PERFI prints a hearing aid in seconds – could transform the entire industry
PERFI Technologies
According to Anna Danielak and her colleagues, there will soon be a clear distinction between the time before and after PERFI in the hearing aid industry.
“Following the launch of our user-friendly desktop printer, we want to expand our solution,” she says.
Anna Danielak is co-founder and Chief Product Officer of the Danish startup PERFI, which has just received an investment from Rockstart Emerging Tech Fund and Allan Junge Hyldal, business angel and former VP at 3Shape. This comes on top of an Innofounder grant from Innovation Fund Denmark. Further funding and resources may be on the way.
PERFI’s ultra-fast volumetric printing technology opens up new opportunities for a fully decentralised production solution for manufacturing earmoulds for hearing aids, as well as instant printing of dental components directly chairside.
Time is money
“For many years, the hearing aid industry has benefited from Additive Manufacturing (AM), where conventional vat photopolymerisation has now become the de facto production standard for custom earmoulds. Being able to produce a tailored earmould offers advantages in the form of greater comfort and improved audiological outcomes, making it a preferred choice among hearing care specialists,” Anna Danielak writes in an email from China, where she and PERFI have just won the product category at Venture Cup China.
“However, the industry standard’s layer-by-layer process requires support structures and creates a rough surface that needs post-processing and polishing. This adds significant time and complexity to the entire production chain while also generating material waste. The layer-by-layer method is fundamentally an industrial manufacturing process. Volumetric printing does not have these limitations. In addition to its extremely high speed, it is the first printing technology that is fully automated and user-friendly,” she adds.
Today, 3D printing personalised products takes a long time and involves substantial costs.
“Danish AM Hub has significantly helped us expand our network, strengthen our value proposition, and provide valuable insights into how to run a business within Additive Manufacturing. Since we became part of the programme, our activities and partnerships have grown considerably, and we look forward to working on even more projects in the future.”
A new approach
PERFI has developed a method – Volumetric Additive Manufacturing – that enables them to print the product in seconds, thereby reducing production and delivery times for personalised hearing aids from several weeks to just 20 minutes. In other words, the customer can wait in the shop while the retailer prints the hearing aid in the back room.
PERFI emerged from the startup environment at DTU and has since completed AM Growth at Danish AM Hub. AM Growth is a network for AM startups and scaleups that have a viable product or are in the later stages of product development and want support on their commercial journey.
“Danish AM Hub has significantly helped us expand our network, strengthen our value proposition, and provide valuable insights into how to run a business within Additive Manufacturing,” Anna Danielak writes.
She highlights that the programme has given PERFI the opportunities and tools to make the leap from the laboratory to the market.
“Since we became part of the programme, our activities and partnerships have grown considerably, and we look forward to working on even more projects in the future.”
Results from programmes with Dansk AM Hub
- Helped expand our network
- Strengthened our value proposition
- Valuable insights into running a business within Additive Manufacturing
Heading for Germany
AM Growth has also served as a door-opener for PERFI in reaching a broader audience with their technology. At the recently concluded AM Summit, PERFI presented their business idea in a competition. The prize was an opportunity to present the winner’s concept to several investors at the world’s largest trade fair for industrial 3D printing, Formnext, held in Frankfurt in mid-November.
The jury rewarded PERFI with a trip to Germany.
“We are very excited to have been selected to share the stage with other startups and learn about new innovations. For a young company like ours, this is a unique opportunity to showcase our solution, be inspired by market trends, and network with potential investors, partners, and customers,” Anna Danielak writes.
Focused on expansion
What are PERFI’s goals for the coming years?
“Once we have launched our user-friendly desktop printer for the audiology sector, we want to expand our solutions into dentistry, followed by consumables, biomedicine, and other on-demand solutions for personalised products. We will build our competitive advantage through a portfolio of patents in multi-material printing and scaling, while continuing to innovate, develop, and expand our product offering. We want personalisation to be made quickly and efficiently accessible to everyone.”
“However, volumetric printing is still a very new technology, and there are still many potential application areas to explore. Therefore, it may be that in the future we will work on creating an entirely new market,” Anna Danielak writes.
About the company
Perfi Technologies
Number of employees
5
Info
PERFI provides personalised earmoulds for hearing aid users, music lovers, and professionals who need to control what they hear.
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