few years, it should become possible<br />
to introduce a system in hearing aids<br />
that makes it easier for the user to switch<br />
between different types of settings, depending<br />
<strong>on</strong> their daily needs. “For the past few<br />
years, we have performed exciting tests,<br />
where users are allowed to “shape” the<br />
sound of their hearing aids according to<br />
their individual preferences. We give them<br />
the opportunity to directly influence what
Eriksholm has worked systematically<br />
with test subjects for over 25 years, and<br />
the centre’s database c<strong>on</strong>tains more than<br />
1,100 people. Test subjects change all the<br />
time, but there is always a core group of<br />
approximately 200 people. Denmark has<br />
strict ethical laws governing test subjects,<br />
and naturally Eriksholm abides by all of<br />
these rules. People participate voluntarily,<br />
and they can withdraw from an<br />
experiment at any time.<br />
happens in their ears, by helping them to<br />
help themselves,” explains Claus<br />
Elberling, Co-Director of Research at<br />
Eriksholm.<br />
Research and development, hand in hand<br />
Since Eriksholm’s incepti<strong>on</strong>, the centre<br />
has performed valuable work for Otic<strong>on</strong>.<br />
More than 250 research reports have<br />
fuelled product development. But Eriksholm<br />
is not the <strong>on</strong>ly <strong>on</strong>e to determine the<br />
directi<strong>on</strong> research should take. To maintain<br />
a balance between research and development,<br />
the centre has regular discussi<strong>on</strong>s<br />
with Otic<strong>on</strong>’s development groups to set<br />
the right course for the future. In additi<strong>on</strong>,<br />
Eriksholm manages its own specialized<br />
secti<strong>on</strong> of research and regularly holds<br />
internal seminars to share its knowledge<br />
with Otic<strong>on</strong>.<br />
A major breakthrough came in 1991 with<br />
the fully automatic hearing aid, MultiFocus.<br />
This was followed in September 1995<br />
with DigiFocus, which, al<strong>on</strong>g with the<br />
instrument’s own fitting software, provided<br />
a gradual acclimatizati<strong>on</strong> to more and<br />
more sound – a significant advance that<br />
ultimately improved the wearer’s ability<br />
to understand speech.<br />
Adapto – a research success<br />
The Adapto digital hearing aid, with its<br />
unique VoiceFinder system, has a unique<br />
ability to recognize speech. In c<strong>on</strong>trast to<br />
noise, speech c<strong>on</strong>tains a number of very<br />
characteristic harm<strong>on</strong>ic patterns. The<br />
VoiceFinder system immediately detects<br />
and zeroes in <strong>on</strong> these sounds. When<br />
speech is no l<strong>on</strong>ger present, Adapto then<br />
reverts to a more comfortable setting to<br />
protect the user from irrelevant, tiresome<br />
noise. Adapto is also equipped with an<br />
anti-whistling system that makes the<br />
instrument feel and sound more natural<br />
– a benefit further secured with the use of<br />
R e s e a r c h t h a t m a t t e r s<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> 1904 – 2004<br />
larger ventilati<strong>on</strong> channels than normal<br />
(OpenEar Acoustics). The instrument also<br />
amplifies sound in several different ways<br />
to match the individual user’s hearing loss<br />
and lifestyle.<br />
Not all projects end successfully. There<br />
has to be room for trials that fail and<br />
instruments that end up <strong>on</strong> the shelf.<br />
Experience shows that projects like these<br />
often provide a stepping-st<strong>on</strong>e to new<br />
discoveries, which then form the basis<br />
for future breakthroughs and inventi<strong>on</strong>s.<br />
Two factors are decisive in development:<br />
Knowledge-based research and technological<br />
developments. 20 years ago, technology<br />
was often the limiting factor,<br />
preventing the transformati<strong>on</strong> of knowledge<br />
into c<strong>on</strong>crete products. Today, the relati<strong>on</strong>ship<br />
between the two is more balanced.<br />
Over the past two decades, development<br />
has progressed at lightening speed, and<br />
Research results from Eriksholm<br />
were the foundati<strong>on</strong> for the<br />
development of Otic<strong>on</strong>’s Adapto<br />
hearing aid, which was introduced<br />
in 2001. Adapto’s design<br />
is based <strong>on</strong> a system that recognizes<br />
human speech. The instrument<br />
captures and amplifies<br />
sound when speech is present,<br />
and turns the volume down when<br />
speech recedes.<br />
57
58<br />
R e s e a r c h t h a t m a t t e r s<br />
Chapter 5<br />
Every hearing aid has to be tailor-made because – like fingerprints – no two people’s ears are<br />
identical. Hearing aids are made to measure, and quality c<strong>on</strong>trol is very strict.<br />
today’s technology is more than capable of<br />
managing demands raised <strong>on</strong> the basis of<br />
research. For Eriksholm, this development<br />
has meant a greater interest in the technological<br />
aspects, since technology is often a<br />
prerequisite for trying out new ideas.<br />
C<strong>on</strong>necti<strong>on</strong>s to the outside world<br />
Over the years, Erikshom has become an<br />
integral part of the internati<strong>on</strong>al research<br />
envir<strong>on</strong>ment. The centre receives visitors<br />
from all over the world and hosts internati<strong>on</strong>al<br />
c<strong>on</strong>ferences and seminars. Great<br />
weight is placed <strong>on</strong> building relati<strong>on</strong>ships<br />
outside Otic<strong>on</strong>, and the scientists participate<br />
regularly in c<strong>on</strong>ferences both in<br />
Denmark and abroad. Eriksholm’s relati<strong>on</strong>s<br />
with the outside world have helped<br />
the centre to remain at the forefr<strong>on</strong>t of<br />
discoveries in the field. In the last 25<br />
years in particular, huge progress has<br />
been made.<br />
Research takes high priority. For<br />
example, Otic<strong>on</strong> worked in close<br />
cooperati<strong>on</strong> with Widex and GN<br />
ReSound in 2002 to establish the<br />
Centre for Applied Hearing<br />
Research at Denmark’s Technical<br />
University.
In 2001, extensive remodelling at Eriksholm<br />
culminated in a modern auditorium, c<strong>on</strong>ference<br />
facilities, a library, the Eriksholm<br />
Museum and a new research department.<br />
The Otic<strong>on</strong> Foundati<strong>on</strong> also supports<br />
Eriksholm by financing research projects<br />
in all corners of the globe.<br />
A holistic view of the individual<br />
Since 1977, research at Eriksholm has<br />
focused <strong>on</strong> the needs of hearing-impaired<br />
people. According to Claus Elbering, Co-<br />
Director of Research, this work will c<strong>on</strong>tinue:<br />
“The most important resource in<br />
our future activities will be our test subjects,<br />
and the work we perform will to a<br />
great degree focus <strong>on</strong> their everyday<br />
needs.” New fields worthy of development<br />
are c<strong>on</strong>stantly being discovered. “Our<br />
dealings with test subjects at Eriksholm<br />
have provided excellent audiological ballast<br />
and inspired countless projects. They<br />
have also proved the value of taking a<br />
holistic view of the individual. Hearing<br />
loss is not the <strong>on</strong>ly thing that dictates how<br />
people live their lives. The picture becomes<br />
complete, <strong>on</strong>ly when we have fully understood<br />
the needs of the individual with<br />
whom we are dealing,” c<strong>on</strong>cludes Claus<br />
Elberling. These and many other questi<strong>on</strong>s<br />
require answers, if companies are to take<br />
the needs of hearing-impaired people<br />
seriously. In the past, companies tried to<br />
simulate real life in a laboratory. Today,<br />
companies are exploring people’s acoustic<br />
lifestyles in the real world.<br />
Projects in the pipeline<br />
Research into the ear canal and the anatomy<br />
and geometry of the outer ear has the<br />
potential to form the basis for a new approach<br />
to the mechanical functi<strong>on</strong> and cosmetic<br />
appearance of hearing aids. Studies<br />
addressing more c<strong>on</strong>crete issues, such as<br />
the acclimatizati<strong>on</strong> problems experienced<br />
by hearing-impaired people the first time<br />
they use hearing aids, also command<br />
attenti<strong>on</strong> at Eriksholm. Research into these<br />
areas and others are destined to significantly<br />
impact the future of hearing aids.<br />
R e s e a r c h t h a t m a t t e r s<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> 1904 – 2004<br />
In the future, rather than just designing<br />
projects to c<strong>on</strong>firm or dispel various<br />
hypotheses, Eriksholm will focus <strong>on</strong><br />
designing research tools: Prototype hearing<br />
aids, software, test equipment, questi<strong>on</strong>naires<br />
and the diverse tests needed for<br />
the completi<strong>on</strong> of projects. New ideas for<br />
signal processing in future hearing aids<br />
can lead to new opportunities for the user<br />
and will therefore take high priority.<br />
Signal processing demands an in-depth<br />
knowledge of the characteristics of hearing,<br />
so yet other new projects will seek to<br />
uncover new influencing factors.<br />
59
Chapter 6<br />
The design<br />
In the 1950s, hearing aids began to change shape.<br />
The design became smaller, the technology less<br />
bulky, and the colour became lighter.
A century century of of hearing loss<br />
What does it mean to be hearing-impaired?<br />
What effect does it have, and how do the<br />
people around you react? These are just<br />
two of the questi<strong>on</strong>s people ask themselves<br />
when they meet some<strong>on</strong>e with<br />
hearing loss. The answer is often no<br />
further away than in the newspapers or<br />
weekly magazines, where over the past<br />
few years, it has become more comm<strong>on</strong>place<br />
to see famous pers<strong>on</strong>alities telling<br />
the world about their hearing loss. But in<br />
1904, when Hans Demant decided to help<br />
his hearing-impaired wife, there were<br />
very few opportunities for the “hard-ofhearing”,<br />
as they were referred to back<br />
then. They were aband<strong>on</strong>ed to an inade-<br />
quate social system where few technical<br />
remedies were available.<br />
The welfare of the hard-of-hearing<br />
“I write to you as some<strong>on</strong>e who has<br />
become very hard-of-hearing. What a<br />
heavy destiny this bodes in life. I have<br />
just completed a nine-m<strong>on</strong>th l<strong>on</strong>g course<br />
in lip reading, and I must admit that the<br />
benefits I have gained from this are<br />
bey<strong>on</strong>d what I ever could have hoped for.<br />
It has given me, my friends and colleagues,<br />
and especially my family, such joy that I<br />
am now able to understand almost everything<br />
that is being said, even though I<br />
cannot hear a single word,” writes Ant<strong>on</strong><br />
A c e n t u r y o f h e a r i n g l o s s<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> 1904 – 2004<br />
Christensen in the Magazine for the Hardof-Hearing<br />
in 1915. There were thousands<br />
of hearing-impaired Danes in 1904, and<br />
they all had difficulty finding help. Society<br />
knew very little about hearing loss and<br />
hearing aids. But in 1912, a small group of<br />
hearing-impaired people formed a group<br />
called the Hard-of-Hearing Welfare Associati<strong>on</strong>,<br />
and this marked the beginning of<br />
an era, in which more professi<strong>on</strong>al help<br />
became available.<br />
Getting a hearing test<br />
The Hard-of-Hearing Welfare Associati<strong>on</strong><br />
hired an ear specialist to perform hearing<br />
tests and offer advice <strong>on</strong> various soluti<strong>on</strong>s.<br />
The first electric hearing aids were not<br />
exactly discreet.<br />
61
62<br />
A c e n t u r y o f h e a r i n g l o s s<br />
Chapter 6<br />
In a 1923 ph<strong>on</strong>ebook, “Høreapparater” (hearing aids) came just after “Hønsefoder” (chicken food),<br />
and this was where William Demant advertised his Acoustic<strong>on</strong> instruments.<br />
In 1914, the Associati<strong>on</strong> started a collecti<strong>on</strong><br />
of hearing aids at its offices in Copenhagen.<br />
This collecti<strong>on</strong> was open every<br />
Thursday from 10 to 11 a.m., when hearing-impaired<br />
people were welcome to try<br />
the different instruments to see which <strong>on</strong>e<br />
they preferred. “This is the <strong>on</strong>ly way to<br />
ensure that people get an instrument that<br />
suits them and will satisfy them in the<br />
l<strong>on</strong>g run,” wrote the Magazine for the<br />
Hard-of-Hearing. People would then go<br />
and buy the instrument of their choice at a<br />
dealer. William Demant helped to sp<strong>on</strong>sor<br />
the collecti<strong>on</strong>. In additi<strong>on</strong> to the new<br />
instruments, there was a number of used<br />
<strong>on</strong>es that members had d<strong>on</strong>ated. “The<br />
owners of these instruments want to do a<br />
good deed by d<strong>on</strong>ating them to the Associati<strong>on</strong>’s<br />
collecti<strong>on</strong>. Here they will be disinfected<br />
and renovated if necessary and<br />
then given to the more needy members of<br />
the Associati<strong>on</strong>.”This was the Associati<strong>on</strong>’s<br />
way of helping people with limited funds.<br />
In the early 1900s, hearing tests were<br />
primitive: They were performed with the<br />
aid of tuning forks and flutes of different<br />
pitches. It was a l<strong>on</strong>g and tiring procedure,<br />
which yielded inaccurate results that were<br />
difficult to translate into any particular<br />
type of hearing soluti<strong>on</strong>. Since this method<br />
took a l<strong>on</strong>g time, other methods were often<br />
employed instead – like whispering or<br />
using a pocket watch to verify the distances<br />
from which people could hear certain<br />
sounds.<br />
Die-hard hearing trumpets<br />
In 1925, a hearing aid collecti<strong>on</strong> was started,<br />
which comprised both hearing aids<br />
and hearing trumpets. One of the reas<strong>on</strong>s<br />
the hearing trumpet survived as an opti<strong>on</strong><br />
was that the trumpet’s price in 1917 was<br />
somewhere between 6 and 20 kr<strong>on</strong>er,<br />
whereas an electric hearing aid could cost<br />
anywhere between 125 and 300 kr<strong>on</strong>er.
