Digital hearing test pioneer develops sound strategy

ClearTone Technologies:It is said that some of the best business ideas are the simplest.

Google revolutionised internet search by creating a powerful search engine that performed better than the rest. ClearTone Technologies, one of the three finalists in the Synergy Centre Competition, is hoping to have a similar impact on the world of hearing test technology.

The company sees a lucrative business opportunity in the fact that, while hearing aids have evolved from analogue to digital, hearing test equipment remains locked in the analogue era.

ClearTone was founded by managing director Martin Ganter, his brother Declan and Fintan Graham in January 2005.

The brothers, both IT industry veterans - Martin with IBM and Digital and Declan with IBM and the Matrix Group - had previously co-founded a mobile billing software firm Sepro Telecom, which they sold to another Irish software firm, Openet Telecom, in October 2003. On a business trip to Canada a couple of years ago, the Ganters first became acquainted with hearing test technology. They were introduced to a company that was looking to develop a digital - ie software-based - audiometer or hearing test machine. The seed of a business idea was sown and when they got back to Ireland they started to research the digital audiometer market in earnest.

The main advantage of a digital hearing test system is that it is totally networkable and thus portable. The results of hearing tests can be e-mailed back and forth.

Moreover, a person's hearing profile - essentially an aural fingerprint - can be played back to them as they sit in the test centre so they can hear the difference a hearing aid makes to their hearing. Their profile can also be integrated with devices such as mobile phones and iPods to improve the listening experience of the user with hearing loss.

ClearTone has developed a working prototype of its product and plans to have a commercial version ready for launch at the AAA (American Audiology Association) trade show in Denver, Colorado, in April, the biggest event of its type in the US.

The company has also taken out a US patent on a sound-profiling technology that allows headphones to be properly calibrated to work with its audio-meter. It hopes this will be a key competitive advantage in the long run.

The ClearTone audiometer will be very competitively priced - at under $1,000 it will be a fraction of the cost of most hardware-based audiometers.

The prototype has already been well received in the Irish market. Of the 15 audiologists who have seen its technology in action, 10 have been so impressed they have invested in ClearTone.

As well as targeting the Irish market, ClearTone also has a strong export focus. Martin conservatively projects export revenues of €750,000 in ClearTone's second year, rising to €2.5 million in its third.

Its commercial strategy involves tying itself in with global hearing aid distributors rather than selling directly to audiologists and the company has already begun discussions with several of these.

So far, ClearTone has raised nearly €400,000 in start-up capital - €110,000 from the founders, the remainder from a fully subscribed Business Expansion Scheme (BES). It has also applied for a €350,000 R&D grant from Enterprise Ireland. Ganter calculates that it will require €900,000 to develop and launch its technology into the market.

All ClearTone needs now is a place to base itself for the next couple of years as it gets to the "business end" of its business plan. This is where Synergy comes in, says Martin. "The Synergy Centre would be an ideal location for us. It has a general ambience of innovation and it would give us access to researchers who could help develop the technology further."