mimi Partners with Skullcandy, Cleer & Beyerdynamic for Personalized Audio

Personalized Hearing Profiles with Mimi

Mimi, an audio processing startup, is dedicated to creating individualized hearing profiles. This allows users to experience optimal sound quality without excessively increasing volume levels.

This approach serves a dual purpose: it aids in the prevention of future hearing loss and enhances the listening experience for individuals who have already experienced some degree of hearing impairment.

From Concept to Reality

While the scientific basis of Mimi’s technology is promising, its practical impact hinges on integration into everyday listening devices. Widespread availability is crucial for benefiting a larger audience.

This week, Mimi announced significant progress in this area, revealing substantial partnerships that will bring its technology to market.

The incorporation of Mimi’s technology into well-known audio products represents a major achievement for the company and a positive step for public hearing health.

Philipp Skribanowitz, CEO and founder of Mimi, on the TechCrunch Battlefield stage in 2014

A Seven-Year Journey

Mimi first showcased its concept at TechCrunch Disrupt in New York in 2014. Since then, the company has evolved significantly.

It has transitioned from an initial idea to a fully operational business with a growing track record of success.

Recent collaborations with Skullcandy, Cleer, and Beyerdynamic will make the technology accessible to a broad consumer base.

Partner Perspectives

Jason Hodell, CEO of Skullcandy, stated, “Skullcandy is dedicated to creating accessible products with meaningful technology for our fans. Supporting individually tuned and healthy listening habits with Mimi will have a positive, lifelong impact on our fans’ enjoyment and well-being.”

“Partnering with Mimi is a wonderful example of this core mission coming to life.”

Patrick Huang, president of Cleer Audio, added, “We are thrilled to introduce Mimi Sound Personalization into our newest earphones and headphones available through the Cleer+app.”

“The inclusion of hearing optimization and wellness features in our products will certainly bring added value to our products and customers.”

Understanding the Principles Behind Mimi’s Audio Personalization

The human auditory system possesses a specific frequency resolution, analogous to the pixels composing a visual display. Individuals with acute hearing benefit from a higher “pixel count,” yet even optimal hearing can be affected when multiple sound elements converge within a single frequency band, with the stronger signal dominating. This principle underpins the functionality of MP3 compression, which leverages the ear’s limited resolution to significantly reduce file sizes, as explained by Nick Clark, co-founder and head of R&D at Mimi.

Mimi distinguishes itself through the creation of individualized hearing profiles. For those with some degree of hearing impairment, this equates to a lower “pixel count.” While Mimi cannot restore lost hearing acuity, it can refine audio processing to better suit an individual’s specific needs. This involves selectively amplifying certain frequencies and attenuating others, maximizing the clarity and richness of the listening experience.

Experiencing Mimi Across Different Devices

I evaluated Mimi’s technology across a range of devices, including Skullcandy’s $99 Grind Fuel True Wireless Earbuds, Cleer Audio’s $130 Ally Plus II Wireless Earbuds, and Beyerdynamic’s $300 Lagoon ANC headphones. The initial setup procedure is consistent across all platforms: download the manufacturer’s companion application and proceed with the hearing profile creation process.

Creating a profile is a simple process, beginning with inputting your birth year before commencing the hearing assessment. The test itself presents an unusual auditory experience, resembling the sound of electronic crickets accompanied by a fluctuating beep. The beep’s volume increases until audible, at which point the user holds a button. Releasing the button causes the beep to fade, determining the threshold of hearing at that specific frequency.

This process is repeated across a spectrum of frequencies, and the collected data is used to generate a personalized hearing profile. This profile can be saved to a Mimi account, enabling its use with any device supporting Mimi’s technology – a convenient feature that minimizes repeated exposure to the somewhat unpleasant “box’o’crickets” sound.

Data Insights and Hearing Test Validation

The data captured by Mimi regarding my hearing is visually represented in the app, and can be exported as a CSV file. The data primarily details the frequencies and volume levels at which I begin and cease to perceive the test tone.

The results from the Cleer and Skullcandy apps differed noticeably, however the two Skullcandy results were nearly identical, suggesting a degree of measurement consistency.

Mimi’s hearing test application is remarkably successful, currently holding the No. 1 position in the App Store’s health category. The company reports that approximately 50,000 individuals utilize their app for hearing assessments each month. User reviews indicate a strong correlation between the app’s results and those obtained from professional audiological evaluations.

The Core of Mimi’s Technology

According to Philipp Skribanowitz, CEO at Mimi, the same technology powering their hearing test app is available as a Software Development Kit (SDK) for integration into partner applications.

The true innovation of Mimi lies in its ability to translate hearing test results into a personalized profile and then implement this profile as a signal processor positioned as close to the user’s ears as possible.

