Please do not confuse the terms hearing aid retailer with hearing aid manufacturer. The person who sells you a hearing aid is the retailer. The aid itself will have been made by a manufacturer. There are really only 6 major hearing aid manufacturers. Three of the six top manufactures are based in Denmark.
Most of the hearing aids made today are of similar quality and standard so there is not a great deal of difference between the top manufacturers. Different manufacturers produce a slightly different sound quality as they usually incorporate their own unique sound processing. People who have worn one manufacturers hearing aids and are happy with them, tend to prefer to remain with the same manufacturer.
The large six hearing aid manufacturers are:
| Siemens | German |
| Oticon | Danish |
| Widex | Danish |
| Resound | Danish |
| Starkey | American |
| Phonak | Swiss |
There are a few other smaller manufacturers around but they owned by one of the larger companies above. Bernafon is owned by Oticon. Unitron is owned by Phonak. Danavox is owned by Resound.
Some hearing aid retailers are actually owned wholly or in part by manufacturers or they have a supply agreement. This can mean that the retailer is not strictly as independent as they would have you believe and will probably try to steer you towards certain brands. Here are the favoured manufacturers of the following national retailers.
| Hidden Hearing | Oticon and Bernafon |
| Boots | Phonak and Unitron |
| Regional Hearing | Widex |
