SoundFocus (YC S13) Launches With an App for ‘20/20 Hearing’

This is an interesting case of a disadvantage becoming an advantage. The CEO suffers from significant hearing loss, but that enabled him to see a huge market that most 20-something founders overlook.

My dad recently went to the doctor for his hearing and ended up getting a hearing aid. We had joked for a few years that he needed one - but were kind of surprised when it turns out he actually did.

He told all of his friends and family about how much his hearing and in turn day-to-day life has improved since getting them. Two of my uncles and one of his friends got their ears checked and ended up getting hearing aids as well.

I believe it when I read that 1 in 5 people need one. Goodluck to the SoundFocus team!

Co-founder here - thanks for the well wishes, 6thSigma. We've seen people significantly improve their quality of life once they find a solution for hearing loss, but most people are reluctant to go out and find one, because they're expensive, time consuming to get, and stigmatized. We're really hoping to solve these issues with our app and upcoming hardware product.

Ignoring the sound-loss test, I love this app simply because it's the only free equalizer for the iPhone that works with Spotify!

I was expecting to be pretty underwhelmed by this app, but I have to say, I'm impressed.

My office has a pretty loud HVAC system, and it totally kills the low end when I listen with a pair of cheap Apple earbuds.

I took the little SoundFocus hearing test, turned on their EQ, and the difference was pretty pronounced. It killed a bit more high end than I would have liked (seemed to roll off after about 12k), but the lows were definitely spot-on.

I'll probably use this during my commute on the super loud city busses.

edit:

I don't actually suffer from hearing loss. I'm just picky about audio quality (former recording/mixing engineer) and have an unfortunate tendency to spend a lot of time in noisy places.