“Our software operates wherever digital audio is processed. Following the creation of your unique hearing ID, this information must be transferred to the processing algorithm to adjust the audio stream before it reaches your ears,” Skribanowitz clarifies. “We offer various components and processing algorithms, running on Bluetooth chips in headphones or audio chips in televisions. Furthermore, we collaborate with partners in public broadcasting, streaming services, scientific research, and smartphone development.”

Does Personalized Audio Enhance the Listening Experience?

The central inquiry revolves around the efficacy of this technology. Determining whether it truly delivers improvements proves somewhat challenging, with performance varying considerably across different devices tested.

Testing of the Mimi hearing test was conducted utilizing three distinct products, yielding significantly different outcomes. Shown from left to right are Skullcandy’s Grind Fuel, Beyerdynamic’s Lagoon ANC, and Cleer’s Ally Plus II. Photo: Haje Kamps for TechCrunch

A peculiar hissing sound emanated from the Cleer earbuds whenever activated and worn, even in the absence of any audio playback. While listening to music, discerning a difference with the personalized sound settings enabled or disabled proved difficult. Positively, the Cleer earbuds facilitated profile creation and linkage to a Mimi account, allowing for potential use across multiple devices.

Cleer’s president assured me that this hissing/buzzing noise is an exceptionally rare occurrence. A second pair of earbuds was dispatched, but unfortunately, exhibited the same issue. While it’s possible I experienced unusual misfortune, it’s more probable that further refinement is needed before these earbuds are ready for widespread release.

Skullcandy also encountered difficulties – the application consistently crashed following sound personalization setup, preventing the saving of results. Consequently, experiencing the personalization in practice was impossible. Notably, Skullcandy lacked the option to log in to a pre-existing Mimi account, necessitating the creation of a new profile each time. The inability to save profiles and utilize existing Mimi data meant personalized audio remained inaccessible on the Skullcandy earbuds. Discussions regarding these app issues were held with Skullcandy’s chief product officer.

“Skullcandy prioritizes the quality of its products. The mobile application underwent rigorous testing with a variety of mobile devices and operating systems available at the time,” stated Jeff Hutchings, chief product officer at Skullcandy. “Subsequently, issues have been identified with the new Pixel 6/6 Pro running Android 12. Skullcandy is actively developing an update to address this issue promptly.”

Beyerdynamic Lagoon ANC headphones. Photo: Haje Kamps for TechCrunch

The Beyerdynamic Lagoon ANC headphones presented a markedly different experience. These are over-ear headphones, representing a higher price point. With the Beyerdynamic headphones, the personalization yielded a noticeable improvement. Particularly with active noise cancellation engaged, Mimi’s personalization felt distinctly different. The sound became clearer, and greater detail in the music was discernible when personalization was activated. The music seemed to possess a wider stereo image, though articulating the precise difference proved challenging, it was substantial enough to encourage seeking Mimi integration in future headphone purchases.

This observation prompted a question: why didn’t the Cleer and Skullcandy earbuds demonstrate a similar pronounced effect? Could a profile created with the Beyerdynamic headphones be utilized with the others? Skullcandy’s application did not allow login to a Mimi account, rendering this impossible. The Cleer app also lacked the ability to load an existing profile. Ultimately, the Cleer app required deletion and re-installation, followed by re-login to the Mimi account. While this use case may not be universal, the inability to transfer a profile already stored on Mimi’s servers is frustrating, especially considering it’s a feature Mimi’s founders are enthusiastic about.

Setting aside the profile transfer issues, the Beyerdynamic profile did allow for a subtle difference on the Cleer earphones: the stereo channels appeared better separated, mirroring the “more in stereo” description previously noted. However, the overall impact was not dramatic, lacking the “wow” factor experienced with the Beyerdynamic headphones, and falling short of the experience offered by Nuraphone.

A comparison to Nuraphone headphones is inevitable. They carry a significantly higher price tag – $399 – but employ a different hearing measurement approach. Instead of relying on the user to identify audible tones, the headphones directly measure the ears. This method limits profile transferability to non-Nura headphones, but the resulting sound quality is exceptional. Even five years after purchase, Nura’s Nuraphone remains my preferred choice for immersive music listening.

The Mimi team’s efforts to forge partnerships and integrate their technology into various products are commendable.

Ultimately, evaluating personalization technology is subjective; my experience may be unique due to individual hearing characteristics, potentially rendering the technology less effective. Your results may vary. For higher-end headphones, the impact is significant, influencing future purchasing decisions. Regarding earbuds, the sample size was limited, with one set exhibiting issues and the other providing underwhelming results. Overall, the benefits do not currently justify the cost for me, but if the technology doesn’t increase price or degrade audio quality, there’s little harm in its inclusion.