MAICO’s History

More Than 85 Years of Experience in Making Hearing Screening Easier

At MAICO, we design and build our hearing solution to ease your daily work — and with each new device, we get even better at doing so. Now with more than 85 years of experience in making hearing screening easier, we improve your workflow with fast tests and intuitive operation.

It All Started with a Vision

Our focus on creating easy-to-use hearing test equipment lies in our history and continues to shape our future: our founder Leland A. Watson built MAICO on a vision of creating easy-to-use hearing test equipment. Watson was the son of an ear physician in Minneapolis and worked as a sales clerk for hearing instruments. He recognized early on that the devices he sold to doctors like his father were too complicated and should be easier to use. However, since there were no devices on the market at that time which were easier to use, he decided to take matters into his own hands and founded “the Medical Acoustics Instruments Company” in 1937. The company name was later shortened to MAICO and became known for intuitive “audiometers”, a term that Watson coined.

Becoming a Part of Robert Bosch GmbH

MAICO’s easy-to-use devices attracted the attention of the Robert Bosch GmbH in Berlin, Germany — and so the audiological division of Robert Bosch GmbH merged with MAICO Minneapolis in 1991. Since then, MAICO has had headquarters in Minneapolis as well as in Berlin.

Shaping the Future of Hearing Screening with Strong Companions

The Demant Group — one of the largest hearing healthcare instrument providers in the world — developed an interest for MAICO and its devices as well. In 1995 MAICO joined Demant and thus has access to a large database of knowledge around hearing testing — a great foundation to develop even better hearing test devices.

Uniting Two Visions to Reach One Goal

Just like MAICO, the Demant Group was built on a vision. The history of Demant starts with the company’s founder – Hans Demant — and his passion to help his wife lead a better life — despite her hearing loss. This passion soon evolved into a vision to empower people with hearing loss all around the world and support them in improving their lives. As a member of the Demant Group, we still share this goal at MAICO today. The company values of Demant fit perfectly with our own vision at MAICO: An early detection of hearing loss today for a healthy and enjoyable life tomorrow.