Whisper announces $35M Series B to change hearing aids with AI and subscription model
[PhilNote: the business model price is outrageously high relative to the competition.]
Today, the company emerged from stealth with a new hearing aid built from the ground up. It uses artificial intelligence to learn and adjust in an automated way to different hearing situations like a noisy restaurant or watching TV. And you don't pay thousands of dollars up front, you pay a monthly fee on a three-year subscription, and you get free software updates along the way.
The technology they've built consists of three main components. For starters you have the hearing aids themselves that fit on the ear, along with a pocket-sized external box that they call the Whisper Brain, which the company says, "works wirelessly with the earpieces to enable a proprietary AI-based Sound Separation Engine," and finally there is a smart phone app to update the software on the system.
Whisper offers these hearing aids on a subscription basis for $179 per month on a three-year contract, which includes all of the hardware, the software updates, on-going support from the hearing care pro, a three-year loss and damage insurance and an industry-standard equipment warranty. They are offering an introductory price of $139 per month for a limited time.
At $179 per month, it comes to a total of $6,444 over the three-year period to essentially rent the aids. At the end of the subscription, customers can renew and get updated hardware or give the hardware back. They do not own the hearing aids.
It's worth noting that other hearing aid companies also use AI in their hearing aids, including Widex and Starkey, neither of which require an external hub. Many hearing aid companies also offer a variety of payment and subscription plans, but Whisper is an attempt to offer a different approach to hearing aids.
See the full story here https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/whisper-announces-35m-series-b-160051724.html