Editing Eargym

==Summary==

1.5bn people globally are at risk of some degree of hearing loss, and even mild hearing loss can double your risk of dementia. eargym's patent-pending product has seen 71% of their testers show an average improvement to their hearing of 14% in just 4 weeks against the World Health Organisation's hearWHO test. Now working to commercialise eargym, join them on their mission to improve the worlds' hearing.

* 1.5bn people are at risk of hearing loss globally, growing 63% by 2050
* First movers, focusing on hearing loss before hearing aids are needed
* Beta product downloaded by over 500 users
* Piloting with call centre, national retailer and wellbeing provider

==Idea==

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Hearing loss is correlated with social isolation, loneliness, depression and cognitive impairment. Surprisingly, even mild hearing loss can double the risk of dementia. Globally, 430m adults are living with hearing loss and 1 in 6 are of working age. Over 1bn more young people are at risk from noise exposure and headphone mis-use. 79% of Britons have never had a hearing test, whereas only 13% report never having had a sight test. We believe it is time to take hearing health more seriously.

eargym has developed a patent-pending product that combines immersive audio with mobile technology to create fun, realistic, hearing training games that help users practice and improve their hearing skills. Delivered through smartphone and headphones, eargym also plans to offer tests, advice and referrals to professionals.

We have already raised £150k to build and test our prototype. 71% of our 24 testers showed an average of 14% improvement in just 4 weeks against the World Health Organisation’s hearWHO test. The beta product is available in app stores and despite little marketing our user-base is growing on avg. 12% WoW.

Ready to commercialise and start selling eargym as an employee benefit, we are running pilots with UK businesses and a wellbeing provider. We're raising now to build our team and launch our paid product. Purpose-led, we plan to contribute our data to vital dementia research.

==Team==

The founders met on the Zinc.vc accelerator. Having both faced age-related/noise-induced hearing loss, they are highly motivated to build a purpose-driven business aimed at improving many people’s quality of life.

Amanda Philpott, Co-Founder & CEO:

Population health and strategy specialist, ex NHS Chief Officer with 28 years experience.

Andy Shanks, Co-Founder & Chief Product Officer:

Award winning, retired ex-DJ and digital product expert who founded & ran a digital production company delivering digital products for brands like The Guardian, SABMIller and Nesta.

Morgan Crawford, Product Manager & Sound Designer (part time):

A Sound Designer and Audio Mixer with experience in VR who has worked on award-winning films.

Jennifer Birtles, Business & Communications Manager:

An experienced content writer with a degree in Video Production. Passionate about improving users' lives.

Jesal Vishnuram, Advisor - Audiology:

Assistive Technology Adviser for the Royal National Institute for the Deaf.

Professor Adrian Davis OBE, Advisor - Hearing Health:

Imperial College London Visiting Professor Audiology and ENT (Ear, Nose, Throat), UCL Honorary Professor Hearing and Communication.

Hannah Mathews, Advisor - Marketing:

Chief Brand Officer at Science Magic, ex Karmarama/Accenture.

For a complete list of all 10 advisors - including games design, population health, research and data analysis - see our website.
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