Sonic Innovations Reports Strong 2008 Sales Growth

Sonic Innovations announced strong sales growth for its fiscal year while acknowledging the recession’s impact on the industry with a sharp drop-off in fourth-quarter sales. Revenue for the year increased 4.8 percent in 2008 over 2007 to $124.8 million, whereas many other companies started seeing the impact of the recession with lower year-to-year sales. However, fourth-quarter revenue in 2008 was off more than 14 percent from the same quarter in the previous year, indicating the recession is starting to take a big bite out of the global hearing-aid market.

Sam Westover, Chairman and CEO of the Salt Lake City-based company, said the company’s reorganization and streamlining of its product lines has results in lower costs and stronger product offerings, including a new mid-range version of the Sonic Innovations Velocity family of hearing aids introduced in the fourth quarter.