Helping people ‘Hear The Future’, SA’s HearX Group Ties Up With American Academy of Audiology to set foot in USA
According to a 2016 study by the National Institutes of Health NIDCD, approximately 15 percent (37.5 Mn) of American adults aged between 20 and 69, have some trouble with hearing and approximately 28.8 Mn could benefit from the use of hearing aids. In response to this grave problem, American Academy of Audiology has collaborated with hearX group, an e-health startup from South Africa to launch America’s first-ever intensive hearing screening mobile app, hearScreen USA.
Closer home, the African hearing health solution provider saw the success of its app hearZA which has been developed and clinically validated by the University of Pretoria to detect early hearing loss in less than three minutes and connects patients to audiologists around them. Additionally, the it offers personalized hearing tracking and has an in-app patient-centred decision support tool. It was launched on World Hearing Day in March of 2016.
The app will be available for free on most smartphones. It will be launched and showcased at the Academy’s annual conference taking place on April 18-21 in Nashville, Tennessee.
According to Jackie Clark, president of the American Academy of Audiology, “Many people don’t realise that they’re suffering with hearing loss, and others cannot take time from their busy schedules to find an audiologist.”
“Moving into the US in partnership with the American Academy of Audiology is an exciting next big step for hearX. It’s about consolidating our success and experience to date to bring the best possible product to the highly competitive and consumer-driven US market,” exclaimed hearX Group CEO, Nic Klopper.