The hearing trumpet was used well into the<br />
20th century. It was relatively cheap and did<br />
not require expensive batteries.<br />
The hearing trumpet, lacking the need for<br />
battery power, was also cheap to run,<br />
which also helped to fuel its popularity.<br />
Perhaps its greatest advantage was that<br />
people automatically spoke up when presented<br />
with a hearing trumpet, so the<br />
hearing-impaired pers<strong>on</strong> automatically<br />
heard much better. As late as the end of<br />
the 1930s, it was still not uncomm<strong>on</strong> to<br />
see hearing aid collecti<strong>on</strong>s recommending<br />
the use of hearing trumpets, rather than<br />
electric hearing aids.<br />
After some years, the Hard-of-Hearing<br />
Welfare Associati<strong>on</strong> chose to assume<br />
resp<strong>on</strong>sibility for the sale of hearing aids<br />
to those who c<strong>on</strong>tacted them. The Associati<strong>on</strong><br />
earned commissi<strong>on</strong> <strong>on</strong> the instruments<br />
sold, and this was invested in<br />
improving and managing the collecti<strong>on</strong>.<br />
Sound of a h<strong>on</strong>ey bee<br />
In the first decade, <strong>on</strong>ly 50 people visited<br />
the Hard-of-Hearing Welfare Associati<strong>on</strong><br />
each year. The majority of hearing-impaired<br />
people went directly to the private<br />
dispensers to get a hearing test and purchase<br />
an instrument. In the mid-1930s,<br />
William Demant had gathered a l<strong>on</strong>g<br />
series of customer recommendati<strong>on</strong>s,<br />
which he used in marketing his hearing<br />
aids. “One example of the instrument’s<br />
qualities: It was an amazing experience<br />
for me to hear the h<strong>on</strong>ey bee “sing”, when<br />
it dived into an apple blossom,” says B.<br />
Christensen in 1935. Or, as shoemaker<br />
Søren Jensen put it: “Without my hearing<br />
aid, I would be just as helpless as a weaksighted<br />
pers<strong>on</strong> would be without glasses<br />
– perhaps even more so. At least glasses<br />
can be fixed at the first watchmaker’s shop<br />
<strong>on</strong> the high street. Hearing aids can’t. I use<br />
my hearing aids for 10 to 12 hours a day,<br />
they are essential for me in my business,<br />
when I am serving customers.”<br />
Reverend Helge Hostrup is quoted as saying:<br />
“Six m<strong>on</strong>ths ago, I received an<br />
Amplified B<strong>on</strong>e C<strong>on</strong>ducti<strong>on</strong> instrument<br />
called the Acoustic<strong>on</strong> Model 20. Since<br />
then, I have used it daily. It has without<br />
A c e n t u r y o f h e a r i n g l o s s<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> 1904 – 2004<br />
doubt helped my hearing loss. My family<br />
are more affected by my c<strong>on</strong>diti<strong>on</strong> than I<br />
am, it would appear. But even I cannot<br />
deny that I have become much better at<br />
following a c<strong>on</strong>versati<strong>on</strong> than before.<br />
When I talk to people who are old or ill I<br />
find it much easier to hear what they are<br />
saying, despite their often weak voices. I<br />
also believe that this instrument is helping<br />
to revitalize my normal hearing.”<br />
Electric hearing aids were black and often<br />
made from Bakelite. They had several secti<strong>on</strong>s,<br />
which were c<strong>on</strong>nected with wires.<br />
Bent Skjøttgaard recalls another interesting<br />
detail about his grandfather: “In all<br />
the time I knew him, he always wore his<br />
hearing aid with the earph<strong>on</strong>es c<strong>on</strong>nected<br />
to a headband over his bald head and<br />
with the microph<strong>on</strong>e c<strong>on</strong>nected to his<br />
jacket. I would often see him tapping the<br />
Bakelite to loosen the coal dust so that he<br />
could hear better.” The microph<strong>on</strong>es of<br />
that era were c<strong>on</strong>structed with the help of<br />
coal dust or balls of coal dust. Both had a<br />
tendency to get stuck or stick to each<br />
other, when the user walked from a cold<br />
C.G. Buus remembers how<br />
his father’s electric hearing<br />
aid looked in 1935: “He<br />
wore the microph<strong>on</strong>e of<br />
the hearing aid in his butt<strong>on</strong>hole<br />
instead of a flower.<br />
The earph<strong>on</strong>e was fitted<br />
<strong>on</strong> a headband that could<br />
be worn like a headph<strong>on</strong>e.<br />
He put the battery in the<br />
pocket of his waistcoat.<br />
When he wasn’t using the<br />
earpiece, he kept it in his<br />
waistcoat to protect it.”<br />
63
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A c e n t u r y o f h e a r i n g l o s s<br />
Chapter 6<br />
Bent Skjøttgaard’s grandfather, Anders Skjøttgaard, <strong>on</strong> his 70th birthday. The hearing aid<br />
was very heavy and could not sit in the ear al<strong>on</strong>e, so a headband was necessary.
oom into a warm room. This seriously<br />
affected the sound quality, but it could be<br />
remedied by tapping <strong>on</strong> the microph<strong>on</strong>e.<br />
Not for the faint-hearted<br />
Not all hearing-impaired people were satisfied<br />
with their instruments. In direct<br />
c<strong>on</strong>trast to the positive recommendati<strong>on</strong>s<br />
William Demant received from customers,<br />
author Peder Kjærgaard Jensen recalls his<br />
own experiences in 1959: “When I see the<br />
delicate hearing aids people wear today, I<br />
cannot help but recall the piece of junk I<br />
<strong>on</strong>ce had. The earpiece was the size of an<br />
alarm clock and as black as pitch. As<br />
headwear goes, it was hardly elegant. The<br />
instruments of the day made a noise like<br />
stork clacking, or a tin can being dragged<br />
over cobblest<strong>on</strong>es. In the 1920s, hearing<br />
aids were a rare sight. In the Børglum district,<br />
where I lived, I was probably the<br />
<strong>on</strong>ly <strong>on</strong>e to own such a m<strong>on</strong>strosity.<br />
People knew me from miles around as the<br />
boy with the black can <strong>on</strong> his head. And<br />
if the earpiece and microph<strong>on</strong>e came too<br />
close to each other, the whole thing whistled<br />
like a steam train.”<br />
Tube instruments<br />
– high-priced but heavenly<br />
In the mid-1940s, tube-amplifier instruments<br />
became more comm<strong>on</strong>. They had<br />
been available in the USA for some time,<br />
but could not be imported to Denmark<br />
because of the restricti<strong>on</strong>s imposed by the<br />
Foreign Exchange C<strong>on</strong>trol Committee. It<br />
was <strong>on</strong>ly when Otic<strong>on</strong> began producing<br />
tube instruments that they became a more<br />
comm<strong>on</strong> sight in Denmark. They represented<br />
a huge step forward technologically<br />
for the people with hearing loss. As<br />
Aage Jensen explains in 1948: “With my<br />
old hearing aid, I would ask myself every<br />
day when the sun came up whether I<br />
ought to wear it. When I talked to people,<br />
it didn’t provide any tangible help, and if<br />
I wore it, it just advertised the fact that I<br />
was hard-of-hearing. It couldn’t amplify<br />
music or s<strong>on</strong>g at all, and the sound quality<br />
was noisy and distorted. T<strong>on</strong>es became<br />
completely unrecognizable. The most<br />
w<strong>on</strong>derful thing about my new tube<br />
instrument is that I can hear music and<br />
s<strong>on</strong>g, and the melodies sound far richer.”<br />
William Demant <strong>on</strong>ce more took the<br />
opportunity to use customer’s recommendati<strong>on</strong>s<br />
in marketing tube instruments.<br />
“There are not enough words to describe<br />
my joy and satisfacti<strong>on</strong> with the new<br />
OTICON. Having used it for about <strong>on</strong>e<br />
year, I can find nothing whatsoever to<br />
complain about. It has satisfied my highest<br />
expectati<strong>on</strong>s, and I feel that I now hear<br />
just as well as my fellow man. I actually<br />
have the advantage at parties, because<br />
– if the witticisms begin to sink too much<br />
below the belt – I can just turn them off.<br />
Be c<strong>on</strong>vinced therefore of my daily gratitude,”<br />
writes author Ant<strong>on</strong> Jørgensen in<br />
1947. Another satisfied customer writes:<br />
“A world of t<strong>on</strong>es has <strong>on</strong>ce more become<br />
accessible to me, and the most important<br />
thing is that I have ceased to be a nuisance<br />
“I remember when my<br />
grandfather came in from<br />
the countryside to visit us<br />
in Copenhagen, and my<br />
mother and I would ride<br />
with him <strong>on</strong> the town<br />
tram. He used to ask all<br />
sorts of questi<strong>on</strong>s and pull<br />
his hearing trumpet out<br />
from his pocket. Mother<br />
would shout so loud that<br />
every<strong>on</strong>e in the tram could<br />
hear the c<strong>on</strong>versati<strong>on</strong>. And<br />
I just sat there wishing I<br />
could disappear,” says<br />
Ulla Busk Laursen.<br />
A c e n t u r y o f h e a r i n g l o s s<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> 1904 – 2004<br />
to my fellow man, which <strong>on</strong>e cannot help<br />
but noticing when <strong>on</strong>e is hard-of-hearing.<br />
OTICON is the right instrument for me<br />
– high-priced but heavenly.”<br />
Transistor-based instruments<br />
In 1949, the Hard-of-Hearing Welfare<br />
Associati<strong>on</strong> had 5,000 members, and the<br />
organizati<strong>on</strong> changed its name to The<br />
Danish Associati<strong>on</strong> for the Hard-of-<br />
Hearing. 1,500 people had visited the<br />
hearing aid collecti<strong>on</strong>, of which approximately<br />
1,000 had received hearing aids.<br />
Of these, the Disabled Pers<strong>on</strong>s’ Associati<strong>on</strong><br />
had paid for 75 percent. The number<br />
of hearing-impaired people requiring<br />
treatment was estimated at 80,000. The<br />
advent of the Hearing Service in 1951 was<br />
c<strong>on</strong>sequently most c<strong>on</strong>venient; it meant<br />
that any<strong>on</strong>e could visit their doctor for a<br />
referral to an ear specialist and get a statesubsidized<br />
hearing aid.<br />
The first transistor-based instruments<br />
were introduced in early 1953, but years<br />
would go by, before they superseded the<br />
tube-based instruments. In the Magazine<br />
for the Hard-of-Hearing, engineer C.A.<br />
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Chapter 6<br />
Before the advent of the Hearing Service in 1951, hearing-impaired people purchased their<br />
instruments directly through dealers. Countless hearing aid advertisements appeared in<br />
numerous newspapers and weekly magazines. Window displays featuring hearing aids<br />
were also an integral part of street life. However, when the Hearing Service became a<br />
reality, commercial Danish hearing aids disappeared.<br />
Jahnsen, who suffered from hearing loss,<br />
warned his fellow sufferers about the drawbacks<br />
of changing to the new transistorbased<br />
instruments: “Regarding the transistor<br />
itself, it is no secret that American<br />
scientists and manufacturers have experienced<br />
great difficulty producing a uniform,<br />
reliable product. There are also differing<br />
opini<strong>on</strong>s am<strong>on</strong>g European manufacturers<br />
about the stability of the transistor.<br />
Another problem is thermal noise, which<br />
increases greatly with temperature and can<br />
cause problems in an instrument, whose<br />
tubes have been replaced by transistors.<br />
This is because the noise from the first<br />
transistor is increased in those that follow.<br />
It cannot be advantageous at this stage to<br />
paint transistors in rosy-red colours, and<br />
any<strong>on</strong>e c<strong>on</strong>templating getting a transistorized<br />
hearing aid would do well to wait.”<br />
Despite these worries, the technical teething<br />
problems were resolved, and the transistor-based<br />
instrument became popular<br />
all over the world.<br />
Head-worn instruments<br />
Head-worn instruments first appeared in<br />
Denmark at the end of the 1950s. They<br />
were either worn behind the ear or built<br />
into spectacle frames. The design of these<br />
instruments was not <strong>on</strong>ly inspired by a<br />
desire to produce cosmetically attractive<br />
soluti<strong>on</strong>s – it improved performance too.<br />
When the microph<strong>on</strong>es of body-worn<br />
instruments were attached to clothing, the<br />
clothes generated a great deal of interfering<br />
noise. Because they were not susceptible<br />
to this type of problem, the head-worn<br />
instruments had a real advantage.<br />
In the 1950s, very few hearing aids were<br />
sold directly to users. If people needed an<br />
instrument, they went through the<br />
Hearing Service, and it took years before<br />
head-worn instruments became part of the<br />
selecti<strong>on</strong> at State Hearing Centres. In<br />
1962, the State Hearing Centre in Odense<br />
c<strong>on</strong>ducted a broad survey, comparing<br />
body-worn instruments to BTE instruments.<br />
The results were to be c<strong>on</strong>sidered,<br />
when making a decisi<strong>on</strong> <strong>on</strong> whether to<br />
include BTE instruments in the Hearing<br />
Service selecti<strong>on</strong>. C<strong>on</strong>sultant Doctor<br />
Christian Røjskjær emphasized different<br />
c<strong>on</strong>diti<strong>on</strong>s in his summarizing report: “It<br />
has always struck me that the treatment<br />
of many moderately hearing-impaired<br />
students with body-worn hearing instru-<br />
In the 1950s, hearing aid development took off.<br />
Instruments became smaller and lighter, and<br />
even the colours became lighter.
