Audiallo adds 1, plans to bring on 2-3 more

Wednesday, March 31, 2010 | Source: Concentrate

An interesting collaboration between the University of Michigan and Georgia Tech is starting to make itself heard through an emerging start-up called Audiallo.

The Ann Arbor-based firm is in the later stages of developing a new microchip that could significantly upgrades hearing aides. The two partners (one from U-M and the other from Georgia Tech) are utilizing PhD research from the Atlanta-based university as the basis for the new technology that is taking root in Ann Arbor's Tech Brewery.

"It uses significantly less battery and is much more powerful," says Aaron Nelson, co-founder of Audiallo. "It's supposed to work the same way your brain and ear work naturally."

Nelson calls this technology a "fairly significant step forward" for hearing-aid technology. He compares it to when hearing aids recently made the change from analog to digital processes.

"It will change the game for the companies that make hearing aids," Nelson says.

Right now the 2-year-old start-up is raising seed money to develop commercial prototypes. So far it has raised $150,000 of its $500,000 goal. It hopes to double its staff of three people when it reaches it fundraising goal.

Source: Aaron Nelson, co-founder of Audiallo
Writer: Jon Zemke