This appeared a few days ago:
Medical start-up lands $2m for device to let people speak again
3.30PM – Aug 24, 2023
Tess Bennett
Medical tech company Laronix, which has created a device that lets people who have had their larynx removed speak again, has raised $2 million in seed funding.
The round was led by VC firm Scale Investors and includes participation from Dr Elaine Saunders and Dr Peter Blamey the co-founders of hearing aid company Blamey Saunders, and Kristy Chong, the ModiBodi founder who sold her company for $140 million last year.
Laronix was founded by Dr Farzaneh Ahmadi in 2020 after a decade of researching solutions for voice loss caused by the surgical removal of larynx (laryngectomy) as the result of throat cancer.
The start-up has gained FDA and TGA approval for its wearable electronic voice prosthesis that monitors the respiration signals a person’s body makes when they are trying to speak and uses AI to produce a voice.
Having secured seed funding, Laronix will expedite the launch of its first products in the US and Australia.
Dr Ahmadi said the products give wearers the option to speak with a male or female voice, as well as sing.
“Our journey started when a permanent voice-loss patient emailed our research group and said I am a singer, and my voice is my life and I am going to lose it forever, his genuine plea really affected me,” she said.
“I felt the immense pain of his condition, and the fact that there hasn’t there been any successful advancements over the last 40 years to improve these patients’ lives, especially when the suicide rate for laryngectomy patients is sadly so high.”
Article is found here:
https://www.afr.com/technology/the-tech-deals-you-need-to-know-20230614-p5dgkc
To those who need it this technology would clearly be an utter godsend! Great stuff, but I have to say it seems like a really tiny amount of money?
David.
2 comments:
This is a great example of digital tech's meaningful use. If they need more money simply and a My Health Record upload feature and tell the government you included the acronym fhir in your executive summary. The honey will flow.
There does seem to be an epiphany wave regarding this these last few weeks, almost as if it has just been discovered, and ADHA and Csiro are going to get it going by creating a council of healthcare experts to make sure it's community-driven. Amazing - government entities at work are simply awe-inspiring to behold.
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