SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA — After nearly 3 years in since launching their flagship hearing system, Whisper has announced a strategic shift in its focus and a voluntary withdrawal of support for their product, the Whisper Hearing System. The company acknowledged the positive impact their technology has had on people’s lives and assured customers of their commitment to assisting with the transition.
While no safety concerns were reported regarding the Whisper Hearing System, the company’s decision means they will no longer service or produce the product. Existing customers were encouraged to reach out to the company for any questions or concerns they may have regarding the withdrawal of support. Whisper also extended appreciation to their partners for their support and collaboration throughout the years, emphasizing their collective efforts in challenging the design of hearing technology.
The full text from Whisper below, posted on the company’s website June 8, 2023:
To the Whisper Community,
Over the past six years, our mission has been to help people fully engage in their lives by improving their ability to hear and communicate in the world. We started Whisper because we believed that we could be a positive force for how people hear and engage with sound every day.
The story of Whisper has many different chapters, each with their own moments of change along the way. Today, we’re starting a new chapter in our story. While we have exciting plans ahead for all of the technology we have developed, we will be shifting our immediate focus away from hearing aids and voluntarily withdrawing support of our product, the Whisper Hearing System. This is a bittersweet moment for us here at Whisper – we have loved working with each of our customers and partners every day to help deliver better hearing in the world.
If you are a Whisper customer: you have been such an important part of how we have reached this milestone. Many of you have shared your personal stories about how well you can hear now because of what we have built, and we could not have done it without your belief and feedback along the way. We want to help you through this transition and will be in touch with each of you to share what this means and answer your questions.
To all of our partners: thank you for being part of the Whisper story and for your support through the years. You encouraged us to be bold as we challenged how hearing technology was designed and propelled us forward as we worked with you and your communities.
With gratitude,
The Whisper team
Existing customers that have questions can contact the company at [email protected] or by calling 844-936-4327.
Challenges Disrupting the Hearing Aid Industry
Over the past 3 years of since announcing the launch of their flagship product, the company had built an exclusive network of local practices across the US to ensure consumers received customized hearing care.
The system was built to get regular updates that would improve performance, with the last company update happening in March 2022. Previously, updates had been occurring every few months, so as 2022 drew to a close with no follow-on updates being announced publicly, some insiders had begun to speculate as to whether Whisper was having difficulty and whether it was planning to continue supporting its product.
The Whisper Hearing System was “designed to learn from the ground up” and was comprised of three components:
- The Earpieces, which are worn on the ears so they can take in and transmit sound
- The Whisper Brain, a pocket-sized hub, which is the center of Whisper’s learning capabilities and works wirelessly with the earpieces to enable a proprietary AI-based Sound Separation Engine
- The Whisper mobile app, which delivers regular software upgrades in addition to allowing users to control their Whisper Hearing System from their phones
Whisper had also come to the industry with a unique leasing model for their devices, which is not a common practice in most clinics to this day. The company offered its hearing aids via a comprehensive monthly plan that included ongoing care from a local hearing care professional, a lease of the Whisper Hearing System, regular software upgrades, and a 3-year warranty for under $200/mo for a 3 year term.
In October of 2020, the company had announced the close of a $35 million Series B funding round led by Quiet Capital. Previous investors included major firms like Sequoia Capital, First Round Capital and IVP. The Series B had brought Whisper’s total funding to $53M.
