Giving Compass' Take:

• The author profiles KR Liu, sales and marketing rep for Doppler Labs, a San-Francisco based wireless earbud maker.  Liu also suffers from hearing loss and acts as an advocate to make cheaper, more fashionable hearing aids for those that need them. 

• About twenty percent of the population has hearing loss in at least one ear, so there is an entire market that could benefit from this product. Why are some accessories like glasses and hair extensions prioritized to be more fashionable than things like hearing aids? 

• Read about the ways to build a social impact business. 

Few in the tech world understand the concerns of the hearing impaired as well as KR Liu. She works in sales and marketing at San Francisco-based wireless earbud maker Doppler Labs. She also has severe hearing loss, has worn hearing aids for nearly four decades, and serves as an advocate for organizations like the Hearing Loss Association of America and World Wide Hearing.

Bipartisan legislation moving through Congress would lower the barriers to selling hearing aids, and tech companies are preparing to jump in. The Over-the-Counter Hearing Aid Act of 2017, which is expected to pass both houses of the U.S. Congress by the end of July, would allow any consumer electronics company to sell hearing aids without prescriptions and with only minimal regulation by the Food and Drug Administration.

“People shouldn’t have to suffer because of cost or how [their device] looks,” says Liu. By easing access and encouraging innovation, Liu looks forward to a day when hearing aids are more accepted, even fashionable. “I want [hearing aids] to be as cool as glasses. I want people to have 20 pairs,” she says. “I want Alexander McQueen to make one.”

Forty-eight million Americans (or 20% of the population) have hearing loss in at least one ear, but just 14% of them have hearing aids—leaving a potentially huge untapped market. The battle for it has already begun.

Read the full article about hearing aids by Sean Captain at Fast Company