Great piece. A significant challenge for “hearables” is that an estimated 48 million Americans (and millions more worldwide) suffer from significant hearing loss. People are developing hearing loss at younger ages — and some hypothesize that headphones blasting music and other content into your ears is at least partly to blame. While those without hearing loss imagine that hearing aids “fix” hearing loss for most people, the fact is that hearing aid technology is mediocre at best, and is a poor substitute for simply having good natural hearing. On the other hand, if this technology can make hearing aids function better, that’s a huge new (and growing) potential market.