by Luke Loranger |
UP alumnus Brian Carter is very grateful for the hearing aids he received at the age of four. They allowed him to develop normal speech and learning patterns because his hearing loss was caught at an early age. He and another UP alumnus Gilbert Resendez are behind the launch of new custom fit earbuds called Audibility. Carter and Resendez pledge 10 percent of the profits of Audibility to Hear the World Foundation, an organization which improves quality of life for people with hearing loss in developing countries.
The idea for Audibility came when Carter and Resendez were underclassmen at UP. Resendez needed a project for his capstone in entrepreneurship entitled Venture launched, and told Carter he would help him build out his project. Carter built the original Audibility model because he was tired of his Apple earphones falling out, especially while he was moving.
“(The earphones) are unique to a user’s earprint,” Carter said. “Everyone’s ears are shaped a little differently, (but) the industry has a one size fits all approach.”
Both Carter and Resendez were Service and Justice Coordinators (SJC) with the Moreau Center, an experience that shaped how they viewed the world, and the Audibility project. By donating to Hear the World Foundation, Carter and Resendez plan to focus on a project in a specific country, so they have more accountability for where there money goes.
The product itself is an easier approach to custom-fit earbuds. Traditionally, custom fitting requires a trip to an audiologist to have a mold made, and then the earbud is made through a separate company. However, with Audibility, the earbud fits directly into mold that forms roughly 10 minutes after being placed into the ear.
The benefit of custom fit earbuds comes from the fit that is designed for an individual's ear, and the noise reduction that comes from this fit. Audibility also has plans in the long term to identify target customers, and develop a line of products to personalize music listening.
Resendez and Carter are in the process of launching their second kickstarter to fund the first production line, after their first attempt failed to reach its goal, only reaching $8,000 of the $17,000 needed to get funding.
“We are taking a step back and looking at what data we gathered from the first campaign, as well as all the learning we have, that we want to put into a second campaign that is much better,” Carter said.
Audibility plans to launch this campaign at the end of the school year.
“The kickstarter and the Startup PDX challenge are a lot of real world learning,” Resendez said. “Everything I learned in the business school at UP is great and has helped me immensely, but this has a been a lot of learning of how to launch a business.”
Both Carter and Resendez are intentional about helping as many people as possible, while still being a for-profit corporation.
“We started this with the intent of developing a business model that hopefully helps people. We are social entrepreneurship in the sense that we have a giving model and we hope to help people abroad better their lives, especially in the long run. ” Resendez said.
Preorders for the first line of Audibility headphones can be found online at: http://www.audibilityheadphones.com/
Luke Loranger is a reporter for the Beacon and can be reached on Twitter @loranger18 or loranger18@up.edu.
