Valencell Looks to Reduce Costs with Micromechanics Specialist Sonion

“The companies indicated that they expect Sonion’s manufacturing expertise to significantly reduce costs pertaining to Valencell’s solutions.”

Valencell is looking to enhance its biometric earbud technology through a new partnership with Danish micro-acoustics and micromechanics specialist Sonion. The aim is to combine Valencell’s biometric sensor modules for ear-focused wearables with Sonion’s expertise in reducing size, power consumption, and costs for ear devices.

In a statement announcing the partnership, the companies said it will focus on “designing, developing and manufacturing biometric sensing ear modules for the medical, hearing health, consumer and professional communications markets.” The companies indicated that they expect Sonion’s manufacturing expertise to significantly reduce costs pertaining to Valencell’s solutions.

They also disclosed that the partnership entails a considerable investment in Valencell on Sonion’s part, with the latter becoming “a significant shareholder”.

All told, it could prove to be quite a beneficial relationship for Valencell, whose ear-based biometric technology is designed for implementation in earbuds and other such devices to enable fitness tracking entailing biometrics such as heart rate and VO₂. Commenting on the partnership, Valencell CEO Michael Dering said it “brings tremendous value to the hearables and hearing health markets, as well as to our current and future customers and partners,” adding later that the companies “share a strong vision and operating model for making major advancements in hearing health and hearable devices.”