The latest wearable tech isn’t digital. It isn’t even really all that complicated. The Cynaps Enhance Project uses bone conduction technology in the form of a baseball cap to enhance hearing. While this technology has been long-used as a hearing loss solution in the form of bone anchored hearing aid implants, the company claims the hearing aid can help anyone with a working cochlea hear better. The company has begun an Indiegogo campaign to raise $75,000 to support this nonsurgical solution by Jan. 6.
Max Virtual, the company behind the tech, is based in Delaware, but has teams based in Greensboro, N.C., Shenzhen, China and Bangalore, India, according to the company website. They used the technology previously for a successful Indiegogo campaign for Bluetooth in one of these hats. They more than doubled their goal, raising more than $45,000 of the $20,000 ask.
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For every $5,000 the company raises, it will locate and “restore hearing” to one wounded U.S. veteran or active duty soldier, according to a press release. For every $3,000 raised, the company will make a small device to restore a child’s hearing, according to the Indiegogo page.
According to the product’s campaign page, the Cynaps Enhance can help patients with pure conductive hearing loss (who can still hear their own voice) restore hearing fully. The company claims it can help patients who only have unilateral hearing hear in stereo sound, and can clarify sound for patients with cochlear implants. The company claims even some patients who have been told they are “profoundly deaf” have heard with the tech.
During the campaign, Max Virtual is selling its tester kit for $19–to be sure the device would work for each customer before shelling out the couple hundred bucks for the baseball cap medtech, er not medtech. The company is careful not to refer to the device as a hearing aid:
Please note that Cynaps Enhance is not a medical device at this time, and as we continue to share the data that we receive with everyone, we must state that we cannot guarantee specific results for any one person. We are offering this as an experimental device, to allow everyone to explore the use of amplified bone conduction in a very practical, open and inexpensive way.
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Baseball caps cramp your style? The hearing solution–“headgear that helps you hear”–also comes in a (more expensive) “band” form, as well. The Rigid V2 Band also cancels out more noise, according to the Indiegogo page.
If you’re feeling generous and want to support the product, the company is quick to note the tester kit can be used to turn anything into a desktop vibration speaker.
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