The Netherlands-based start-up, MindAffect, has succeeded in raising €1.1 million for Aurora, a “brain response-based hearing diagnostic tool” developed to overcome the “significant challenges with standard diagnostic tests that require active responses”, particularly for children and those with disabilities.
The NLC Health Ventures backed company’s funding round successfully secured investment from investors such as the NLC Health Impact Fund, Wasteland Investments, and Barco Limpo.
Presenting an alternative option to ways of measuring hearing without active participation, which usually require individuals “to be either asleep or under anaesthesia”; MindAffect’s use of a headband fitted with electrodes is designed to “capture the brain’s automatic response to sound”, meaning no active response is required.
Lars Olthof, investment manager at NLC, commented: “We are excited to continue to support MindAffect as they prepare to launch Aurora. Their ability to provide effective, non-invasive hearing diagnostics can drastically reduce the global burden of untreated hearing loss, which affects millions of lives globally. As such, we are looking forward to working with the MindAffect team in the coming years as we aim to advance health for all.”
Jennifer Goodall, CEO at MindAffect, spoke of the impact of hearing loss on “every facet of life”, saying: “For children, this means risks of poor educational and social development; for the elderly, increased isolation and a greater risk of early dementia; and for the disabled, fewer opportunities for social inclusion.”
Whilst the Aurora diagnostic tool is anticipated to launch in 2025, MindAffect has shared details of other planned innovations with its brain-computer interface (BCI) technology, including “a combined hearing and vision test for young children and a glaucoma monitoring test for elderly patients”.
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Dutch company NLC Health Ventures announced in February that it had secured a total of €58 million in funding, including €14 million from a recent funding round, which would be used to “accelerate NLC’s strategic plans for international expansion”, increasing the number of ventures built and “strengthening support” for its existing portfolio.
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