Hearing Testing Systems Business Plan

Auris Solutions is an early-stage company that is currently using its proprietary technology (US patent #6,584,440) and well-regarded scientific knowledge to create systems solutions for the hearing care industry. Auris aims to capitalize on the hearing care industry by providing products that will enable hearing care professionals to quickly and accurately test hearing loss and to assess the benefits of cochlear implants and hearing aids for both children and adults. In addition, the company’s upcoming products will evaluate sensory/cognitive deficits in children and adults with developmental disabilities and mental retardation.

Audiologists and speech therapists greatly need a hearing test that can quickly and accurately assess how well an individual, with either a cochlear implant or a hearing aid, can hear and understand words in a noisy or realistic environment. Such a test is especially important for children, as early intervention can reduce slowed learning in a classroom setting, which may have lifetime costs to society of up to $1M per child. Additionally, for adults, lack of early intervention can lead to loss of jobs, emotional distress and even cognitive disorders. This is important since hearing loss can begin as early as age 50. And, since life expectancy can nowadays realistically reach to age 90 and beyond, an individual could potentially be affected by hearing loss for half his/her entire life.

Current systems like audiograms are used to evaluate hearing loss, but cannot assess how well individuals understand speech in a relatively “noisy” environment such as a classroom setting or office. Thus, in order to solve this problem, Auris Solutions has developed a proprietary (US patent #6,584,440) hearing test called the Children’s Realistic Intelligibility and Speech Perception (CRISP) test. The CRISP test does not require FDA approval, has already been beta-tested and is immediately ready for market. Although the CRISP test was primarily developed to test children’s hearing capabilities, Auris Solutions also has several other products in the pipeline, one of which will be ready for launch in 3 months, which will create a diversified portfolio of software testing solutions for the hearing care industry. (See 3.5, Future Products, below for more information.)

2.1 Start-up Summary

Auris Solutions’ start-up costs are associated with the related legal services to structure the operating agreement with each stakeholder, the final software development costs, the sales and marketing expenses, and the licensing cost. The following table is a summary of the start-up costs that Auris Solutions will incur once the funding is secured. Included in Start-up expenses is exclusive licensing of the patented software from the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF).

2.2 Company Ownership

Auris Solutions plans to be a privately-held, Limited Liability Corporation, with Dr. Plauger as one of the owners and the key driver of research and new product development. However, we believe that in order to attract talented management, we will need to create a stock option pool not higher than 45% of the total shares. See the table below for an ownership breakdown.

2.3 Company Locations and Facilities

Auris Solutions is temporarily located in the Big Building in Madison, Wisconsin. The present office space is small. As revenues grow, we will have to look for additional space in order to accommodate employees. Our current facility could serve for shipping purposes.