Otic<strong>on</strong>’s “Ear Jewel” from 1967.<br />
Hearing glasses were very popular in<br />
the 1970s.<br />
ments was like shooting sparrows with<br />
cann<strong>on</strong>s. By this, I mean not <strong>on</strong>ly the<br />
enormous amplificati<strong>on</strong> abilities of the<br />
body-worn instrument, but also the way<br />
it works in general: A bag <strong>on</strong> the chest,<br />
wires, noise generated by the movement<br />
of clothes during extreme activity and<br />
much more. Patients approaching puberty<br />
would quite understandably often have a<br />
negative attitude towards body-worn<br />
instruments. This survey did not include<br />
our largest group of patients: The ageing<br />
and the elderly. These present a polymorphous<br />
group of patients, who would<br />
undoubtedly have difficulty with BTE<br />
instruments – not least because of handling<br />
problems (dexterity in fingers, hands,<br />
arms and shoulder joints). The <strong>on</strong>ly obvious<br />
disadvantage with BTE instruments is<br />
wind noise, which is reported by almost<br />
every<strong>on</strong>e in outdoor situati<strong>on</strong>s.”<br />
Doctor Røjskjær c<strong>on</strong>cluded that it was time<br />
to propel development in the directi<strong>on</strong> of<br />
head-worn instruments. In November, the<br />
Disabled Pers<strong>on</strong>s’ Insurance Service placed<br />
an order for 3,000 BTE instruments with<br />
the three Danish manufacturers. In 1967,<br />
approximately 100,000 Danish hearing aid<br />
users benefited from this more attractive<br />
style of hearing aid.<br />
Performance-c<strong>on</strong>scious users<br />
With time, both hearing aids and fitting<br />
techniques became more advanced, making<br />
it easier to match a pers<strong>on</strong>’s hearing<br />
loss and find the right instrument for the<br />
individual user. One comment from a<br />
hearing aid user in 1981 shows the importance<br />
of understanding how various<br />
instruments actually worked. The instrument<br />
in questi<strong>on</strong> was the Otic<strong>on</strong> E24V,<br />
which had a manual switch to move<br />
between ordinary microph<strong>on</strong>e use and a<br />
more directi<strong>on</strong>al microph<strong>on</strong>e. This<br />
enabled the user, a hearing therapist, to<br />
A c e n t u r y o f h e a r i n g l o s s<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> 1904 – 2004<br />
Former American President, R<strong>on</strong>ald<br />
Reagan, spurred a significant<br />
increase in sales of hearing aids in<br />
America at the end of the 1980s,<br />
when he talked openly about his<br />
hearing loss. Former President Bill<br />
Clint<strong>on</strong> also wears hearing aids.<br />
Both men became ic<strong>on</strong>s for the<br />
hearing-impaired, helping to dispel<br />
many of the myths associated with<br />
hearing loss.<br />
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Chapter 6<br />
Since the 1960s, teleloop systems have been established in public places such as cinemas,<br />
theatres, auditoriums, libraries, nursing homes, public buildings, some banks etc. to help<br />
hearing-impaired people. Today, people can buy train and theater tickets at special counters<br />
equipped with teleloops. Home systems are also available, to make listening to the radio or<br />
TV easier. The picture is from the Copenhagen Zoo.<br />
determine which mode would be optimal<br />
in different situati<strong>on</strong>s and thus to take full<br />
advantage of the instrument’s potential:<br />
“I can easily follow what is happening<br />
around me. It is <strong>on</strong>ly in more demanding<br />
situati<strong>on</strong>s that I am reminded that my<br />
hearing isn’t what it should be. At lectures,<br />
and when I listen to the radio and<br />
TV and so forth, I use the Otic<strong>on</strong> E24V in<br />
directi<strong>on</strong>al mode quite happily. This comfortably<br />
dampens background noises such<br />
as traffic, the rustle of paper and coughing<br />
etc., so they become less irritating.”<br />
One of the landmark events that spurred<br />
the use of hearing aids occurred in 1983,<br />
when President R<strong>on</strong>ald Reagan stepped<br />
forward and acknowledged that he had<br />
begun to use a hearing aid. He was 72<br />
years old at the time and had had difficulty<br />
hearing for 40 years. According to the<br />
President, his hearing loss hailed back to<br />
his <strong>care</strong>er in Hollywood when, during<br />
filming, <strong>on</strong>e of his colleagues accidentally<br />
fired a gun very close to his head. For years,<br />
he swept the problem under the carpet, to<br />
the infinite irritati<strong>on</strong> of immediate friends<br />
and family. The First Lady was delighted<br />
to see her husband using a hearing aid:<br />
“When I whisper sweet nothings in his<br />
ear, at least I know that he can hear me<br />
now,” said Nancy Reagan. The American<br />
doctors hoped that the combinati<strong>on</strong> of<br />
new, virtually invisible hearing aids that<br />
sat deep in the ear canal and the President’s<br />
candid approach would encourage more<br />
people to wear them, and with time, their<br />
wishes came true. The President’s openness<br />
helped to increase the sale of hearing<br />
aids.<br />
Stigma – past, present and always?<br />
In 1941, some<strong>on</strong>e was quoted as saying:<br />
“With women, it is often vanity that prevents<br />
them wearing hearing aids, so it is<br />
fortunate that the earpiece and cable can<br />
be camouflaged in the hair and the microph<strong>on</strong>e<br />
tucked away in a blouse. Men will<br />
unfortunately have to use stupidity as an<br />
excuse.” The fear of being seen to stand<br />
out from the crowd because of a hearing<br />
aid has existed ever since their inventi<strong>on</strong>,<br />
and this feeling c<strong>on</strong>tinues today, according<br />
to Assistant Audiologist Claus Nielsen,<br />
who also manages Otic<strong>on</strong>’s hearing aid<br />
museum at Eriksholm. “Hearing-impaired<br />
people have always been discriminated<br />
against. One shocking example hails from<br />
Japan in the 1920s, where hearing-impaired<br />
people were forced to wear a sign saying<br />
“hard-of-hearing” whenever they went out.<br />
Even though this was meant for other<br />
road-users, it was a terribly disparaging<br />
command,” says Claus Nielsen. Gitte<br />
Engelund, who is studying for her PhD at<br />
Eriksholm, corroborates Claus’s statement.<br />
Gitte is currently analyzing the level of<br />
intolerance the Danes exhibit towards<br />
people who wear hearing aids and the<br />
related loss of social status. “Hearing loss<br />
affects people’s social identity because<br />
they get downgraded. People in their surroundings<br />
shun them, since their deafness
is often equated with dumbness. A hearing<br />
aid turns the ageing process into something<br />
negative, and people who have hearing<br />
loss d<strong>on</strong>’t enjoy talking about it. They<br />
are shy, embarrassed and often lacking in<br />
self-c<strong>on</strong>fidence. At work, their colleagues<br />
joke about the problem, which makes<br />
them do everything in their power to hide<br />
their hearing loss,” she explains.<br />
In her analysis, Gitte points out that the<br />
<strong>on</strong>ly way to tackle the stigma is through<br />
increasing people’s understanding of hearing<br />
loss: “We have to put a stop to the<br />
c<strong>on</strong>scious or subc<strong>on</strong>scious bullying of this<br />
group of people, and this requires changing<br />
people’s attitudes. Since more people<br />
are living l<strong>on</strong>ger and getting hearing aids,<br />
hearing loss will become more legitimate,<br />
and people will find it easier to leave the<br />
isolati<strong>on</strong> behind. Time is <strong>on</strong> our side here,<br />
but we mustn’t let it lull us into taking no<br />
acti<strong>on</strong> at all.” Gitte’s analysis, which will<br />
be used to help improve the c<strong>on</strong>diti<strong>on</strong>s<br />
for hearing-impaired people, shows that<br />
despite significant advances in hearing<br />
aid technology, many of the emoti<strong>on</strong>s and<br />
experiences that prevailed a century ago<br />
still remain today. “The social stigmatizati<strong>on</strong><br />
of hearing-impaired people is as bad<br />
now as it has ever been. It may even be<br />
worse, because society has become far more<br />
competitive, and the demands <strong>on</strong> people’s<br />
performance have escalated. But luckily<br />
hearing aid technology and services have<br />
much improved,” says Claus Nielsen.<br />
“Today, no-<strong>on</strong>e has to walk around with a<br />
m<strong>on</strong>strosity of an instrument strapped to<br />
their head for every<strong>on</strong>e to see. And today,<br />
every<strong>on</strong>e is entitled to free aid. Hearing<br />
loss is no l<strong>on</strong>ger syn<strong>on</strong>ymous with a life<br />
of isolati<strong>on</strong>,” says Claus Nielsen.<br />
Discriminati<strong>on</strong> is <strong>on</strong>e thing; another is the<br />
way an individual perceives his or her<br />
own hearing loss. These negative percep-<br />
ti<strong>on</strong>s can often result in feelings of inadequacy,<br />
and pers<strong>on</strong>al relati<strong>on</strong>ships can be<br />
negatively affected. One way to dispel the<br />
taboo is to encourage people to talk openly<br />
about the problem.<br />
A tough thing to accept<br />
“Why are you laughing?, I asked myself<br />
some years ago, as I stood with a group of<br />
colleagues in the police canteen. One of<br />
them had been sharing an amusing experience<br />
that had occurred in c<strong>on</strong>necti<strong>on</strong> with<br />
a case investigati<strong>on</strong>. And every<strong>on</strong>e burst<br />
out laughing. Even me. Later, I genuinely<br />
regretted it. Why had I played al<strong>on</strong>g with<br />
it? I knew the truth. I couldn’t hear properly,<br />
so I hadn’t heard the whole story.<br />
I’d missed the point. But I laughed al<strong>on</strong>g<br />
with others just to feel part of the team.”<br />
This story is told by Detective Inspector<br />
Jens Ryhave, who, like thousands of others<br />
all over the world, had difficulty<br />
accepting his hearing loss. As a leader of<br />
investigati<strong>on</strong>s in criminal cases, Jens<br />
Ryhave’s inability to follow the c<strong>on</strong>versati<strong>on</strong>s<br />
was problematic and irritating for<br />
the detective and his colleagues. Often in<br />
stressful situati<strong>on</strong>s that required fast decisi<strong>on</strong>s<br />
that could have quite far-reaching<br />
c<strong>on</strong>sequences, he needed to be able to<br />
hear what was being said. “I knew that I<br />
was good at my job. It was my whole life.<br />
And I was proud at having been promoted<br />
to Detective Inspector with all the authority<br />
and competence the positi<strong>on</strong> demands.<br />
But I was <strong>on</strong> the verge of losing my job,<br />
my self-respect and my reputati<strong>on</strong>,” says<br />
Jens Ryhave.<br />
Hearing loss also inhibited Jens from participating<br />
in social situati<strong>on</strong>s with his colleagues:<br />
“I was aware that my hearing was<br />
failing, so I avoided talking to people in<br />
places like the canteen, where I found it<br />
difficult to follow a c<strong>on</strong>versati<strong>on</strong> because<br />
of the background noise. I planned my<br />
A c e n t u r y o f h e a r i n g l o s s<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> 1904 – 2004<br />
In Holland, people regularly take the<br />
initiative to come to grips with hearing<br />
loss. Each year, during the first week in<br />
November, members of the hearing aid<br />
industry, doctors, audiologists, hearing<br />
<strong>care</strong> professi<strong>on</strong>als, universities and the<br />
Dutch Health Service put hearing in<br />
the spotlight. During this week, any<br />
Dutchman can call a special teleph<strong>on</strong>e<br />
number and get a hearing test, and the<br />
ph<strong>on</strong>e call costs <strong>on</strong>ly 35 cents per<br />
minute. Hearing loss in children is<br />
also in focus during this week, and the<br />
Nati<strong>on</strong>al Hoor Stichting cooperates<br />
with the Leids University to offer a<br />
special hearing test for children.<br />
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Chapter 6<br />
“When I talk about hearing aids, the reacti<strong>on</strong> is<br />
always positive. Most people think it’s fantastic<br />
that I’ve been able to get an instrument that<br />
helps me lead a fairly normal lifestyle, c<strong>on</strong>sidering<br />
the extent of my hearing loss,” says Jens<br />
Ryhave.<br />
work, so that I either ate before or after<br />
all of my colleagues. It could be irritating,<br />
and it was a shame not to be able to join<br />
in the social side of life at work,” Jens<br />
c<strong>on</strong>tinues. The many difficult situati<strong>on</strong>s<br />
at work and at home took a heavy psychological<br />
toll <strong>on</strong> Jens Ryhave. “The hearing<br />
loss was a spoke in the wheel, no matter<br />
what I was doing. I became very tense in<br />
situati<strong>on</strong>s where I sensed that what was<br />
being said was important. It was extremely<br />
tiring; I avoided teamwork, wherever<br />
possible, and worked either al<strong>on</strong>e or<br />
together with <strong>on</strong>ly a few of my colleagues.”<br />
At home, Jens was frustrated at not being<br />
able to hear everything his family could<br />
hear or to know what they were talking<br />
about. “I couldn’t hear when my beloved<br />
grandchildren whispered something to<br />
me, and I often talked absolute rubbish<br />
back at them.” Luckily, Jens’s wife was<br />
very supportive, and the couple openly<br />
discussed what was happening. “My wife<br />
helped me in those situati<strong>on</strong>s where I<br />
hadn’t caught everything that had been<br />
said. She never complained, but I know<br />
she must have found it irritating,” says<br />
Jens Ryhave.<br />
Fighting – and winning<br />
The decisi<strong>on</strong> to wear a hearing aid was<br />
not easy for Jens. By not wearing an<br />
instrument, he felt that it was easier to<br />
hide his hearing loss. He didn’t want to<br />
signal weakness, inadequacy or be the<br />
object of other people’s sympathy. “I was<br />
worried that they would say: ‘He doesn’t<br />
hear so well any more, so we probably<br />
can’t count <strong>on</strong> him,’ or ‘He <strong>on</strong>ly has a few<br />
years to go’.” Jens grew weary of the eternal<br />
feelings of panic and inadequacy. “I’d<br />
really had enough by then. It was time to<br />
face my own dem<strong>on</strong>s and the world outside,<br />
for better or for worse.” Jens Ryhave<br />
went to an ENT doctor and was referred<br />
to his local hearing <strong>care</strong> centre, where he<br />
received his very first hearing aid. “My<br />
experience with hearing aids was nothing<br />
short of overwhelming. Without noticing<br />
it, I had gradually forgotten many normal<br />
sounds. I had forgotten what it was like to<br />
hear birds cheeping, when they flew into<br />
our garden to feed off the bird table. Now,<br />
I could hear the gravel crunch under my<br />
feet again; bicycle wheels whooshing by<br />
<strong>on</strong> the tarmac; the wind playing in the<br />
leaves; waves lapping <strong>on</strong> the shore and<br />
my grandchildren talking and laughing.”<br />
The most important thing for Jens – over<br />
and above the more intricate details<br />
– was the everyday c<strong>on</strong>versati<strong>on</strong>. It was a<br />
huge relief for him to <strong>on</strong>ce again be able<br />
to participate in discussi<strong>on</strong>s with family,<br />
friends and colleagues.<br />
Jens Ryhave realized many benefits from<br />
his hearing aids, but he felt that they<br />
might provide more. “I was almost possessed<br />
by the thought of getting my hearing<br />
back again, so I c<strong>on</strong>tacted Otic<strong>on</strong>’s<br />
research centre, Eriksholm, and became<br />
a test subject.” It did not take l<strong>on</strong>g to<br />
achieve results. After having used BTE<br />
instruments for a number of years, Jens<br />
has now switched to virtually invisible<br />
mini-instruments. “The way my hearing<br />
loss was developing, I am certain that I<br />
could not have c<strong>on</strong>tinued in my job without<br />
hearing aids – I would either have had<br />
to take a less demanding job or retire completely.<br />
But I am still working, and I<br />
haven’t experienced any situati<strong>on</strong>s where<br />
my hearing loss inhibits me,” says Jens.<br />
“We w<strong>on</strong> – Otic<strong>on</strong> and I,” he c<strong>on</strong>cludes.<br />
A medal-winner’s goals<br />
“I am 48 now, and it wasn’t until five<br />
years ago that I plucked up the courage to<br />
tell people about my hearing loss,” says<br />
Danish Olympic medal winning cyclist,<br />
Hans-Henrik Ørsted. “Until that point, I<br />
had ignored it and tiptoed around it.”
