Auricle vs Hey Telo

About

Auricle is a medical device company developing a neurostimulation implant designed to restore hearing for patients with moderate-to-severe hearing loss who no longer receive adequate benefit from conventional hearing aids — addressing a population of approximately 3.5 million patients in the US who have exhausted hearing aid options but may not qualify for or desire cochlear implants. Founded in 2020 in Mountain View, California and a Y Combinator W21 graduate, Auricle raised $500,000 from YC, Digilife, Fogarty Innovation, North South Ventures, and StartX, achieving $1.4 million in revenue in 2024 with 9 employees.\n\nAuricle's device uses electrical stimulation of the auditory nerve or cochlea in a minimally invasive implant procedure, providing amplification and sound clarity beyond what hearing aids can achieve by directly stimulating the neural pathway rather than amplifying acoustic sound. The device targets the significant gap between hearing aids (non-surgical, limited for severe loss) and cochlear implants (extensive surgery, full inner ear destruction) — offering a middle-ground intervention for patients with moderate-to-severe loss who want more than hearing aids provide. The $1.2 billion addressable market represents the unmet need in this underserved gap.\n\nIn 2025, Auricle is in the pre-market regulatory and clinical validation phase, working toward FDA clearance for its neurostimulation approach. The hearing device market is dominated by Cochlear Limited, Advanced Bionics (Sonova), and MED-EL for implantable hearing devices, alongside Starkey, Phonak, Oticon, and ReSound for hearing aids. Fogarty Innovation's backing indicates strong clinical mentorship — Fogarty is the leading medical device incubator associated with Thomas Fogarty, a legendary medical device inventor. The 2025-2026 strategy focuses on completing clinical studies demonstrating efficacy and safety, building the regulatory submission, and establishing clinical partnerships with ENT and audiology centers.