When you hear the words ‘cocktail party’, all sorts of positive associations will probably start firing up in your brain. Unfortunately, not all of us feel this way. For people who suffer from hearing difficulties, the so-called Cocktail Party Problem, surrounding sounds blend into one big blur, making it very difficult to distinguish each individual sound and its source from other sounds. By looking at the way bees move their ears and perceive sound, startup BeephoniX may just have found a solution, says CEO Klaas-Jan Kakebeeke.
The bee’s knees
The inspiration came a couple of years ago when Martijn Agterberg, associate professor at Radboud University and audiologist, visited a beekeeper’s lecture. “There, he learnt that bees use their antennas as moveable ears, which enables them to trace the source of a sound”, explains Klaas-Jan. “Based on this mechanism, Martijn and technical engineer Patrick Wijnings developed a dynamic microphone that rotates and can determine the source of a sound.”
The Cocktail Party Problem can turn into a harmful problem. Despite all efforts from the industry, current hearing devices amplify all sounds and are not yet solving the problem. Because of this, people who wear them tend to avoid busy and noisy environments and larger groups, because they are unable to hear what others are saying. Not only does this increase the amount of stress put on the ear, but it also leads to uncomfortable feelings, and potentially, social isolation. This is a major problem, and an innovation that can solve this problem is important”, according to Klaas-Jan.
BeephoniX’s innovation may prove to be interesting for people who experience the Cocktail Party Problem. “According to the World Health Organisation, by 2050, one in four people will suffer from hearing problems to some extent. By placing our microphone into hearing aids, conversations will be easier in noisy situations.”
So, how does the innovation work? “Our technology consists of a moving microphone. When a speaker is talking from the direction of the movement, the microphone causes a Doppler effect. When a speaker is talking from the other direction, no Doppler effect occurs. This means that we can localise the position of the sound source by measuring the strength of the Doppler effects.”
Taking off
Klaas-Jan and Patrick joined the BeephoniX team a little over a year ago. They participated in the NWO Venture Challenge, where their idea earned them a respectable second place. They also received a take-off 2 loan from NWO of 250.000 euros, and additional funding of 190.000 euros. This paved the way for other collaborations.
BeephoniX’s prototype, the Beepod, has already gathered much interest from organisations such as the Ministry of Defence, which has offered BeephoniX a grant and wants to use the technology to detect drones. “We’re also talking to Holland Health and an Austrian company, who were blown away by our prototype. Currently, we’re working on version 2.0.”
Klaas-Jan: “Of course, our collaboration with Briskr has been great. When you are a startup in the world of health and high tech, investors can have trouble seeing the long-term goal. You often need a lot of investments. Briskr introduced us to promising business angels and continues to support us with services such as workshops and business valuation.”
Flying high
BeephoniX’s goal is clear, says Klaas-Jan. “Solving the Cocktail Party Problem, of course! If we succeed, we have realised something beautiful. We’ve gathered the first critical funding, and now we need to make sure we keep up the pace and realise our ambitious goal.”
“It would be fantastic if our microphone ends up in hearing devices. We’re very excited to see where the journey takes us.”
