By 2000, it had become obvious that organic growth alone was not enough to realize the vision of a larger, more dominant company that could contribute more to the world of audiology. Surely, economies of scale would benefit all concerned, manufacturers, distributors and customers. Especially seen in light of the rising costs of software development.
Certainly, the integration of Madsen and Danplex showed the way forwards and became the foundation upon which a strong audiologic instrumentation business would be built up within the GN Group. This development was reinforced by the acquisitions in 2000 of Hortmann in Germany and ICS Medical in the USA, which added balance assessment and ABR measurement to the portfolio.
As a result of both unprecedented growth and these acquisitions, an “umbrella” company called GN Otometrics was established with effect from January 1, 2001. A couple of months later, the process of integration was accelerated when we moved into new headquarters near GNR in Taastrup.
A complete product portfolio
One of the benefits of the new company was that we could offer a wide range of products covering all applications in the audiologic and balance fields. This led to our present structure with the application areas Data management, Hearing assessment, Fitting & Testing and Balance assessment.
Implementing a new way of working
The first tangible fruits of our union came at the beginning of 2002 when work started on a massive new immittance development project nicknamed “Sophie”. Ambitious design goals called for a new way of working and involved many disciplines across the entire organization – in Germany and the USA as well as in Denmark.
The result of this remarkable project was the groundbreaking OTOflex 100 introduced at AAA in 2004 – another first from a company which can boast of many. This time, Otometrics has produced a hand-held, wireless miracle – and launched another revolution.
Passing the baton
In the summer of 2004, after 7 years at the helm of Otometrics, Michael Brock left the company to take up the position of Managing director at B&K Medical, a leading manufacturer of ultrasonic medical equipment.
With effect from October 1, 2004, Soren Holst took over the reins at Otometrics, bringing with him extensive experience within the hearing healthcare industry.
