Based in San Francisco, Acouva, Inc. manufactures hearing aid devices. It is a team of technical experts and entrepreneurs who believe in improving the quality of lives of listeners with less than perfect hearing through better hearing devices in par with the vision of their founder, Victor Valenzuela.
Location
San Francisco, USA.
Industry
Healthcare
Challenge
Business
Hearing Aid devices can be extremely inconvenient in a loud environment owing to its sound amplification feature. Not only does it necessitate a visit to the audiologist to program the aid via a computer for a simple tweak to the frequency; but that setting stays common throughout. Therefore, without the user being able to change the frequency on their own; another visit to the audiologist becomes mandatory. These were the complications our client was trying to eliminate. Being hardware experts, they had the initial plan of a microphone with a device ready; however, they weren't sure how to go about creating a simplified experience for the end-user through their device. Hence, they approached us for a solution along with a deadline since it was vital for them to showcase this product before the CES 2020 Meet that was only a month away.
Technology
The main goal was to make the hearing aid device communicate with smartphones so that the user could control the settings on their own without requiring physical visits. Since the audience was not specific to any platform, they wanted the application to be functional across different devices/platforms. Therefore, device compatibility and user convenience were the main criteria. However, the main challenge was that we had no accessibility to this particular device since it was still in the development phase.
Solution
We proceeded with creating the initial wireframes to help the client understand the usability flow. Our knowledge in Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) helped us overcome the ‘no device challenge’, owing to which we successfully established a way for the hearing aid device to communicate with the users Android/iOS smartphone. We further helped create multiple profiles, enabling the end-user to switch between multiple hearing environments. Take for instance - ‘inside the room’, ‘outside in the market’, ‘in a theatre’, et cetera. With the mobile app, we enabled individuals with hearing impairment to customize the hearing experience based on the environment they were in. They could further save the setting as a profile for that specific environment without having to change frequencies time and again.
Services
- Android App Development
- iOS App Development
- Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE)
- Internet of Things (IoT)
- Firebase
- UI/UX
Technology Stack
- Java
- Kotlin
- Objective-C
- Swift
- Firebase
- Crashlytics
- Remote Configuration
- Bluetooth Hearing Aid Device Communication
Results
On-Time Delivery
Our main achievement is that we completed the project successfully in less than a month which helped us achieve the client’s objective to be able to present their product during the ‘Global Stage for Innovation – CES 2020 Meet’.
Device Compatibility
The Hearing Aid Analyzer ran successfully across multiple devices smoothly without any challenges.
Usability
They we able to use the device very efficiently.
Let’s talk about your project
So let's get in touch and turn your idea into a brilliant software solution. You will get a bespoke proposal within 24 hours.
