Date: Oct 17, 2013 Author: Juhi Desai Source: Wall Street Journal (
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By Juhi Desai
Millions of Americans have difficulty hearing. But Asius Technologies LLC, a Boulder, Colo., startup, says the solution is loud and clear.
Asius has developed two types of earpieces to help people safely and effectively listen to sounds at low volumes. The first, which is designed for the hearing-impaired, gradually expands in the ear to conform to its shape. The second, meant for anyone who wants to listen to music or speech without cranking up the volume to potentially unsafe levels, is placed inside ear buds, and acts as a second eardrum.
The company was one of five finalists for "WSJ Startup of the Year," an online documentary from The Wall Street Journal.
Asius's founder and chief executive, Stephen Ambrose, began dabbling in audio technology as a teenager in the 1960s. A vocalist and guitarist, he invented tiny listening devices, similar to modern ear buds, using transistor-radio earpieces and swimmer's earplugs so he could hear his own voice while performing. Though he went on to a career in music, Mr. Ambrose continued to develop audio devices, eventually forming Asius.
Three Startups to Watch
With the online documentary "WSJ Startup of the Year" in its final weeks, the focus is on three finalists:
Rebellion Photonics, Houston; Founders: Allison Sawyer and Robert Kester; Seeks to make oil rigs and refineries safer with special chemical-imaging cameras that can spot explosive gas leaks.
SwipeSense, Evanston, Il; Founders: Mert Iseri and Yuri Malina; Hopes to save the 100,000 lives lost each year to hospital-acquired infections by providing hospital staff with portable, trackable hand-sanitation devices.
The Muse, New York; Founders: Kathryn Minshew, Alexandra Cavoulacos and Melissa McCreery; Aims to offer a better job-search experience by retrieving job listings, career content and rich-media profiles from a range of retail, tech and media companies.
The 61-year-old Mr. Ambrose funded the company for the first 10 years with $500,000 of his own, and last year put in another $100,000. Between 2010 and 2012, Asius won three small-business-innovation-research grants, totaling $1.1 million, from the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation. The company also has raised $700,000 in seed funding from an angel investor.
Now, Mr. Ambrose hopes to sell his company's products to people who have difficulty hearing, as well as consumers seeking a safer listening experience and higher fidelity. About 17% of U.S. adults—or some 36 million Americans—have reported hearing loss, according to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders in Bethesda, Md.
Asius is getting ready to go to market. It has purchased generic ear buds from an overseas manufacturer and embedded its technology in them. The next step is to get its finished products on retail store shelves.
Mr. Ambrose counts Apple Inc., Beats Electronics, Skullcandy and other major ear-bud brands as its top competitors. The startup is planning to launch a campaign on the crowdfunding site Kickstarter.com to raise growth capital. Backers who contribute a to-be-determined sum will get the current versions of Asius's audio products.
The 11-employee startup is also looking to team up with a celebrity to promote its products and said it has been in talks with a well-known musician.
In building Asius, Mr. Ambrose has faced several hurdles. For instance, it sued a hearing-aid maker in 2011 for allegedly interfering with its efforts to strike licensing deals with audio-product manufacturers. The case resulted in Asius entering into a nonexclusive licensing agreement with the defendant.
"It's a compliment to me and a testament to my technology's value when there are people who don't want to see it succeed," says Mr. Ambrose.
