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Foreword:

As China’s population is aging, the number of people with related needs for rehabilitation aids is rising sharply. According to data released by the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the scale of the national rehabilitation assistive device industry will exceed 700 billion in 2020, and the average growth rate will exceed 15% from 2015 to this year.

In the opening chapter of the rehabilitation assistive industry analysis series released last month, AgeClub provided assistance to mobility in terms of market space, government policies, e-commerce data, and technology trends. In-depth analysis was carried out on the categories.

As the second part of the series, this article will follow the same analysis framework, focusing on the subdivision of audio-visual aids.

1. The number of audio-visual disabled patients exceeds 40 million. The policy pays attention to the research and development of audio-visual aids

Helen Keller once said: “Visual impairment separates people from things, and hearing impairment separates people from others.”

Visual and hearing impairments not only directly lead to communication barriers, but also cause a variety of psychological problems, which greatly damage the quality of life and family relationships of the elderly.

Statistics show that in 2018, the number of visually disabled patients in my country reached more than 17 million, and the number of hearing disabled patients reached 27.8 million, most of whom were elderly over 60 people.

Take hearing disability as an example. The second national sample survey of persons with disabilities shows that the proportion of people over 60 with hearing disability is as high as 11%. Based on this calculation, the total number of elderly people with hearing disabilities over 60 in China now exceeds 20 million.

In addition, the number of visually impaired and hearing impaired elderly people who have visual and hearing impairments but have not yet reached the disability standard is even greater, and the scale is estimated to exceed 1 Billion.

According to the Global Diabetes Overview published by the International Diabetes Federation in 2019, the total number of diabetes patients in China is 116.4 million, and the number of middle-aged and elderly people with diabetes exceeds 80 million.

Diabetes is one of the important causes of visual and hearing impairment in the elderly. Clinical observations have shown that 35%-50% of diabetic patients’ hearing is 20～ lower than that of healthy peers 30 decibels. Diabetic patients are more likely to develop eye diseases such as cataracts, macular degeneration, and retinal detachment than non-diabetic people. These eye diseases can cause vision loss and even blindness.

The large number of patients with visual and hearing impairment means a huge demand for audiovisual aids. However, this part of the market has not received the attention it deserves for a long time.

For many years, there were few domestic audio-visual aid manufacturers, fewer product types, and relatively low-end functions. The main products were blind canes, magnifiers, and sound amplifiers.

With the country’s emphasis on the rehabilitation assistive device industry and policy preference in recent years, this situation is undergoing many positive changes.

On the one hand, the technological content of audio-visual aids has increased, and more new cutting-edge technologies have been applied to audio-visual aids.

Since 2018, the Ministry of Science and Technology has launched the “Active Health and Aging Technology Response” key special R&D program, which is funded by the state, led by the Disabled Persons’ Federation, various scientific research institutions and Related manufacturers undertake specific projects to provide scientific and technological support for actively responding to the aging population.

In the latest “Active Health and Aging Technology Response” key special project planned for 2020, AgeClub found that the visual impairment involved is the Chinese disabled The assistive device center takes the lead in the artificial intelligence vision enhancement technology product project, the Hangzhou Shenrui Bolian Technology Co., Ltd. undertakes the intelligent vision enhancement product research and development project; involves the hearing impaired, the Southeast University undertakes the intelligent hearing rehabilitation assistive device research and development.

The national support for the development of high-tech products of audiovisual aids is undoubtedly an obvious signal. In recent years, more and more start-up companies have appeared in the audiovisual aids industry. They firmly believe that audiovisual aids are the future outlet of the rehabilitation aids industry. .

On the other hand, the market potential of the elderly with mild visual and hearing impairment has been explored by some manufacturers, and products such as hearing aids have emerged.

Compared with products aimed at people with visual disabilities and high hearing impairment, the technical threshold for the development of assistive devices for people with mild visual and hearing impairment is relatively lower. For manufacturers, the test is to allow these “non-rigid” people to accept audio-visual aids.

2. Vision aids

In my country, visual disabilities are generally classified into blind and low vision. The best corrected visual acuity in both eyes is lower than 0.3 but equal to or better than 0.05 as low Visual acuity: The best corrected visual acuity of both eyes is less than 0.05, which is called blindness. The specific classification standard comparison table is as follows:

For different levels of visual impairment, there are existing or successfully developed corresponding products on the market, which can basically meet the needs of the elderly with different visual conditions.

(1) The blind group-smart obstacle avoidance glasses

For blind people with almost no residual vision, going out on their own has always been a luxury.

Although guide dogs have been proven to be effective in helping blind people, they have always been a scarce resource in China.

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