During Deaf Awareness Week (2nd to 8th May), the Enterprise Investment Scheme Association (EISA), representing entrepreneurs, investors, fund managers and advisers from across the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) ecosystem, is highlighting the importance of the Enterprise Investment Scheme as a critical component of the early-stage funding, citing how the scheme supported Hearing Diagnostics in the development of its innovative Audimetroid hearing testing solution.
“Companies like Edinburgh-based Hearing Diagnostics Limited are doing incredible work to aid those experiencing hearing loss. Their important innovations, made possible by investment through the EIS, are helping to raise awareness of hearing loss and are aiding earlier diagnosis. We’re delighted to be spotlighting their fantastic achievements as part of Deaf Awareness Week,” commented Christiana Stewart-Lockhart, director general of the EISA.
The company points out that 1.5 billion people globally suffer from hearing loss, and that 65% of people over 60 experience hearing loss, yet the reliance on traditional hospital hearing tests overstretch resources, meaning that broad-scale global testing is frequently unavailable; and with existing screening tests, one in five individuals with hearing loss are misdiagnosed. The result is that reliable hearing testing is simply not available to everyone who needs it, and otherwise preventable or manageable hearing loss is left untreated, leading to devastating personal and economic losses.
“The technology invested in to build Audimetroid responds to this situation and enables community healthcare providers without formal training in audiology to administer hearing tests in any safe and quiet location, which not only frees up hospital and audiology consultants to focus on urgent and serious cases, but also opens up the availability of hearing tests to the whole community, with a much reduced incidence of misdiagnosis,” says Dr Claudia Freigang, CEO and co-founder of Hearing Diagnostics. “But developing the technology necessary for Audimetroid required funding, and for that we made full use of the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) to attract private investors through the Archangels syndicate, alongside support from Scottish Enterprise through its Scottish Co-Investment Fund. The availability of EIS made a significant difference to enabling us to develop what has the potential to make a huge difference to the quality of life of hearing loss sufferers.”
Christiana Stewart-Lockhart added, “The EIS, and the earlier stage SEIS are absolutely critical in enabling private investment facilitating innovations like Audimetroid, across all areas of the UK. The schemes have attracted £27 billion of private sector investment into 52,000 startups since their inception, enabling many of the UK’s future successes to grow. The EIS has played a vital role in positioning the UK as a global leader in innovation and technology.”