Hans-Henrik Ørsted has had an impressive<br />
cycling <strong>care</strong>er and has w<strong>on</strong> many medals.<br />
As a young man, Hans-Henrik had<br />
always suspected that he was slightly<br />
dyslexic, but he did not notice any problems<br />
with his hearing. “My teachers<br />
often wrote “lack of c<strong>on</strong>centrati<strong>on</strong>” in<br />
my grade book,” he says. He enjoyed<br />
sports, and cycling began to occupy more<br />
of his time. “I came home from a training<br />
sessi<strong>on</strong> in Ireland in 1989 and felt str<strong>on</strong>g<br />
tinnitus in my ears. My GP gave me the<br />
shocking diagnosis that I was losing my<br />
hearing. So I went for a hearing test at<br />
the hospital, and they prescribed an analogue<br />
hearing aid,” says Hans-Henrik.<br />
Hans-Henrik Ørsted has accepted his<br />
hearing loss like a true fighter. “I’ve<br />
crossed all sorts of boundaries as a<br />
sportsman, and I do exactly the same<br />
thing with my hearing loss. As far as I’m<br />
c<strong>on</strong>cerned, you’re either developing or<br />
stagnating,” he says, emphasizing that it<br />
requires hard work to recoup lost ground.<br />
“You have to believe in yourself, and you<br />
have to keep up the fight! Success isn’t<br />
in any <strong>on</strong>e particular place, it’s like a<br />
never-ending journey where you have to<br />
train, train and train. It’s the <strong>on</strong>ly way to<br />
improve.” Hans-Henrik feels that people<br />
with hearing loss should always set goals<br />
for themselves – from the technology to<br />
the hearing aid – otherwise it is difficult<br />
to make progress. “I am never entirely<br />
satisfied with my instruments, and I<br />
want them to be more and more advanced.<br />
Just like cycle training, I train<br />
myself to hear more and better – and<br />
that includes mental training. I remember<br />
that at <strong>on</strong>e point, I had the world’s highest<br />
fitness rating, because I worked hard<br />
and c<strong>on</strong>stantly set new goals,” says<br />
Hans-Henrik Ørsted.<br />
Courage to be candid<br />
It takes courage and self-awareness to<br />
admit that <strong>on</strong>e has a problem. It took a<br />
A c e n t u r y o f h e a r i n g l o s s<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> 1904 – 2004<br />
l<strong>on</strong>g time for the famous sportsman.<br />
“Things were going very well for me,<br />
despite the hearing loss,” says Hans-<br />
Henrik. Hans-Henrik lives a totally normal<br />
life in the world of the hearing. In<br />
his professi<strong>on</strong>al life as Sales Manager in<br />
a large cleaning company, he is very<br />
open about his hearing loss. “At work,<br />
you have to work together, and that’s<br />
why I’m very open and h<strong>on</strong>est with my<br />
colleagues. If we are attending meetings<br />
in town, I always try to get there early in<br />
order to find a seat where I can hear<br />
every<strong>on</strong>e and where I d<strong>on</strong>’t have to<br />
explain so much. You have to have the<br />
courage to be open about your hearing<br />
loss. People are afraid of how others will<br />
react. They w<strong>on</strong>der whether they will be<br />
labelled and put in a box, if they tell<br />
people that they have hearing loss. They<br />
w<strong>on</strong>der whether they will become isolated.<br />
All I can say is that as individuals,<br />
we can achieve a lot more than we think,”<br />
he says.<br />
Hans-Henrik Ørsted agrees that more<br />
famous people ought to stand up and<br />
talk openly about their hearing loss.<br />
“The more that do dare to share their<br />
stories, the easier it will become in<br />
everyday life for the many others who<br />
haven’t the courage to say anything. I<br />
want to help others by being open. At<br />
the moment, I use <strong>on</strong>ly <strong>on</strong>e hearing aid,<br />
and now I am learning that the best soluti<strong>on</strong><br />
is actually to wear two. That’s something<br />
I need to accept. But remember<br />
– you’re either developing or stagnating,”<br />
says Hans-Henrik Ørsted.<br />
As a well-known pers<strong>on</strong>ality, Hans-<br />
Henrik Ørsted has many opportunities to<br />
dispel people’s mispercepti<strong>on</strong>s about<br />
what it means to have a hearing loss, but<br />
even the average pers<strong>on</strong> can help break<br />
down the stigma of hearing loss.<br />
71
Chapter 7<br />
William Demant and Ida Emilie Demant<br />
Founders of the Otic<strong>on</strong> Foundati<strong>on</strong>.
William Demant – the man<br />
and the foundati<strong>on</strong><br />
From the day of his birth, <strong>on</strong> 22 July 1888,<br />
William Demant watched 91 years of<br />
world and Danish history pass by. He witnessed<br />
the inventi<strong>on</strong> of the electric light<br />
and the building of the Eiffel Tower. In his<br />
teenage years, he gazed in awe as automobiles<br />
and aeroplanes appeared. Then he<br />
watched with horror as the world was<br />
decimated not by <strong>on</strong>e, but by two world<br />
wars. In 1969, he witnessed, through the<br />
window of the modern televisi<strong>on</strong>,<br />
American astr<strong>on</strong>aut Neil Armstr<strong>on</strong>g’s first<br />
steps <strong>on</strong> the mo<strong>on</strong>. When William Demant<br />
died <strong>on</strong> 23 December 1979, he left <strong>on</strong>e of<br />
the world’s largest hearing aid companies<br />
as his legacy. He was the Dane who always<br />
put hearing loss <strong>on</strong> the agenda, and he left<br />
his own indelible imprint <strong>on</strong> a changeable<br />
world.<br />
William Demant looks back<br />
An unpublished interview with William<br />
Demant c<strong>on</strong>ducted in 1971 was discovered<br />
in Eriksholm’s archives. In it, William<br />
explains how his father – although he was<br />
an enterprising businessman – initially<br />
had had no intenti<strong>on</strong> of selling large numbers<br />
of instruments in Denmark or laying<br />
the foundati<strong>on</strong> for the Danish hearing aid<br />
industry. “All he wanted to do was buy<br />
<strong>on</strong>e instrument for my mother, but that<br />
<strong>on</strong>e instrument started an avalanche,”<br />
says Demant.<br />
William Demant also recalls how pi<strong>on</strong>eering<br />
the country was, when it came to<br />
working with hearing problems: “Our<br />
hearing <strong>care</strong> system began to emerge as<br />
early as 1807 with the very first schools<br />
for the deaf. During that time, people had<br />
a tendency to view hearing-impaired<br />
people and deaf people as retarded, and<br />
they would not acknowledge the necessity<br />
of making an active effort to rehabilitate<br />
them in the best possible way. They <strong>on</strong>ly<br />
became motivated when hearing aids were<br />
introduced.”<br />
When asked about Otic<strong>on</strong>’s future plans,<br />
William Demant repeated a quote <strong>on</strong>ce<br />
made by famous Danish humorist, Storm<br />
P.: “It is difficult to make predicti<strong>on</strong>s<br />
– especially about the future!” This rather<br />
cryptic answer stemmed from the fact that<br />
William was no l<strong>on</strong>ger actively involved<br />
in the company and therefore no l<strong>on</strong>ger<br />
had a finger <strong>on</strong> its pulse, even though he<br />
still visited the factory and offices from<br />
time to time. “There is no doubt that the<br />
new technological developments will<br />
affect us though,” he c<strong>on</strong>tinues. “The<br />
fact that we are now living in the space<br />
age – with everything that goes with it –<br />
means that the technological advances<br />
will be huge. When we talk about development<br />
today, I think that two years<br />
sounds like a l<strong>on</strong>g time. But we are gaining<br />
greater insight into the psychological<br />
problems associated with hearing loss,<br />
and how we can alleviate these problems.<br />
One thing is certain: We should look at<br />
different aspects of hearing aid development,<br />
so that hearing aids can be worn<br />
daily and become an integral part of<br />
people’s lives. From a manufacturing<br />
viewpoint, this requires gathering more<br />
knowledge about the challenges of hearing<br />
loss and hearing aids. In my opini<strong>on</strong>, our<br />
W i l l i a m D e m a n t – t h e m a n a n d t h e f o u n d a t i o n<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> 1904 – 2004<br />
task is not just to sell hearing aids, but<br />
also to c<strong>on</strong>tribute to helping people win<br />
back some of their hearing – just like my<br />
father did for my mother.”<br />
I have seen so much in this world<br />
William Demant’s 80th birthday fell <strong>on</strong> the<br />
same M<strong>on</strong>day as the industrial holidays<br />
ended. Demant had told the management<br />
that he wanted no festivities, but the<br />
Board of Directors had already arranged<br />
a party. And they gave him a solid silver<br />
champagne cooler engraved with the<br />
initials W.D.<br />
By the end of the 1970s, William Demant<br />
was approaching the grand old age of 90.<br />
He was still very interested in Otic<strong>on</strong> and<br />
would still ph<strong>on</strong>e Bent Sim<strong>on</strong>sen to hear<br />
how things were going. Each time there<br />
was a reminder to “cut the stamps off the<br />
envelopes”. Demant loved to add new<br />
stamps to his stamp collecti<strong>on</strong>. One day,<br />
William Demant called Lis Høien, who<br />
was an accountant in Otic<strong>on</strong>. Lis Høien<br />
asked him whether he was well and<br />
Demant replied: “C<strong>on</strong>sidering my age and<br />
how much I have seen of this world, I<br />
have no reas<strong>on</strong> to complain.” William<br />
Demant died <strong>on</strong> 23 December 1979 – the<br />
same year that Otic<strong>on</strong> celebrated its 75th<br />
Jubilee with 800 employees in the<br />
Falk<strong>on</strong>er Centre in Copenhagen. He was<br />
buried in Copenhagen in the company of<br />
other well-known Danes, including<br />
authors Tove Ditlevsen and Herman Bang<br />
and Prime Ministers Thorvald Stauning,<br />
Hans Hedtoft, Viggo Kampmann and Jens<br />
Otto Krag.<br />
73
74<br />
W i l l i a m D e m a n t – t h e m a n a n d t h e f o u n d a t i o n<br />
Chapter 7<br />
“William Demant Holding A/S’ growth in earnings<br />
has enabled the Foundati<strong>on</strong> to increase its<br />
grant capacity over the past few years. This has<br />
been particularly beneficial for young students<br />
seeking supplementary educati<strong>on</strong> abroad,”<br />
says Knud Sørensen, Chairman of the<br />
Foundati<strong>on</strong>.<br />
The Otic<strong>on</strong> Foundati<strong>on</strong> is born<br />
William Demant will be remembered in<br />
more ways than <strong>on</strong>e – through a leading<br />
worldwide organizati<strong>on</strong> and through the<br />
William Demant Foundati<strong>on</strong>. The<br />
Foundati<strong>on</strong> was created in 1957 under<br />
the name “William Demants og Hustru<br />
Ida Emilies F<strong>on</strong>d” (“William Demant’s<br />
and Wife Ida Emilie’s Foundati<strong>on</strong>” – often<br />
referred to as the “Otic<strong>on</strong> Foundati<strong>on</strong>”<br />
with the purpose of securing both the<br />
company and its ownership. Otic<strong>on</strong> was<br />
c<strong>on</strong>verted into a limited company in 1956,<br />
and when the Foundati<strong>on</strong> was created a<br />
year later, all of the shares were transferred<br />
into it. The charter for the Foundati<strong>on</strong> is<br />
dated 31 December 1957 and signed by<br />
William Demant, Christian Harhoff and<br />
Iver Hoppe. It states: “The Foundati<strong>on</strong>’s<br />
capital is <strong>on</strong>e milli<strong>on</strong> kr<strong>on</strong>er, of which <strong>on</strong>e<br />
thousand kr<strong>on</strong>er is in cash, and the remaining<br />
999,000 kr<strong>on</strong>er is in nominal value<br />
shares in the newly founded company,<br />
Aktieselskabet William Demant. This gift<br />
is made under the c<strong>on</strong>diti<strong>on</strong> that the<br />
Foundati<strong>on</strong> accepts resp<strong>on</strong>sibility to operate<br />
in accordance with all related Articles<br />
of Associati<strong>on</strong>, including the services that<br />
uphold the objectives of the Foundati<strong>on</strong><br />
stated in Article 3, and in pursuance of<br />
decisi<strong>on</strong>s made by the Board of Directors<br />
and approved by the founder.”<br />
Article 3 states, am<strong>on</strong>g other things, that<br />
the Foundati<strong>on</strong> should, from its net income,<br />
provide a life annuity to the founder’s<br />
surviving relatives, and that benefits,<br />
low-interest or interest-free loans, should<br />
be offered to wage-earning and salaried<br />
employees in Aktieselskabet William<br />
Demant. It also states: “The Foundati<strong>on</strong><br />
should also support commercial, cultural,<br />
scientific, social and artistic initiatives<br />
likely to benefit the country – particularly<br />
the educati<strong>on</strong> of Denmark’s youth.” Up<br />
