Abstract: The balanced armature receiver (BAR) has been widely used in hearing aids and high-end headphones because of its small size, high sensitivity and low distortion. After a brief introduction of the working principle of BAR, the advances of the simulation method of BAR are discussed in detail, including lumped parameter model (LPM), finite element method (FEM), boundary element method (BEM) and transmission matrices approaches, with focus on its nonlinearities, sound pressure level and distortion. The emphases of further research on the simulation method of BAR are suggested and the prospects of future development are put forward.