Eargo is an Americanhearing aid manufacturer based in San Jose, California. The company's hearing aids are generally smaller and less visible than traditional in-ear devices and were inspired in their design by a fishing fly. Each unit is also rechargeable.
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 OfficerMatthew 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. Eargo announced $25m in Series B funding led by New Enterprise Associatesin December 2015, and in October 2017 closed the first tranche of Series C funding intended to raise $45m. The first hearing devices were made available for order in June 2015. The Eargo Plus was introduced in 2017 and in 2018, the Eargo Max was introduced.
Products
Eargo hearing aids are certified Class 1medical devices. Their design is modeled after the standard fishing fly, with a small speaker surrounded by medical-grade silicone fibers. Unlike many other in-ear hearing aids, the Eargo apparatus is an open-canal device that does not occlude the ear canal; the fibers allow natural bass sounds to flow more freely into the ear canal, so that only treble ranges require amplification. The devices come in two sizes and are pre-programmed with four standard profiles. To change the setting, wearers double-tap their ear, and an acoustic switch changes the sound profile. The settings for the devices in each ear can be changed independently. 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. The hearing aids can be charged using a portable charging device that is sold with them, and are designed to hold a charge for up to 16 hours. The charging device itself is designed to last up to a week on a single charge. The company's founders have stated that these devices are designed with younger people in mind to overcome the stigma surrounding standard, bulky hearing aids. The product designer is Ammunition Design Group, which modeled the shape of the charger on a river rock and designed it for ease of use and high visibility of the hearing aids within; the company logo is based on a visualization of a digital recording of Florent Michel saying "Eargo".
