Transcript:

The biggest problem in the hearing aid industry is that no one wants to wear them.

In fact 80% of people who could benefit form hearing aids, don’t wear them, even though the technology can genuinely make you a more confident version of yourself.

I was on holiday last week and the batteries in my hearing aids died and I didn’t have a replacement with me. This was the first time in 10 years that I was left without any hearing enhancement at all.

And it shocked me just how much I struggled.

Because there was a higher chance of looking dumb because I couldn’t understand what people were saying, I just avoided talking to people. I couldn’t make any jokes in conversation because I might have misheard what someone has said and would look completely stupid if I said the wrong thing. I wasn’t confident. I wasn’t being my usual self.

And it made me think: I can’t believe I went the first 19 years of my life without hearing aids just because I didn’t want to be someone who wears hearing aids.

And I’m not the only one -The stigma around hearing aids is so strong, it takes an average of 10 years for people to go from the point where they find out that this thing they wear could improve their life, to actually getting them. Which is crazy.

That’s a 10 year period of denial while being a less confident version of yourself.

And again 80% of people who need hearing aids just don’t wear them at all.

So something needs to change. We need to start making hearing tech not something that you ought to wear as a last resort, but something that you want to wear because it not only improves your life massively, but like with glasses, you look good wearing them too.

That’s what I’m doing with Overtone. Let me know what you think in the comments.

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