to 10 percent of the Foundati<strong>on</strong>’s annual<br />
net income c<strong>on</strong>tinues to be reserved for<br />
these purposes.<br />
Scholarships for better hearing<br />
As a supplement to its grants, the Foundati<strong>on</strong><br />
established the Otic<strong>on</strong> Scholarship in<br />
November 1960. With support from the<br />
Foundati<strong>on</strong>, grants were awarded every<br />
year in the period from 1961 to 1991 to<br />
people involved in solving central issues<br />
relating to hearing-impaired people. A<br />
Scholarship Committee, with representatives<br />
from the medical, educati<strong>on</strong>al and<br />
technical audiology fields, allocated these<br />
grants together with William Demant up<br />
until his death. Over the years, the Otic<strong>on</strong><br />
Scholarship has been awarded to a broad<br />
selecti<strong>on</strong> of instituti<strong>on</strong>s with many different<br />
goals. In 1990, when changes in regulati<strong>on</strong>s<br />
regarding the Scholarship grants<br />
impacted the formal programme, Otic<strong>on</strong><br />
moved to a less formal programme of grant<br />
awards. Today, the Otic<strong>on</strong> Foundati<strong>on</strong> c<strong>on</strong>tinues<br />
to support projects, whose goal is to<br />
remedy or alleviate hearing loss and hearing-related<br />
problems.<br />
In 1998, Knud Sørensen, former chairman<br />
of the board of management of a major<br />
Danish bank, replaced Bent Sim<strong>on</strong>sen as<br />
Chairman of the Otic<strong>on</strong> Foundati<strong>on</strong>.<br />
D<strong>on</strong>ati<strong>on</strong>s to a landmark cause<br />
In 1998, The Otic<strong>on</strong> Foundati<strong>on</strong> d<strong>on</strong>ated<br />
1.5 milli<strong>on</strong> kr<strong>on</strong>er to President Nels<strong>on</strong><br />
Mandela’s efforts for South African children.<br />
“More than a third of South Africa’s<br />
populati<strong>on</strong> is under the age of 15, and<br />
many of them are in great need. The m<strong>on</strong>ey<br />
in the Children’s Fund helps projects for<br />
handicapped children in South Africa,<br />
where hearing loss is c<strong>on</strong>sidered the most<br />
comm<strong>on</strong> handicap. The grant also capitalized<br />
<strong>on</strong> the fact that President Nels<strong>on</strong><br />
Mandela has, in past years, formally<br />
acknowledged his own hearing loss and
his use of hearing aids, which enables<br />
him to actively fulfil his duties as the<br />
country’s leader. When a well-known pers<strong>on</strong><br />
steps forward to encourage people to<br />
do something about their hearing loss, it<br />
helps to reduce the social stigma associated<br />
with this c<strong>on</strong>diti<strong>on</strong>, which some 300<br />
milli<strong>on</strong> people experience every day,”<br />
says Knud Sørensen, Chairman of the<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> Foundati<strong>on</strong>.<br />
In 1999, the Otic<strong>on</strong> Foundati<strong>on</strong> made d<strong>on</strong>ati<strong>on</strong>s<br />
to DanChurchAid’s humanitarian<br />
work during the Kosovo c<strong>on</strong>flict. Since<br />
1999, the Foundati<strong>on</strong> has annually awarded<br />
two PhD scholarships valued at 1.5<br />
milli<strong>on</strong> kr<strong>on</strong>er per pers<strong>on</strong> to well-qualified,<br />
specialist students at Danish universities.<br />
The Foundati<strong>on</strong> has also granted 20<br />
scholarships valued at 2 milli<strong>on</strong> kr<strong>on</strong>er<br />
per year – an initiative that began in 2000.<br />
One of the main recipients of grants from<br />
the Otic<strong>on</strong> Foundati<strong>on</strong> is Denmark’s<br />
Technical University (DTU) situated in<br />
Lundtofte, to the north of Copenhagen. In<br />
2002, the Foundati<strong>on</strong> d<strong>on</strong>ated 35 milli<strong>on</strong><br />
TODAY THE OTICON FOUNDATION SUPPORTS:<br />
●<br />
●<br />
●<br />
“Educati<strong>on</strong>al and other initiatives that<br />
seek to prevent and remedy hearing<br />
loss.<br />
“Publicati<strong>on</strong>s, c<strong>on</strong>ferences and campaigns<br />
that seek to raise the level of<br />
awareness of hearing and hearing loss<br />
am<strong>on</strong>g researchers, professi<strong>on</strong>al audiologists<br />
and the general public.<br />
“Research projects within the fields of<br />
audiology, psychoacoustics, psychology<br />
and sociology.<br />
●<br />
●<br />
●<br />
“Research projects, c<strong>on</strong>ferences, publicati<strong>on</strong>s<br />
and other initiatives whose<br />
purpose is to increase people’s knowledge<br />
of audiology and hearing aids<br />
specially designed for children.<br />
“Scholarships for young scientists<br />
who are interested in working at<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong>’s research centre or who want<br />
to perform own research projects that<br />
are in keeping with the objective of<br />
the Otic<strong>on</strong> Foundati<strong>on</strong>.<br />
“Projects that seek to improve the<br />
quality of life for hearing-impaired<br />
children and adults through educati<strong>on</strong>,<br />
social activities and the use of<br />
informati<strong>on</strong> technology.<br />
W i l l i a m D e m a n t – t h e m a n a n d t h e f o u n d a t i o n<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> 1904 – 2004<br />
kr<strong>on</strong>er to build an assembly hall and a<br />
student residence hall. “The William<br />
Demant Hall of Residence will be built<br />
<strong>on</strong> campus at DTU and will accommodate<br />
100 students. Out of a d<strong>on</strong>ati<strong>on</strong><br />
of 15 milli<strong>on</strong> kr<strong>on</strong>er, 10 milli<strong>on</strong> kr<strong>on</strong>er<br />
will be used to ensure that the building’s<br />
technical facilities are built to last, and<br />
5 milli<strong>on</strong> kr<strong>on</strong>er will be placed in a fund,<br />
where the returns will c<strong>on</strong>tribute to<br />
keeping the m<strong>on</strong>thly rent at the college<br />
down,” reported the Foundati<strong>on</strong> in<br />
June 2000.<br />
●<br />
●<br />
“Initiatives that help to ensure a<br />
secure future and a pleasant working<br />
envir<strong>on</strong>ment for Otic<strong>on</strong>’s employees,<br />
i.e. educati<strong>on</strong>al scholarships, jubilee<br />
scholarships and cultural activities.<br />
“Commercial, cultural, scientific,<br />
social, educati<strong>on</strong>al and artistic initiatives<br />
– particularly those that c<strong>on</strong>tribute<br />
to the educati<strong>on</strong> of young<br />
students.<br />
75
76<br />
F a m i l y t r e e<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> 1904 – 2004<br />
Mette<br />
Michaelsen<br />
★ 1863<br />
✝ ?<br />
Maren<br />
Jørgensdatter<br />
★ 1763<br />
✝ 1801<br />
Johan Frederik<br />
Demant<br />
★ 11/12-1800<br />
✝ ?<br />
Jørgen Friderich<br />
Demant<br />
★ ca. 1757<br />
✝ 8/12-1803<br />
Jürgen Demant<br />
★ 1692<br />
✝ 6/1-1772<br />
Jürgen Christopher<br />
Demant<br />
★ 1724<br />
✝ 1803<br />
Inger Kirstine<br />
Hansdatter<br />
★ 1760<br />
✝ ?<br />
Susanna ?<br />
★ 1695<br />
✝ 1729<br />
Hans Jørgen<br />
Demant<br />
★ 1779<br />
✝ 12/8-1845<br />
Hans Jørgen<br />
Frederik Demant<br />
★ 25/8-1854<br />
✝ 4/4-1910<br />
Johan Andreas<br />
Wilhelm Demant<br />
★ 1720<br />
✝ 1/2-1803<br />
Jørgen Frederik<br />
Demant<br />
★ 1760<br />
✝ 1840<br />
William Demant<br />
★ 22/7-1888<br />
✝ 23/12-1979<br />
Frederikke Sophie<br />
Juliane Demant<br />
★ 1815<br />
✝ 12/1-1882<br />
Camilla Louise<br />
Berta Nielsen<br />
★ 16/6-1858<br />
✝ 30/1-1934<br />
Anna Seville<br />
Jørgensen<br />
★ 1721<br />
✝ 10/5-1786<br />
Anna Seville<br />
Demant<br />
★ 26/6-1765<br />
✝ ?<br />
Marie Cathrine<br />
Jørgensen<br />
★ 18/4-1794<br />
✝ 27/4-1865<br />
Jørgen<br />
Jørgensen<br />
★ 1770<br />
✝ 1845
Christina Gyllich<br />
★ 3/8-1948<br />
Louise Gyllich<br />
★ 5/7-1980<br />
Tove Sigrid Gyllich<br />
★ 15/11-1911<br />
✝ 31/10-2001<br />
Per Flemming<br />
Gyllich<br />
★ 8/12-1938<br />
Carsten Abildgård<br />
Gyllich<br />
★ 29/11-1965<br />
Notes <strong>on</strong> <strong>on</strong> William Demant’s family tree<br />
● The input for the Demant family tree<br />
has been gathered from the Internet,<br />
various archives and interviews with<br />
descendants of the Demant family. Mr.<br />
Per Schroder has kindly provided<br />
invaluable informati<strong>on</strong> about the elder<br />
members of the Demant family.<br />
Jacinda Chait<strong>on</strong><br />
Gyllich<br />
★ 1/7-2003<br />
● ●<br />
William<br />
Demant<br />
★ 22/7-1888<br />
✝ 23/12-1979<br />
Niram<strong>on</strong> Chait<strong>on</strong><br />
★ 13/8-1970<br />
Ida Emilie Høst<br />
★ 29/1-1888<br />
✝ 11/4-1957<br />
Fayella Margareta<br />
Demant<br />
★ 4/2-1949<br />
✝ 4/5-1968<br />
Theis Hansen<br />
★ 3/5-1968<br />
✝ 3/7-1984<br />
● William Demant’s s<strong>on</strong>, Børge Alexis<br />
Godtbergsen, was born <strong>on</strong> 10 December<br />
1912 and died <strong>on</strong> 9 October 1994. His<br />
mother is unknown.<br />
● In 27 January 1926, Ida Emilie and<br />
William Demant adopted a little girl<br />
– Kate Elinor Demant – who was born<br />
<strong>on</strong> 19 January 1925. Since she did not<br />
remain in Denmark, it is unknown<br />
whether she is still alive.<br />
Fay Ruth Ingeborg<br />
Hermundstad<br />
★ 24/4-1923<br />
✝ 15/1-1974<br />
Tom Hansen<br />
★ 15/12-1944<br />
Thomas William<br />
Demant Hansen<br />
★ 3/5-1968<br />
Natacha Moral<br />
Jimenez Demant<br />
★ 29/9-1994<br />
F a m i l y t r e e<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> 1904 – 2004<br />
Dolores Moral<br />
Jimenez<br />
★ 22/3-1966<br />
Sandra Demant<br />
Moral Jimenez<br />
★ 22/3-1992<br />
● William never married Tove Sigrid<br />
Gyllich, who was the mother of his s<strong>on</strong><br />
Per Flemming Gyllich.<br />
● Thomas William Demant Hansen<br />
shortened his name to William Demant.<br />
● Jürgen Demant, who was born in<br />
Germany, was a corporal and later<br />
became a forester. He died in Denmark.<br />
No traces of any other family members<br />
have been discovered.<br />
77
78<br />
T i m e l i n e<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> 1904 – 2004<br />
Timeline 1800-2004<br />
Year World history Denmark’s history Otic<strong>on</strong>’s history Year World history Denmark’s history Otic<strong>on</strong>’s history<br />
1800<br />
1806<br />
1807<br />
1820<br />
1828<br />
1843<br />
1854<br />
1858<br />
1860<br />
1861<br />
1864<br />
1866<br />
F.C. Rein, manufacturer<br />
of hearing trumpets and<br />
other listening devices,<br />
is founded in L<strong>on</strong>d<strong>on</strong>.<br />
The first internati<strong>on</strong>al<br />
peace meeting is held<br />
in L<strong>on</strong>d<strong>on</strong>.<br />
Civil war breaks out in<br />
the USA.<br />
Doctor H.M.W.<br />
Klingberg performs the<br />
first eardrum puncture<br />
in Denmark.<br />
Denmark takes the first<br />
steps towards educating<br />
deaf children.<br />
England bombs<br />
Copenhagen.<br />
H.C. Ørsted discovers<br />
electromagnetism.<br />
Tivoli opens.<br />
The first telegraph line<br />
is erected in Denmark.<br />
Doctor O.M. Giersing<br />
performs a new,<br />
systematic otoscopy.<br />
Denmark loses the<br />
Battle of Dybbøl.<br />
The Deaf-mute<br />
Associati<strong>on</strong> of 1866<br />
is established.<br />
Hans Stefan Demant is<br />
born.<br />
Hans Jørgen Demant is<br />
born.<br />
Camilla L.B. Demant is<br />
born.<br />
Hans Stefan Demant<br />
opens a sewing machine<br />
factory.<br />
1869<br />
1876<br />
1888<br />
1889<br />
1892<br />
1897<br />
1899<br />
1901<br />
1902<br />
1903<br />
Hawksley & S<strong>on</strong>s, manufacturer<br />
of hearing<br />
trumpets and other<br />
listening devices, is<br />
founded in L<strong>on</strong>d<strong>on</strong>.<br />
Alexander Graham Bell<br />
invents the teleph<strong>on</strong>e.<br />
Doctor J. Kessel<br />
attempts to correct<br />
otosclerosis surgically.<br />
Fridtjof Nansen crosses<br />
the inland icecap of<br />
Greenland.<br />
The Eiffel Tower in<br />
Paris opens.<br />
Al<strong>on</strong>zo E. Miltimore<br />
files a patent <strong>on</strong> an<br />
electric hearing aid.<br />
Miller Reese<br />
Hutchins<strong>on</strong> begins<br />
marketing the<br />
Akoulalli<strong>on</strong> instrument.<br />
King C. Gillette invents<br />
the razor blade.<br />
Crown Princess<br />
Alexandra wears a<br />
hearing aid for her<br />
cor<strong>on</strong>ati<strong>on</strong> as Queen<br />
of England.<br />
Henry Ford establishes<br />
a car factory.<br />
Aalborg Portland is<br />
established.<br />
Copenhagen gets<br />
electricity.<br />
The East Asiatic<br />
Company opens in<br />
Copenhagen”s free port.<br />
The Great Lockout in<br />
Denmark.<br />
The Liberals form a<br />
government with J.H.<br />
Deuntzer and Viggo<br />
Hørup.<br />
Tax reform in Denmark,<br />
where income tax is<br />
introduced.<br />
William Demant and Ida<br />
Emilie Høst are born.<br />
Hans Stefan Demant<br />
dies.<br />
Hans Jørgen Demant<br />
travels to England to buy<br />
his wife a hearing aid.
