AIER Shidai Files IPO Prospectus: Plans to Build 100 Hearing Clinics and Expand Global Footprint

Aier Shidai CEO Liang Qi Shares Insights on "The Future Hearing Clinic"

The hearing care industry in China is still in its early stages. However, Aier Shidai, established five years ago, has been continuously strengthening its presence in five key areas—hearing education, hearing clinics, surgical centers, hearing products, and academic research—and is gradually evolving into an international hearing healthcare platform.

From June 9 to 10, the “New Structure – 2018 Summit on Innovative Practices in Primary Healthcare,” co-hosted by the National Engineering Laboratory for Internet Medical Systems and Applications, Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine, the Internet Healthcare Industry Alliance, and VCBeat, was grandly held in Hangzhou. Liang Qi, CEO of Aier Shidai, delivered a speech titled “The Future Hearing Clinic,” providing a detailed analysis of the opportunities and challenges facing the development of hearing clinics.

In a subsequent interview with VCBeat (WeChat ID: vcbeat), she also revealed Aier Shidai’s internationalization strategy over the past year, its coverage of the elderly hearing market, and its clinic expansion model. Looking ahead, Aier Shidai plans to open 100 chain hearing clinics.

With a background in audiology, Liang Qi worked at West China Hospital of Sichuan University for eight years, followed by another eight years at Cochlear, the world’s largest manufacturer of cochlear implants. Five years ago, he founded Aier Shidai Medical Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd., carving out a new path in the relatively niche field of hearing care.

Had she not embarked on entrepreneurship, Liang Qi envisioned a life where she would “operate a hearing clinic in the United States, conducting hearing assessments and diagnoses for patients, providing intervention strategies and rehabilitative support to help them reintegrate into the mainstream world of sound. This is my value, and indeed, it was the original intention behind my later founding of Aier Shidai.”

Targeting hearing-impaired families in China, we provide a comprehensive suite of high-quality hearing solutions through professional hearing services and an innovative operational model. Currently, Aier Shidai is continuously strengthening its presence in five key areas—hearing education, hearing clinics, surgical centers, hearing products, and academic research—and is gradually evolving into an international hearing healthcare platform.

Regarding the key milestones achieved over the past year, Liang Qi stated that the company had previously focused on cultivating the domestic market through collaborations with major Grade A tertiary hospitals. Going forward, it will seek strategic partners in the global market to introduce superior overseas resources and technologies into China, as well as establish a chain of clinics. The main achievements to date include:

1. Established a surgical center in Beijing. In collaboration with Beijing Xiren Hospital and Yimeijia Hospital, we jointly built an auditory implant surgery center in accordance with the standards of developed countries;

2. Introduce hearing testing equipment. Partner with Otohub, a renowned Italian hearing technology company, to establish the Otohub China Chengdu joint venture for the development of new hearing products;

3. Establish intelligent service standards. In partnership with Attune, Australia’s largest hearing care provider, we established Attune China to deliver more intelligent and highly standardized hearing services to Chinese families with hearing impairment.

“Since last year, we have initiated a series of global collaborations, leveraging advanced foreign technologies, equipment, and service standards, as well as accumulated resources such as health examination centers, pharmacies, and community clinics. Moving forward, our focus will be on opening more clinics in Beijing and Chengdu, with an initial plan to reach 100 locations by December.”

What Issues Should Be Considered When Establishing a Hearing Clinic? Liang Qi Believes It Includes Three Major Elements: Location, Cost, and Patients, with Services Covering Children and the Elderly.

First is location. “Based on our early experience, location is not that critical for hearing clinics. The hearing-impaired population is a highly specialized community, with patient acquisition driven more by online channels, community engagement, and repeat purchases. Therefore, locating the clinic in an office building makes little difference, and distance is not a barrier; some parents are even willing to send their children abroad for treatment. However, for elderly patients, it may be preferable to establish clinics within grassroots community settings.”

Second is cost. “Overall, the operating costs of hearing clinics are not high, unless one needs to purchase certain audiological diagnostic equipment. We are developing new hearing products that can significantly reduce clinic costs, which is why we are able to establish more hearing clinics.”

Third is the patient. “Currently, the main patients fall into two categories—the very young and the very old: children and the elderly.”

In the day-to-day operations of a hearing clinic, two major factors must be considered: internal and external. Internal factors include standardization of chain clinics, profitability, and physician resources, while external factors encompass health insurance coverage and risk.

Regarding solutions to the above-mentioned issues, Liang Qi revealed to the reporter: “For chain standards, we have adopted U.S. standards, which are well-established international guidelines for hearing diagnosis in children and the elderly. This aspect is relatively easy for us to implement.”

Reporters learned that conventional U.S. hearing clinics with a staff of four to five can generate annual revenues of approximately $3 million, with labor costs—primarily audiologists’ salaries—accounting for the bulk of expenses. In China, standalone clinics operating under favorable conditions can achieve profitability within three to six months.

Regarding physician resources, Liang Qi believes this is the biggest challenge faced in chain expansion. How to solve the source of doctors and audiologists? “Currently, it is generally through training and education. We have made many attempts, including training technicians. The method we are trying this year is to train pediatricians. They already possess pediatric knowledge and patient communication skills, so they just need training in audiology.”

