Four years ago, Mimi pioneered Hearing Health by launching its first digital hearing test. Two years ago, Mimi launched its first product with sound personalization, integrating it into Beyerdynamic headphones and Bragi earphones. Today, global technology leader Apple tuned in to the importance of hearables. At its World Wide Developer Conference in Cupertino, Apple made a commitment to Hearing Health as part of new features that come standard on its watchOS 6.
Most of us use headphones and listen to audio devices, to the point that we often exceed what is deemed to be ‘healthy listening’. Due to heavy noise exposure and today’s always-on mentality, our ears barely have time to rest. Today, more than 600 million people worldwide need a hearing aid and, as recorded by Mimi in the world’s largest database of hearing test profiles, hearing loss is prevalent across all age groups. Grounded in hearing science and inspired by biology, the team at Mimi has been pioneering hearing software for the last four years. Today, Apple tuned in to the importance of hearing health by announcing that it is planning to use the built-in microphone on its watchOS 6 to alert you if ambient noise is too loud. This is music to our ears given that Mimi’s hearing test is the perfect companion to Apple’s hearing protection feature. Not only can you now actively take care of your hearing in loud places but, using our technology, you can also track how well you are able to hear (or not as the case may be).
Mimi’s mission is clear – to create a world in which hearing ability is no longer a barrier to interact and enjoy life. Our vision is to develop technologies which remove that barrier and become the standard of science-based sound personalization. Since launch, we have conducted over 1.5 million hearing tests. We have built platform-agnostic solutions which can be integrated into all consumer electronics devices. We have used hearing data and dynamic sound augmentation to personalize sound uniquely to an individual users’ hearing ability. In short, we have made huge strides in both driving awareness of the importance of hearing health and in building partnerships with forward-thinking audio companies.
Before Mimi, volume was the only dimension anyone had to hear “more” or even “better”. Mimi Defined™, Mimi’s sound personalization solution, has been adopted by multiple hardware manufacturers, including Beyerdynamic and Bragi where together we have created devices such as TVs which now have in-built sound, personalized to a listener’s hearing profile.
With a “voice-first” hardware revolution, with tens of millions of smart speakers and wearables entering our lives, our primary sense of engagement with the intelligent world will increasingly move from sight to sound. Voice commands and hearing will become the dominant interface for human-device interaction.
We are therefore thrilled that Apple is joining us in its commitment to improving Hearing Health. Having one of the world’s biggest and best technology brands recognize, acknowledge and address the importance of hearing health, validates our leadership in this space. We hope to see many more companies follow suit.