T i m e l i n e<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> 1904 – 2004<br />
Year World history Denmark’s history Otic<strong>on</strong>’s history Year World history Denmark’s history Otic<strong>on</strong>’s history<br />
1904<br />
1907<br />
1908<br />
1910<br />
1911<br />
1912<br />
1914<br />
1917<br />
1918<br />
1922<br />
1923<br />
Digging commences <strong>on</strong><br />
the Panama Canal.<br />
The first Ford T rolls<br />
off the assembly line in<br />
the USA.<br />
China abolishes<br />
slavery.<br />
The People’s Republic<br />
of China is founded.<br />
The Titanic sinks.<br />
World War I breaks out.<br />
World War I ends.<br />
Mussolini becomes dictator<br />
in Italy. The first<br />
“talkies” appear.<br />
The first ne<strong>on</strong> signs<br />
appear.<br />
The first church for<br />
deaf people opens in<br />
Copenhagen.<br />
Minister for Justice,<br />
Peter Adler Alberti,<br />
admits to fraud.<br />
The Danish Associati<strong>on</strong><br />
for the Hard-of-Hearing<br />
is established.<br />
The USA purchases the<br />
Danish West Indies<br />
(now the Virgin Islands).<br />
The Old-age Pensi<strong>on</strong><br />
Act is passed in<br />
Denmark.<br />
Hans Jørgen Demant<br />
starts a hearing aid company<br />
<strong>on</strong> 8 June. He wins<br />
a c<strong>on</strong>tract with the<br />
General Acoustic Co. and<br />
sells his first hearing aid<br />
and the first church hearing<br />
aid system.<br />
Hans Jørgen Demant<br />
moves the company from<br />
Odense to Copenhagen.<br />
Hans Jørgen Demant<br />
becomes the Acoustic<strong>on</strong><br />
dealer for the whole of<br />
Scandinavia.<br />
Hans Jørgen Demant<br />
dies. William Demant<br />
takes over the management<br />
of the hearing aid<br />
company.<br />
William Demant becomes<br />
Acoustic<strong>on</strong> dealer for the<br />
entire Nordic regi<strong>on</strong>.<br />
William Demant moves<br />
the company to a new<br />
locati<strong>on</strong> in Copenhagen.<br />
William Demant marries<br />
Ida Emilie Høst and<br />
becomes Director of the<br />
hearing aid company.<br />
William and Ida Emilie<br />
visit the USA <strong>on</strong> business.<br />
Demant’s producti<strong>on</strong><br />
department now occupies<br />
62 sqm.<br />
The Acousticus instrument<br />
is registered at the<br />
Patent and Trademark<br />
Office in Copenhagen.<br />
1929<br />
1932<br />
1933<br />
1934<br />
1939<br />
1940<br />
1943<br />
1944<br />
1945<br />
1946<br />
1948<br />
The Wall Street Stock<br />
Exchange crashes.<br />
H. Lieber invents “The<br />
B<strong>on</strong>e C<strong>on</strong>ductor”.<br />
Franklin D. Roosevelt<br />
becomes President of<br />
the USA. Hitler comes<br />
into power in Germany.<br />
World War II breaks<br />
out.<br />
Germany invades<br />
Denmark, Norway,<br />
Holland, Belgium,<br />
Luxembourg and<br />
France.<br />
World War II ends.<br />
Jukeboxes are introduced,<br />
and Tupperware<br />
is mass-produced. The<br />
first computer, ENIAC,<br />
is invented.<br />
Mahatma Gandhi is<br />
assassinated in India.<br />
The Marshall Plan is<br />
approved.<br />
Thorvald Stauning<br />
becomes Prime<br />
Minister.<br />
The Foreign Exchange<br />
C<strong>on</strong>trol Office is established.<br />
Louis Armstr<strong>on</strong>g visits<br />
Denmark.<br />
Fisker & Nielsen manufactures<br />
the first Nimbus<br />
motorcycle. The first<br />
metropolitan trains run<br />
in Copenhagen.<br />
German troops occupy<br />
Denmark <strong>on</strong> 9 April.<br />
Denmark is liberated <strong>on</strong><br />
4 May.<br />
The Russians withdraw<br />
from the Danish island<br />
of Bornholm after having<br />
occupied the island<br />
during World War II.<br />
The Danish football<br />
team win a br<strong>on</strong>ze<br />
medal at the L<strong>on</strong>d<strong>on</strong><br />
Olympics.<br />
Camilla Demant dies.<br />
William Demant”s hearing<br />
aid company produces<br />
a mains-driven,<br />
stati<strong>on</strong>ary loudspeaker<br />
system.<br />
William Demant develops<br />
and produces the<br />
Acousticus instrument<br />
in Denmark.<br />
The word “Otic<strong>on</strong>”<br />
becomes part of the<br />
company name.<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> AB is established<br />
in Sweden.<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> produces<br />
Denmark”s first hearing<br />
aid – the Otic<strong>on</strong> TA.<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong>”s factory and the<br />
headquarters now occupy<br />
a total of 580 sqm.<br />
79
80<br />
T i m e l i n e<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> 1904 – 2004<br />
Year World history Denmark’s history Otic<strong>on</strong>’s history Year World history<br />
Denmark’s history Otic<strong>on</strong>’s history<br />
1951<br />
1952<br />
1953<br />
1954<br />
1956<br />
1957<br />
1958<br />
1959<br />
1960<br />
Captain Carlsen loses<br />
the “Flying Enterprise”<br />
after a battle against the<br />
sea.<br />
Stalin dies. Edmund<br />
Hilary and Tenzing<br />
Norgay c<strong>on</strong>quer Mount<br />
Everest.<br />
The first transistor<br />
radio is introduced.<br />
Rock and roll fever<br />
rages in the west. Elvis<br />
Presley releases<br />
“Heartbreak Hotel”.<br />
Sputnik transmits the<br />
first signals from space.<br />
The Treaty of Rome is<br />
signed and the<br />
European Federati<strong>on</strong><br />
thereby formed.<br />
Charles de Gaulle<br />
becomes President of<br />
France.<br />
The European Free<br />
Trade Area (EFTA) is<br />
formed.<br />
The Law for the Hardof-Hearing<br />
is passed,<br />
and the Danish<br />
Audiological<br />
Associati<strong>on</strong> is established.<br />
Hospital ship,<br />
Jutlandia, leaves for<br />
Korea.<br />
The Danish Hearing<br />
Centres are established.<br />
Denmark’s first transistorized<br />
amplifiers<br />
become available. Tax<br />
<strong>on</strong> motor vehicles is<br />
introduced.<br />
Architect Jørn Utz<strong>on</strong><br />
wins first prize for the<br />
Sydney Opera House.<br />
LEGO bricks finally<br />
take shape. Hearingimpairedschoolchildren<br />
are given special<br />
training. First Danish<br />
hearing clinic opens.<br />
Eight Danish football<br />
players perish in plane<br />
crash at Kastrup Airport.<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> sends out its first<br />
export catalogue.<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong>’s producti<strong>on</strong><br />
department expands to<br />
720 sqm. Otic<strong>on</strong> participates<br />
in a hearing aid<br />
exhibiti<strong>on</strong> in Chicago.<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong>’s 50th Jubilee.<br />
The company’s total<br />
producti<strong>on</strong> area now<br />
exceeds 1,000 sqm.<br />
Henning Mønsted is<br />
employed.<br />
Erik Westermann and<br />
Christian Tøpholm establish<br />
Widex. Otic<strong>on</strong><br />
employs Bent Sim<strong>on</strong>sen<br />
and Torben Nielsen.<br />
Ida Emilie Demant dies.<br />
William Demants og<br />
Hustru Ida Emilies F<strong>on</strong>d<br />
(the Otic<strong>on</strong> Foundati<strong>on</strong>)<br />
is established. William<br />
Demant becomes a<br />
limited company.<br />
At the age of 70, William<br />
Demant marries Fay<br />
Hermundstad.<br />
Bent Sim<strong>on</strong>sen is<br />
appointed Assistant<br />
Director.<br />
The Otic<strong>on</strong> Scholarship<br />
is established. Bengt<br />
Danielsen is employed.<br />
1961<br />
1962<br />
1963<br />
1964<br />
1965<br />
1968<br />
1969<br />
1971<br />
1972<br />
1973<br />
1974<br />
Prime Minister Patrice<br />
Lumumba is assassinated<br />
in the C<strong>on</strong>go.<br />
The Cuba Crisis.<br />
President John F.<br />
Kennedy is assassinated.<br />
Le<strong>on</strong>id Bresjnev<br />
replaces Khrusjtjov as<br />
Chairman of the<br />
Communist Party in the<br />
Soviet Uni<strong>on</strong>.<br />
Robert Kennedy and<br />
Martin Luther King are<br />
assassinated in the<br />
USA. Russian tanks<br />
roll into Prague.<br />
America puts the first<br />
man <strong>on</strong> the mo<strong>on</strong>.<br />
Louis Armstr<strong>on</strong>g dies.<br />
Henry Kissinger<br />
receives the Nobel<br />
Peace Prize.<br />
Four out of ten Danish<br />
homes now have a TV.<br />
The Danish Associati<strong>on</strong><br />
for the Hard-of-Hearing<br />
changes its name to The<br />
Nati<strong>on</strong>al Associati<strong>on</strong><br />
for Better Hearing.<br />
The youth revoluti<strong>on</strong> in<br />
Denmark.<br />
Anker Jørgensen<br />
becomes Prime<br />
Minister.<br />
Denmark enters the<br />
European Federati<strong>on</strong>.<br />
Car-free Sundays are<br />
in-troduced.<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> brings together<br />
producti<strong>on</strong> and administrati<strong>on</strong><br />
at <strong>on</strong>e locati<strong>on</strong>.<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong>’s producti<strong>on</strong> area<br />
now exceeds 3,000 sqm.<br />
The OTWIDAN partnership<br />
is established.<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> Nederland B.V. in<br />
Holland opens.<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> Corp. opens in<br />
the USA.<br />
William Demant puts the<br />
“Gang of Four” in charge.<br />
Bent Sim<strong>on</strong>sen is made<br />
Director. Otic<strong>on</strong> A/S<br />
opens in Norway, and<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> S.A. opens in<br />
Switzerland.<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> GmbH opens in<br />
West Germany.<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong>’s producti<strong>on</strong><br />
department moves to<br />
Skinnerup School in<br />
Thisted.<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> Danmark A/S is<br />
established in Denmark.<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> inaugurates its<br />
new factory at Thisted<br />
and moves into the former<br />
Rolls Royce factory<br />
in Scotland. Otic<strong>on</strong> Italia<br />
S.r.l., Otic<strong>on</strong> K.K. in<br />
Japan and Otic<strong>on</strong> Ltd. in<br />
Scotland are established.<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> France S.A. and<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> New Zealand Ltd.<br />
open.
