EU Project
Vibrosonic GmbH is a young high-tech company in medical industry, based in Mannheim (Germany). Our vision is to improve the life quality of Europe’s 52 million hearing-impaired persons. More than 45 million of them refuse to make use of hearing aids and remain untreated despite the physical, mental and social consequences. Main reason for this is the visibility of hearing aid devices and the perceived social stigmatisation. And even the vast majority of those wearing hearing aids are unsatisfied with current state-of-the-art technology. They lament that they are not able to hear naturally. This means, that they have difficulties in locating the origin of noises (as they hear noises only through the integrated speakers of current hearing aids which is particularly dangerous in traffic), identifying voices in groups of people or hearing sound distortedly. In addition, wearing comfort is low: hearing aids have to be removed regularly for charging, cleaning or while showering or sleeping, and they often cause ear pressure, itching, pressure marks and sore points. Due to these reasons, we invented and developed the world’s first contact lens for the ear based on microsystem technology and the piezoelectric principle – the Vibrosonic Hearing Contacts.
In contrast to all other hearing aids, our system is so small that it can be directly placed on the eardrum instead of outside the ear. And in contrast to all other hearing aids, our system does not use speakers to transport sound via the air column in the ear canal: the Hearing Contacts stimulate the eardrum directly by bending and contracting under the influence of electric impulses. This enables the hearing-impaired person to hear naturally like not impaired persons. For a complete market ready system, targeting at Europe’s potential 100 billion EUR market, we mainly have to complement the system with an easy to use charging plug and improvements regarding energy efficiency.
Project Details
Project Name
Hearing Contacts
Beneficiary
Vibrosonic GmbH
Grant Agreement Number
849481
Project Start Date
01.03.2019
End of the Project
28.02.2021
Project Start Date
01.03.2019
EU-Program
Horizon 2020 / SME Instrument Phase II
News
The Hello Tomorrow Challenge – March 13, 2020
Throughout the year, Hello Tomorrow partners with top universities, research labs, accelerators and incubators around the globe to find entrepreneurs at a very early stage who are developing new scientific and technological solutions. On March 13, 2020 Vibrosonic will present at the Hello Tomorrow Global Summit as one of the finalists at the start-up competition Hello Tomorrow Global Challenge.
53. Congress for ENT-doctors in Mannheim – November 3, 2019
Under the auspices of Auric, one of our main partners, Vibrosonic participated in the Annual Congress for ear-nose-throat (ENT) doctors at the Congress Center of Mannheim’s Rosengarten from Oct. 31 until November 3, 2019. Apart from gaining insights into the doctors’ daily routine, many valuable contacts were made.
Vibrosonic has relocated – September 1, 2019
On Sept. 1, 2019, Vibrosonic moved its company premises to a new office location at the Mannheim Medical Technology Campus. The new office building allows us to grow and the proximity to the university medical center facilitates the interdisciplinary cooperation in research and development.
Project Kick-Off – March 6, 2019
We started working on the EU Project „Hearing Contacts” on the 1st of March 2019. The kick-off meeting took place in Mannheim on the 6th of March 2019. We are looking forward to two years of successful project work. Updates on progress of the project work will be posted regularly on this website.
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 849481
Your direct line to us
Do you have questions, requests, or suggestions?
Please contact us. We look forward to hearing from you!
T +49 (0)621 1806 269 0
Vibrosonic GmbH
Franz-Volhard-Straße 3
68167 Mannheim