In addition, to address manpower challenges, Aier Shidai has partnered with Otohub to introduce new intelligent devices that enable patients to undergo initial hearing screenings. “This frees up human resources, allowing staff to be deployed directly to pharmacies, health examination centers, or community clinics. Each device can screen 50–100 individuals per day.”

“Since most of the services offered by Aier Shidai are not covered by medical insurance, reimbursement policies were not a significant consideration when establishing the clinics. In terms of risk, audiology is a very low-risk sector within healthcare, unlike specialties such as ophthalmology and otorhinolaryngology, where doctor-patient conflicts are more concentrated.”

Future hearing clinics differ significantly from traditional ones. “In traditional hearing clinics, conducting examinations typically requires two audiologists for each child: one to engage the child in play and another to perform the testing. This approach incurs substantial time costs, demands a large array of expensive equipment and instruments, and ultimately relies on specialized audiologists to issue professional diagnostic reports.”

Liang Qi explained, “In the future, semi-intelligent devices will enable automatic hearing screening for both children and adults. A highly skilled audiologist can only conduct 5–10 tests in half a day, which is physically demanding. With intelligent technology, such devices can take over repetitive tasks. Of course, this does not mean that audiologists will become unemployed. The hearing healthcare process involves not only technologically driven screening and diagnosis but also extensive communication between healthcare providers and patients to understand their needs. Machines will replace repetitive labor, thereby alleviating, to some extent, the current shortage of audiologists.”

The technological advantages extend even further. “Designed and built by two deep-tech medical engineers from Italy, this platform for future hearing health management operates on the iPad and integrates detection technologies, acoustic technologies, and future e-commerce capabilities. The software will heavily leverage AI modules to predict optimal settings based on consumer habits and the current environment, thereby delivering an optimal user experience, with remote debugging performed in the future based on user feedback.”

Although hearing clinics are a relatively asset-light business, establishing them still incurs significant rental costs. To address this, Aier Shidai has adopted a co-construction model. “We have now secured agreements with resource partners, such as pharmacies and health checkup centers, which is the key factor enabling us to confidently expand rapidly to 100 locations.”

Many people perceive Aier Shidai as primarily serving children. However, Liang Qi stated that the patient base is not limited to pediatric cases. “While we serve a large number of children in China, the elderly are often an overlooked group. In Chinese cultural traditions, there is significant focus on children as they represent the hope of the family. Yet with the growing aging population, I believe demand for services among the elderly is gradually increasing.”

In 2016, joint survey data released by the former National Health and Family Planning Commission and the China Disabled Persons' Federation showed that the number of people with hearing impairment in China was 206 million, accounting for 15.84% of the total population. The number of individuals with moderate or severe hearing impairment, which has already impacted their daily lives, was 67.2 million. The number of elderly hearing-impaired patients aged 60 and above was 113 million.

What Is the Current State of Hearing Intervention? “Currently, there are no particularly clear data available in China. In the United States, 20% of individuals with hearing impairment seek solutions, while 80% search online for relevant information. However, most people only pursue solutions after a delay of seven years. The primary reason is the mismatch between hearing care needs and service delivery capacity, compounded by a significant shortage of audiologists in the United States.”

What is the situation in China? “China began training audiologists with bachelor’s degrees in 1995, but fewer than 100 graduates were produced each year. In recent years, audiology programs have intensified their efforts to train professionals, yet the number of graduates remains far short of meeting demand. Our hearing healthcare industry, particularly the market for hearing loss among the elderly, is still in a very early and nascent stage.”

If hearing problems in the elderly are not addressed promptly, they can trigger a series of other issues, such as dementia. What can Aier Shidai do? Liang Qi stated, “The first step in hearing management is to assess the degree of hearing loss, which requires extensive counseling and intervention. Solutions may include professionally fitted hearing aids and auditory implant products. Throughout this process, our professionals engage in patient and thorough communication with patients, thereby establishing strong patient adherence during the long-term health management of hearing as a chronic condition.”

The model of hearing care services has also undergone significant changes. It is no longer limited to product sales; there is immense market potential in hearing screening, examination, diagnosis, and rehabilitation. “People now place greater emphasis on experience, and technological advancements have transformed the processes and outcomes of hearing rehabilitation. Previously, 90% of our patients were children. After establishing hearing clinics in grassroots communities, it has become much more convenient for elderly individuals to seek medical care. Moreover, with lower average transaction values and the aid of intelligent hearing devices, the issue of distance has been alleviated to some extent. We previously encountered cases where an elderly person from Beijing would take a two-hour subway ride to reach our flagship store, which was time-consuming and laborious.”

A conceivable future scenario involves patients with hearing impairments, such as the elderly, visiting their nearest community clinic for remote hearing assessments via the Aier Shidai platform. Audiologists can access and interpret the test results remotely, recommend suitable hearing devices, and perform professional fittings. The devices can then be delivered directly to the patient’s home, or the patient can be referred to a flagship store or surgical center.

In Liang Qi’s strategic framework, the future layout of Aier Shidai clinics follows a 1:10:100 model—comprising one flagship store, supported by ten secondary clinics, which in turn cover 100 smaller entities such as pharmacies and medical examination centers. “We are extensively partnering with pharmacies to enable patients to receive relevant interventions within these locations. This represents our vision for the future hearing clinic model. Leveraging this technological approach, Aier Shidai is confident in establishing 100 clinics that penetrate grassroots markets, effectively serving elderly and pediatric patients.”