Year World history Denmark’s history Otic<strong>on</strong>’s history<br />
1975<br />
1977<br />
1979<br />
1983<br />
1985<br />
1988<br />
1989<br />
1990<br />
1991<br />
1992<br />
1993<br />
Elvis Presley dies.<br />
NATO makes a twotrack<br />
decisi<strong>on</strong> to limit<br />
medium-range missiles.<br />
Gorbatjov becomes<br />
Secretary of the<br />
Communist Party in the<br />
Soviet Uni<strong>on</strong>.<br />
The Berlin Wall falls,<br />
signifying the end of<br />
the Cold War.<br />
Berlin becomes the capital<br />
of a united<br />
Germany.<br />
Marlene Dietrich dies.<br />
Aage Bohr wins the<br />
Nobel Prize for Physics.<br />
Sepp Pi<strong>on</strong>tek becomes<br />
trainer for the Danish<br />
football team.<br />
Denmark’s first foreign<br />
policy electi<strong>on</strong> c<strong>on</strong>cerning<br />
the NATO<br />
footnotes.<br />
Plans are approved for<br />
a bridge that will c<strong>on</strong>nect<br />
Denmark and<br />
Sweden.<br />
Denmark says “No” to<br />
the Maastricht Treaty.<br />
Denmark wins the<br />
European Cup.<br />
The Edinburgh Agreement,<br />
c<strong>on</strong>taining the<br />
four Danish c<strong>on</strong>diti<strong>on</strong>s<br />
c<strong>on</strong>cerning the<br />
Maastricht Treaty, is<br />
approved in a referendum.<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> is divided into<br />
four companies: Management,<br />
Internati<strong>on</strong>al,<br />
Export and Electr<strong>on</strong>ics.<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong>’s research centre,<br />
Eriksholm, opens.<br />
William Demant dies.<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> celebrates its 75th<br />
Jubilee, and Otic<strong>on</strong><br />
Export A/S opens in<br />
Denmark.<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> Holding is<br />
established.<br />
Palle Rasmussen becomes<br />
Chairman of the Board at<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong>. Otic<strong>on</strong> España<br />
S.A. opens.<br />
Lars Kolind becomes<br />
President & CEO of<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong>.<br />
“We think like our customers,”<br />
says an internal<br />
folder.<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> receives The King<br />
Frederik IX Order of Merit<br />
Award for its c<strong>on</strong>tributi<strong>on</strong><br />
to Danish export.<br />
The Otic<strong>on</strong> Scholarship<br />
is altered. D-Day for the<br />
new company. Headquarters<br />
are moved to<br />
their present locati<strong>on</strong> in<br />
Hellerup. MultiFocus is<br />
launched.<br />
Niels Jacobsen is hired as<br />
Executive Vice President.<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> receives ISO 9001<br />
Certificati<strong>on</strong> from the<br />
Danish Standardizati<strong>on</strong><br />
Board.<br />
T i m e l i n e<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> 1904 – 2004<br />
Year World history<br />
Denmark’s history Otic<strong>on</strong>’s history<br />
1995<br />
1996<br />
1997<br />
1998<br />
2001<br />
2002<br />
2003<br />
2004<br />
Russian troops invade<br />
Chechnya”s capital.<br />
H<strong>on</strong>g K<strong>on</strong>g is handed<br />
over to China.<br />
Terrorists strike the<br />
World Trade Centre and<br />
the Pentag<strong>on</strong> <strong>on</strong> 11<br />
September. The USA<br />
launches an attack <strong>on</strong><br />
Afghanistan.<br />
The Euro becomes the<br />
new currency for the<br />
European Uni<strong>on</strong>.<br />
American and coaliti<strong>on</strong><br />
forces, including<br />
Denmark, attack Iraq.<br />
Prince Joachim and<br />
Alexandra Manley<br />
marry in Frederiksborg<br />
Castle.<br />
Piet Hein – poet and<br />
philosopher, designer<br />
and inventor – dies.<br />
The Great Belt Tunnel<br />
is inaugurated.<br />
Denmark takes over the<br />
Presidency of the<br />
European Uni<strong>on</strong>. Ten<br />
new countries join the<br />
EU.<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> Holding A/S is<br />
registered <strong>on</strong> the<br />
Copenhagen Stock<br />
Exchange.<br />
DigiFocus is launched.<br />
DigiFocus and OtiSet<br />
win the Informati<strong>on</strong><br />
Technology European<br />
Award (ITEA) in 1996.<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> Holding A/S is<br />
renamed William<br />
Demant Holding A/S.<br />
Eriksholm hosts its first<br />
Summer Camp for young<br />
audiologists. DigiFocus<br />
wins the European<br />
Design Prize (EDP).<br />
Niels Jacobsen becomes<br />
President & CEO. Otic<strong>on</strong><br />
receives the Employee<br />
Empowerment Pi<strong>on</strong>eer<br />
Award from the Council<br />
for Ec<strong>on</strong>omic Priorities<br />
(CEP).<br />
Adapto is introduced.<br />
Eriksholm celebrates its<br />
25th Jubilee. Adapto<br />
wins the European<br />
Informati<strong>on</strong> Society<br />
Technology IST Grand<br />
Prize. Ergo BTE wins the<br />
Internati<strong>on</strong>al Forum<br />
Design Award 2002.<br />
William Demant Holding<br />
wins the European<br />
Company of the Year<br />
Award.<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> celebrates its<br />
100th Jubilee.<br />
81
82<br />
B i b l i o g r a p h y<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> 1904 – 2004<br />
Bibliography<br />
Chapter 1 – <str<strong>on</strong>g>Founded</str<strong>on</strong>g> <strong>on</strong> <strong>care</strong><br />
Acoustic<strong>on</strong> brochure, 1928, Eriksholm.<br />
The Silent Radio, Acoustic<strong>on</strong> brochure, 1940, Eriksholm.<br />
Hospital Radio Systems, Acoustic<strong>on</strong> brochure, approx. 1940, Eriksholm.<br />
Demant, William, cashbook showing sold church hearing aid systems,<br />
1907-1936, Eriksholm.<br />
Demant, William, letter, 1934, Eriksholm.<br />
Demant, William, notebook, 1920-1922, Eriksholm.<br />
Dictograph Products – letter to William Demant, 1928-1932, Eriksholm.<br />
Kraks Road Guide, 1923, 1927, 1930, 1935, 1940, 1946 and 1951,<br />
Copenhagen’s Municipal Archives.<br />
Nielsen, Claus, “Roots of a worldwide company – Demant’s path from sewing<br />
machines to hearing aids”. The Odense Book, Odense University Publicati<strong>on</strong>s,<br />
1999.<br />
Chapter 2 – Otic<strong>on</strong> is born<br />
Berlingske Tidende, 18/1-1938, 19/1-1938, 20/1-1938 and 17/3-1939.<br />
Boserup, Niels, “Et modernistisk mesterværk – arkitekt Vilhelm Lauritzens<br />
lufthavnsbygning fra 1939”.<br />
Palladium brochure, Grafisk Institut, Eriksholm.<br />
Politiken, 5/3-1939, 23/3-1939 and 30/3-1939.<br />
Chapter 3 – The “Gang of Four”<br />
Morsing, Jette and Eiberg, Kristian, “Managing the Unmanageable for a<br />
Decade”, Otic<strong>on</strong>, 1998.<br />
Poulsen, Per Thygesen, “Think the Unthinkable”, Schultz, 1993.<br />
Chapter 4 – The modern Otic<strong>on</strong><br />
Berlingske Tidende, 27/04-2000,15/10-2000,01/11-2000,02/09-2001,<br />
15/10-2001, 25/11-2002,03/01-2003,05/03-2003 and 04/08-2003.<br />
Erhvervs Bladet, 12/11-1999, 8/01-2000, 10/03-2000, 26/04-2000,<br />
28/11-2000, 31/3-2003.<br />
Børsen, 03/12-1999, 05/11-1999, 25/11-1999, 16/12-1999, 04/01-2000,<br />
10/01-2000, 18/01-2000, 21/01-2000, 26/01-2000, 20/03-2000, 28/02-2000,<br />
14/07-2000, 24/08-2000, 03/11- 2000, 07/11-2000, 23/11-2000, 07/03-2001,<br />
20/06-2001, 12/10-2002, 23/08-2001, 24/08-2001, 27/08-2001, 12/10-2001,<br />
16/10-2001, 08/05-2002, 23/05-2002, 24/05-2002, 14/06-2002, 09/10-2002,<br />
15/10-2002, 28/10-2002, 05/03-2003, 2/04-2003 and 10/06-2003.<br />
Poulsen, Per Thygesen, “Think the Unthinkable”, Schultz, 1991.<br />
Ugebrevet Mandag Morgen, no. 3, 17/01-2000 and no. 5, 26/06-2000.<br />
American Danish Otic<strong>on</strong> Corp, 29/01/52.<br />
American Danish Otic<strong>on</strong> Corp. 1904-1954 – Jubilee issue, Otic<strong>on</strong>, 1954.<br />
Lawyer Preben D<strong>on</strong>s, letter to the Board of Directors, 04/09/63.<br />
Berlingske Tidende article, “Life is more than just work”, 06/10/99.<br />
Berlingske Tidende article, “Greater job satisfacti<strong>on</strong>”, 25/10/02.<br />
Berlingske Tidende article, “People first”, 01/12/02.<br />
Berlingske Tidende’s Nyhedsmagasin, “Denmark’s best workplaces”, 2002<br />
Erhvervsbladet article, “A symbol of the Thisted spirit”, 18/03/02.<br />
Erhvervsbladet article, “Cranes race away at Otic<strong>on</strong>”, 19/06/02.<br />
Hørelsen, Nati<strong>on</strong>al Hearing Foundati<strong>on</strong>, Holland, 2003<br />
Chapter 5 – Research that matters<br />
Lønberg, Angela R., “Adapto – The Authorized Biography”, 2002<br />
Berlingske Tidende article, 10/02/01.<br />
Børsen articles, 01/02/01 and 01/11/02.<br />
Stock Exchange memorandum, Otic<strong>on</strong>, 1995.<br />
“Danish Audiology 1951-1976”, Nyt Nordisk Forlag, 1976.<br />
“Eriksholm Research Centre”, Otic<strong>on</strong>, 1997.<br />
Hørelsen, The Nati<strong>on</strong>al Associati<strong>on</strong> for Better Hearing, no. 7, 2002.<br />
Medical Health, “Genetic causes of hearing loss”, no. 7, 2002.<br />
Madsen, Lars Bjørn, “The Eriksholm country house”, Otic<strong>on</strong> Foundati<strong>on</strong>, 1996.<br />
“People First – the visi<strong>on</strong> and values”, Otic<strong>on</strong>, 2002<br />
William Demant Holding A/S Annual Report 1998<br />
William Demant Holding A/S Annual Report 1997<br />
Chapter 6 – A century of hearing loss<br />
Lønberg, Angela R., “Adapto – The Authorized Biography”, 2002<br />
Bentzen, O., Ewertsen, H.W. and Salom<strong>on</strong>, G., “Danish Audiology 1951-1976”<br />
Danish Medical/Audiological Company, 1976.<br />
Berlingske Tidende article, “Deep isolati<strong>on</strong>”, 21/11/99.<br />
Berlingske Tidende article, “Devil’s music in the ear”, 10/02/01.<br />
Berlingske Tidende article, “Just listen”, 18/03/00.<br />
Berlingske Tidende article, “Free hearing aids for seniors despite user fees”,<br />
24/11/99.<br />
Bryan, Lise, “The future of hearing <strong>care</strong> in Denmark”,<br />
Dansk Audiologopædi magazine, vol. 25, no. 4, 1989.<br />
Dalsgaard, Stig C., “Industry and hearing <strong>care</strong>”, Ingeniøren magazine, vol. 4,<br />
no. 26, 1978.<br />
Elberling, Claus and Engelund, Gitte, “Eriksholm – Interviews in 2003”.<br />
Nielsen, Claus, “History of the Hearing Aid”, Eriksholm, 1998.<br />
Hørelsen, the Nati<strong>on</strong>al Associati<strong>on</strong> for Better Hearing<br />
no. 3, 2000, no. 1, 2001, no. 3, 2002 and no. 4, 2002.<br />
Illum, Peter, “Public hearing <strong>care</strong> in today’s Denmark”, Doctor’s Weekly, vol.<br />
160, no. 40, 1998.<br />
Jyllandsposten article, “Hearing impaired people are isolated”, 03/05/01.<br />
Nielsen, Claus, “Roots of a worldwide company – Demant’s path from sewing<br />
machines to hearing aids”. The Odense Book, Odense University Publicati<strong>on</strong>s,<br />
1999.<br />
Parving, Agnete, “Views of Danish hearing <strong>care</strong>”,<br />
Dansk Audiologopædi magazine, vol. 23, no. 3, 1987.<br />
Pedersen, Christian Brahe and B<strong>on</strong>ding, Per, “Otolaryngology in Denmark,<br />
1899-1999”, 1999.<br />
Rotary Nordic, no. 8, 2001, “Viewing hearing-impaired people as fellow<br />
human beings”.<br />
The American Danish Otic<strong>on</strong> Corp. 1904-1954, “Jubilee Publicati<strong>on</strong>”, Otic<strong>on</strong><br />
1954.<br />
Thomsen, K.A. and Jepsen, Otto, “The history of Otolaryngology in Denmark”,<br />
1999.<br />
Walther, Bo and Thomsen, Søren Stanley, “Hearing <strong>care</strong> in the 1990s”, Dansk<br />
Audiologopædi magazine, 1993.<br />
Wass, Ingrid, “20 years after the expansi<strong>on</strong> of our handicap services – how did<br />
it go?” Danish Psychology Publishers, 2000.<br />
Chapter 7 – William Demant – the man and the foundati<strong>on</strong><br />
The charter of William Demants og Hustru Ida Emilies F<strong>on</strong>d (the Otic<strong>on</strong><br />
Foundati<strong>on</strong>) of 31 December 1957.<br />
Structure of the Foundati<strong>on</strong> Committee, 1960-1991.<br />
List of d<strong>on</strong>ati<strong>on</strong>s exceeding DKK 100,000 from the Otic<strong>on</strong> Foundati<strong>on</strong>,<br />
1998-2002.<br />
Minutes from Heinz E. Hess.<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> Foundati<strong>on</strong> of 16 December 1969.<br />
Balance of the Otic<strong>on</strong> Foundati<strong>on</strong> 31/12/60.<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> Foundati<strong>on</strong> grants 1961-1991.<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> Foundati<strong>on</strong>’s scholarship arrangement, letter of 29/01/01 to the<br />
University of Copenhagen.<br />
Press release, 20/11/90, “Otic<strong>on</strong> Foundati<strong>on</strong> alters its grant scheme”.<br />
Press release, 23/04/98, “New Chairman”.<br />
Press release, 25/08/98, “DKK 1.5 milli<strong>on</strong> to Nels<strong>on</strong> Mandela”.<br />
Press release, 29/06/00, “Otic<strong>on</strong> d<strong>on</strong>ates DKK 35 milli<strong>on</strong> to Denmark’s<br />
Technical University”.<br />
Press release, 14/08/01, “Alterati<strong>on</strong>s to the charter of the Otic<strong>on</strong> Foundati<strong>on</strong>”.<br />
“Survey of Foundati<strong>on</strong>s and Grants Committees”, Otic<strong>on</strong> 13/11/84.
