Area served United States Website Official Website Chairperson Raphael Michel CFO Keith Corbin COO Nina Richardson (Interim) | Products Hearing aids CEO Christian Gormsen Founded 2010 | |
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Founder Florent Michel (Inventor)Raphael Michel (CEO)Daniel Shen (Co-Founder) Headquarters Mountain View, California, United States | ||
Eargo is an American hearing aid manufacturer based in Mountain View, California. The device design was inspired by a fishing fly and are generally smaller and less visible than traditional in-ear hearing aid devices. Each unit is also rechargeable. The hearing devices were made available for order in June 2015, and are available in 35 states in the U.S.
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History
Eargo was founded in 2010 by Florent Michel, his son Raphael Michel, and Daniel Shen. Florent—an ear, nose, and throat surgeon—serves as the designer and inventor while Raphael serves as the company's CEO and Shen as the company's Chief Science & Clinical Officer. Soon after founding the company, they were joined by CTO Bret Hirscher and SVP Engineering Mike Perry, who had worked with Raphael Michel nearly a decade earlier, and Chief Business Officer Matthew Welch. They received seed funding in 2013 from a range of seed funds and angels as well as Maveron. In June 2015, they received $13.6 million in Series A funding from a group of 9 investors, including Maveron, Crosslink Capital, Dolby Family Ventures, and Birchmere Ventures.
On December 9, 2015, Eargo announced its $25m in Series B funding led by New Enterprise Associates. The funds will allow Eargo to scale business operations and accelerate further production.
Products
Eargo produces hearing devices that are built with a small speaker surrounded by silicone fibers. The design is modeled after the standard fishing fly and is a certified Class 1 medical device. The medical-grade silicone fibers (called Flexi Fibers™) allow natural bass sounds to flow more freely into the ear canal. Many other in ear hearing aids occlude the ear canal, but the Eargo apparatus is an open-canal device that is designed to provide more airflow, comfort, and to allow ambient bass sounds to pass through.
The devices come in 2 different sizes and are pre-programmed with 4 standard profiles. Users can also send their personal audiograms to licensed hearing professionals at Eargo who will custom-calibrate the device for that individual's specific needs. To change the setting, wearers can double-tap their ear, and an acoustic switch changes the sound profile. The settings for the device in one ear can be changed independently of the device in the other ear. The hearing aids can be charged using a portable charging device included with the Eargo devices. The hearing devices are designed to hold a charge for up to 16 hours. The portable charging device itself is designed to last up to a week on a single charge from the charging base that uses inductive charging technology. The company's founders have stated that these devices are designed with younger people in mind because there is often a greater stigma surrounding standard, bulky hearing aids.