May 10, 1999. Great Nordic Group of Denmark announced agreement on the purchase of ReSound Corporation (all outstanding shares). They stated that they plan to combine it with their GN Danavox division to create one of the largest hearing aid manufacturers.

Interestingly enough, ReSound and Danavox collaborated on the design of their new digital signal processing hearing aids, and are selling very similar models, the digital 5000 for ReSound and the DanaLogic for Danavox.

It is not known at this time what impact this will have on the hearing aid user. Similar consolidations in the past have had different results. For example Bernafon, Maico, and Oticon are all owned by the same holding group. But Bernafon and Maico were combined to have the same product line and the same headquarters building, while Oticon is completely independent.

Tune into Solveig's All About Ears radio show on May 24, 1999, to hear a Danavox Vice President talk about their company and their hearing aids. Call toll free 1-888-308-HEAR during the show (9 to 10 pm Eastern TIme) with questions, if you want.

As far as we are concerned, at The Hearing and Speech Center, we will continue to service both Danavox and ReSound hearing aids, and continue to provide unlimited free reprogrammings of these aids for as long as you own them. Since there are "All Make Repair" labs that stock parts for all hearing aids, we see no problems in getting these hearing aids repaired either.