Photo credits and illustrati<strong>on</strong> sources<br />
Chapter 1 – <str<strong>on</strong>g>Founded</str<strong>on</strong>g> <strong>on</strong> <strong>care</strong><br />
Page 8: Hans Jørgen Frederik Demant<br />
with his wife, Camilla Louise<br />
Source: Per Gyllich<br />
Page 9: Odense city in the 1850s<br />
Source: Odense City Archives<br />
First lithography of the company<br />
Source: Otic<strong>on</strong>, Eriksholm<br />
Page 10: The Demant family<br />
Employees of the company in 1890<br />
Source: Per Gyllich<br />
Side 11: Queen Alexandra<br />
Source: Scanpix<br />
Pages 12-13: Hearing trumpet<br />
The Massac<strong>on</strong> instrument<br />
Advert<br />
Source: Otic<strong>on</strong>, Eriksholm<br />
Page 14: William Demant<br />
Source: Per Gyllich<br />
Jørgen Demant<br />
Source: The Royal Library in<br />
Copenhagen<br />
Page 15: The Church of Jesus<br />
Photographer: Martin Sølyst<br />
Source: Otic<strong>on</strong>, Eriksholm<br />
Page 16: User Guide for the<br />
Acoustic<strong>on</strong> hearing aid<br />
Source: Otic<strong>on</strong>, Eriksholm<br />
Lithography of the Church of Jesus<br />
Source: Copenhagen City Museum<br />
Page 17: The “Acoustic<strong>on</strong> Cor<strong>on</strong>ati<strong>on</strong>”<br />
Source: Otic<strong>on</strong>, Eriksholm<br />
Chapter 2 – Otic<strong>on</strong> is born<br />
Page 18: Charles Lehmann<br />
Source: Otic<strong>on</strong>, Eriksholm<br />
Page 19: Hearing test<br />
Advertising photo of a hearing aid<br />
Source: Otic<strong>on</strong>, Eriksholm<br />
Page 20: The exhibiti<strong>on</strong> stand<br />
in Forum<br />
Source: Otic<strong>on</strong>, Eriksholm<br />
Page 21: William Demant and<br />
his staff in 1939<br />
Source: Otic<strong>on</strong>, Eriksholm<br />
Pages 22-23: Seating directi<strong>on</strong>s in the<br />
Palladium cinema<br />
The Palladium cinema<br />
Palladium brochure<br />
Advert for hospital equipment<br />
Page 24: The occupati<strong>on</strong> of Denmark<br />
Source: Copenhagen City Museum<br />
Kastrup Airport<br />
Source: Vilhelm Lauritzen’s<br />
drawing office<br />
Page 25: Ladies, welding and assembling<br />
Source: Otic<strong>on</strong>, Eriksholm<br />
Pages 26-27: Charles Lehmann<br />
Newspaper ad, Otic<strong>on</strong> TA<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> advert<br />
Source: Otic<strong>on</strong>, Eriksholm<br />
Page 28: Export brochure<br />
Source: Otic<strong>on</strong>, Eriksholm<br />
Page 29: The Otic<strong>on</strong> T3<br />
Source: Otic<strong>on</strong>, Eriksholm<br />
Chapter 3 – The “Gang of Four”<br />
Page 30: The “Gang of Four”<br />
Source: Otic<strong>on</strong>, Eriksholm<br />
Page 31: Jubilee Publicati<strong>on</strong>, 1954<br />
Employees at the celebrati<strong>on</strong> dinner<br />
Source: Otic<strong>on</strong>, Eriksholm<br />
Page 32: William Demant<br />
Window display<br />
Source: Otic<strong>on</strong>, Eriksholm<br />
Page 33: William Demant<br />
and Bent Sim<strong>on</strong>sen<br />
in fr<strong>on</strong>t of the new headquarters<br />
Source: Otic<strong>on</strong>, Eriksholm<br />
Page 34: Teacher Poul Gelskov<br />
with schoolchildren<br />
Source: The Deaf History Society<br />
Fr<strong>on</strong>t page of Hearing<br />
Source: The Nati<strong>on</strong>al Associati<strong>on</strong><br />
for Better Hearing<br />
Page 35: Otic<strong>on</strong> advert<br />
Advert for hearing glasses<br />
Source: Otic<strong>on</strong>, Eriksholm<br />
Page 36: Producti<strong>on</strong> of<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> instruments<br />
Source: Otic<strong>on</strong>, Eriksholm<br />
Page 37: The Otic<strong>on</strong> logo<br />
Source: Otic<strong>on</strong>, Eriksholm<br />
Page 38: Thisted<br />
Source: Otic<strong>on</strong>, Eriksholm<br />
Page 39: The producti<strong>on</strong><br />
factory at Hamilt<strong>on</strong>, Scotland<br />
Users in the 1970s<br />
Source: Otic<strong>on</strong>, Eriksholm<br />
Page 40: Model showing an<br />
In-the-Ear instrument<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong>’s management team<br />
in the Danish West Indies, 1986<br />
Source: Otic<strong>on</strong>, Eriksholm<br />
Page 41: The “Gang of Four”<br />
Photographer: Rigmor Mydtskov<br />
Source: Otic<strong>on</strong>, Eriksholm<br />
Chapter 4 – The modern Otic<strong>on</strong><br />
Page 42: Otic<strong>on</strong>’s headquarters<br />
Photographer: Martin Sølyst<br />
Source: Otic<strong>on</strong>, Eriksholm<br />
Page 43: Lars Kolind<br />
Source: Otic<strong>on</strong>, Eriksholm<br />
Pages 44-45: The “paperless office”<br />
Pillar at Otic<strong>on</strong>’s<br />
headquarters in Copenhagen<br />
Project 330<br />
Source: Otic<strong>on</strong>, Eriksholm<br />
Page 46-47: Niels Jacobsen<br />
Managers of the subsidiaries<br />
and others in 2000<br />
Source: Otic<strong>on</strong>, Eriksholm<br />
Page 48: Erik Hoffmeyer<br />
Stock Exchange memorandum<br />
Source: Otic<strong>on</strong>, Eriksholm<br />
Page 49: William Demant Holding logo<br />
Source: Otic<strong>on</strong>, Eriksholm<br />
Page 50: Niels Jacobsen<br />
Source: Otic<strong>on</strong>, Eriksholm<br />
Page 51: HRH Prince Henrik’s<br />
Commemorative Medal<br />
awarded to Otic<strong>on</strong> Holland<br />
Source: Otic<strong>on</strong> Holland<br />
Page 52: Headset advert<br />
Source: Sennheiser<br />
Communicati<strong>on</strong>s A/S<br />
Presentati<strong>on</strong> of the “European<br />
Company of the Year Award”<br />
Source: Otic<strong>on</strong>, Eriksholm<br />
Page 53: People First<br />
Source: Otic<strong>on</strong>, Eriksholm<br />
“European Company of the<br />
Year Award”<br />
Chapter 5 – Research that matters<br />
Pages 54-55: Eriksholm<br />
Source: Otic<strong>on</strong>, Eriksholm.<br />
Page 56: Actresses in role as<br />
an old lady and daughter<br />
Source: DR<br />
Page 57: Hearing aid users<br />
The Adapto BTE<br />
Source: Otic<strong>on</strong>, Eriksholm<br />
Page 58: Fitting a hearing aid<br />
Source: Otic<strong>on</strong>, Eriksholm<br />
Page 59: Customers visiting Eriksholm<br />
Source: Otic<strong>on</strong>, Eriksholm<br />
Chapter 6 – A century of hearing loss<br />
Page 60: Advert for the 300S<br />
Source: Otic<strong>on</strong>, Eriksholm<br />
Page 61: Hearing aid<br />
Source: Otic<strong>on</strong>, Eriksholm<br />
Page 62: Kraks Road Guide,1923<br />
Source: Kraks Publishers<br />
Page 63: Three people c<strong>on</strong>versing<br />
with the aid of hearing trumpets<br />
C.G. Buus<br />
Source: Otic<strong>on</strong>, Eriksholm<br />
Pages 64-65: Bent Skjøttgaard’s<br />
grandfather<br />
Ulla Busk Laursen’s grandfather<br />
Source: Otic<strong>on</strong>, Eriksholm<br />
Page 66: Hearing aid advert<br />
Hearing aid<br />
Source: Otic<strong>on</strong>, Eriksholm<br />
P h o t o c r e d i t s a n d i l l u s t r a t i o n s o u r c e s<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> 1904 – 2004<br />
Page 67: Brochure – the “Ear Jewel”<br />
Datasheet <strong>on</strong> hearing glasses<br />
Source: Otic<strong>on</strong>, Eriksholm<br />
Former US President, R<strong>on</strong>ald Reagan<br />
Source: Polfoto<br />
Page 68: Box-office window with<br />
teleloop system<br />
Source: Ph<strong>on</strong>ic Ear A/S<br />
Page 69: Newspaper published in<br />
c<strong>on</strong>necti<strong>on</strong> with<br />
Holland’s Hearing Week<br />
Source: Nati<strong>on</strong>al Hoor Stichting,<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong> Holland<br />
Page 70: Detective Inspector Jens<br />
Ryhave<br />
Photographer: Martin Sølyst<br />
Source: Otic<strong>on</strong>, Eriksholm<br />
Page 71: Hans-Henrik Ørsted<br />
Source: Otic<strong>on</strong>, Eriksholm<br />
Chapter 7 – William Demant – the<br />
man and the Foundati<strong>on</strong><br />
Page 72: Portrait of William Demant<br />
Source: Otic<strong>on</strong>, Eriksholm<br />
Pages 73-74: Knud Sørensen<br />
Assembly hall at DTU campus<br />
The William Demant hall<br />
of residence at DTU campus<br />
Photographer: Martin Sølyst<br />
Source: Otic<strong>on</strong>, Eriksholm<br />
83
Acknowledgement<br />
This book Centenary is the result of numerous interviews, and the Otic<strong>on</strong> Foundati<strong>on</strong> would like to thank<br />
the people who c<strong>on</strong>tributed to the making of the book for their commitment and support during this project.<br />
Demant family<br />
A SPECIAL THANKS TO<br />
Per Gyllich, William Demant’s s<strong>on</strong><br />
Tom Hansen, William Demant’s s<strong>on</strong>-in-law<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong>, Copenhagen<br />
Birgit Bastholm<br />
Kenneth Sachse<br />
Kurt Danielsen<br />
Mads Kamp<br />
Niels Jacobsen<br />
Ole Munk Plum<br />
Peter Anker Nielsen<br />
Poul Erik Lyregaard<br />
Søren Nielsen<br />
Tove Rosenbom<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong>, Eriksholm<br />
Claus Elberling<br />
Claus Nielsen<br />
Gitte Engelund<br />
Graham Naylor<br />
Jens Rerup<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong>,Thisted<br />
Hanne Stephensen<br />
Jette Lørup<br />
Jørgen Kornum<br />
Peter Finnerup<br />
Svenning Thomsen<br />
Otic<strong>on</strong>, worldwide<br />
Anders Jeffert<br />
Frank Rooze<br />
Gerard van der Wel<br />
Lars Kirk<br />
T<strong>on</strong> Heijman<br />
Former employees<br />
Anders Quitzau<br />
Bent Sim<strong>on</strong>sen<br />
Henning Mønsted Sørensen<br />
Lars Kolind<br />
Lars Petersen<br />
Leif Sørensen<br />
Lis Høien<br />
Palle Rasmussen<br />
Torben E. Nielsen<br />
Others<br />
Birthe Hansen<br />
Dorthe Wall-Prebensen<br />
Erik Westermann & family<br />
Hans-Henrik Ørsted<br />
Jens Ryhave<br />
Michael Bang<br />
Morten Bjørner<br />
Ole Vind Hansen<br />
Tut Loft<br />
Claus Arboe-Rasmussen and CGI Mannov have also c<strong>on</strong>tributed to this centenary publicati<strong>on</strong>.