Soundhawk hearing amplifier is a 'wearable with a purpose' - CNET
Summary
Now, a startup out of Cupertino, Calif. called Soundhawk hopes it can use the techie zeal and design savvy of modern wearable technology to address that issue in a way that will get younger individuals tackling hearing struggles more preemptively. "I use it when Im driving with my kids," Kisch said of the wireless mic, adding that meetings in large conference rooms, late-night television sessions, and listening to speakers or professors in a lecture hall environment are all potential everyday use cases. Soundhawk is the brain child of Rodney Perkins, founder of both Stanford Universitys California Ear Institute and the worlds fourth largest maker of hearing aids, GN ReSound. The Foxconn connection -- born from Soundhawks Apple and Amazon alumni -- is a strategic manufacturing partnership that has helped the company bypass the standard scaling hurdles that have plagued the Kickstarter and Indiegogo campaigns of wearable hardware competitors. On the subject of whether or not Soundhawk can really take flight, Kisch likes to recall the moment that the startup sealed the partnership with Foxconn that would vastly accelerate the companys ability to realize and then deliver the device.