Nuheara shifts from consumer electronics to hearing health

By Yolanda Redrup

14 Jan 2019 — 11:20 AM

Smart earbud maker Nuheara is hoping a shift in its sales strategy pays off in 2019, with the company moving from selling its products in big-name electronics retailers to focusing on optical shops.

The company makes wireless earbuds called IQbuds, which don't just let users make calls and listen to music, but act like a hearing aid for people with mild to moderate hearing loss, letting them amplify conversations around them and reduce background noise.

Previously the wearables have been sold through retailers like Best Buy in the US and via Amazon, but now the business is focusing its attention on the optometry market, as it increasingly offers more services to the hearing impaired.

Nuheara chief executive Justin Miller hopes the IQbuds will encourage more people with mild and moderate hearing loss to seek help. Supplied

Nuheara co-founder and chief executive Justin Miller said he discovered that selling through optical chains was resulting in a more "consultative sales approach", which was better suited to the positioning of the product as an alternative to an expensive hearing aid, rather than just an electronics gadget.

"We found that it's a product that doesn't sell itself on the shelf. It takes a consultative style approach, and optical chains let us have this approach," he said.

"It doesn't mean that consumer electronics aren't important, but even Best Buy is changing the way they present the product and putting it in the health-related section, rather than the mass audio section.

"In a large consumer electronics store people don't understand what it really does and it just gets classified as an expensive pair of earphones."

2018's big deals

In December Nuheara scored a deal with Specsavers, one of the first big optical chains to start cross-selling hearing products, giving it a presence in almost 2000 stores across the globe.

In November the IQBuds also became the first "prescribed hearable" device to score a government contract when it was selected by the UK's National Health Service to provide hearing solutions to adults and children with mild to moderate hearing loss.

Nuheara's IQbuds. Supplied

Commencing in April, the two-year contract with the UK government (with a provision for a further two-year extension) is expected to generate tens of millions in revenue.

The UK government has forecast spending £34.5 million in the first 12 months and £138 million over two years on devices aimed at helping the early stages of hearing loss.

Mr Miller was optimistic that the UK deal would be the first of multiple government contracts.

"With the NHS deal.. if you don't want a hearing aid, then IQbuds are the only other choice. We're expecting a significant amount of revenue from it... but it's also important because it's a government recognising that there's other ways to treat mild to moderate hearing loss," he said.

"Mild to moderate hearing loss is the biggest part of the hearing market, but it's totally underserved."

.The company has sold between 30,000 to 40,000 devices in the last 18 months, since launching in October 2017.

In the last financial year to June 30 the company generated $5.3 million in revenue, up 80 per cent on the previous corresponding period, and a net loss of $7.4 million.

Having reached a high of 14¢ in March last year, the gains were short lived and the company slid back to trade at 8.1¢, giving it a market capitalisation of $77.8 million.

CES launches

At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last week the company unveiled a suite of new products, including the IQBuds Max, which has in built active noise cancellation technology and a new design, plus better processing power and power consumption.

The company also launched a hearing app store, IQstore, as part of a play to create a broader 'hearing' ecosystem.

As part of that vision, the company also launched a hearing assessment and sales tool called IQconnect, designed to be used by customer service staff.

It lets a person do a two minute in-store hearing test with different frequencies to test the level of a customer's hearing loss.

Mr Miller said he hoped IQbuds would encourage people with mild hearing loss to seek treatment earlier.

"Earbuds are becoming a fashion item, like what happened with glasses."