Revolutionizing Sensory Diagnostics: Fast and Accurate Brain-Response Based Solutions

In the dynamic world of health technology, MindAffect emerges as a game-changer, utilizing its proprietary BCI/AI technology to pioneer brain-response based hearing and vision diagnostic systems. With unmatched speed, accuracy, and comprehensiveness, these systems offer a breakthrough in the field, particularly for the hard-to-test patient population, including children, the elderly, and the disabled. The company's journey began with a passionate pursuit to address the limitations of existing communication solutions for ALS patients, leading them to discover a transformative application in sensory diagnostics. In this interview with Jennifer Goodall, we delve into the motivations behind MindAffect's inception, their unique value proposition, and their vision for the future, including their aspirations to partner with pharmaceutical and health insurance companies. Additionally, we explore how 5-HT can play a vital role in supporting their mission and market expansion.

How would you explain your solution in three sentences to a professional colleague from the health sector?

Using our proprietary BCI/AI technology, we are developing brain response based hearing/vision diagnostic systems that are fast, accurate and comprehensive. Current systems require a manual response which is inadequate for the hard-to-test 1.6b patient population including children, elderly and the disabled. We develop the software and the stimuli and merge our system with an EEG headset and amplifier to create a lightweight transportable system for an easy to use relaxing test.

What problem motivated you to start the company? 

MindAffect's world class BCI/AI technology is 20x faster than existing BCI was originally developed for brain-response based communication for ALS patients. Despite early success, the market was not commercially sustainable. As the next generation CEO, I was tasked to find new applications & markets. We found sensory diagnostics to be an exciting opportunity because current sensory diagnostic systems require a  repetitive manual response. This is fine for us, but not for young children, the disabled or elderly who are often undiagnosed. I have learned firsthand the lifelong consequences because my sister was born with a severe hearing impairment which was not diagnosed until she was 5 yrs.

How do you convince a pharmaceutical company, a health insurance company or another potential client to set up a pilot project with you?

Our world class BCI/AI technology analyses brain response to stimuli 20x faster than current systems. As a result, we are able to develop unique hearing/vision diagnostic systems which are objective & fast but dont require a repetitive manual patient response. There are also potential applications for our brain-response based testing in cognition and brain health which has exciting potential for the pharmaceutical industry. Our validated hearing and vision diagnostic systems can provide comprehensive, accurate and fast results for any patient – even a child or disabled person who is unable to respond correctly and consistently to conventional testing. This is eliminates error, allows for early diagnosis and reduces testing costs substantially. Another prototype, can objectively measure the progress of glaucoma - a degenerative disease afflicting the elderly. Current tests are highly subjective, time-consuming and costly. Our objective system can perform this faster and more accurately thereby lowering costs and improving care options. We have validated prototypes and are working in partnership with key medical & scientific institutions to ensure that our systems are designed to meet the demands of our clients and their patient needs. There are no other startups nor corporates in hearing or vision diagnostics with similar technical capabilities with the same ability to create the nextgeneration of brain-response based testing. 

Who are your current customer (groups) and who do you want your potential customers to be? 

Our targeted patients are the hard-to-test population, however we believe that our systems will become the gold standard to replace all manual response based diagnostics. Our customers will be the practitioners who perform these tests including clinicians as well as retail hearing and vision outlets. In some cases our system will become a preferred screening method (hearing/vision infant and childhood screening) and our customers will become the school doctors and long term care facilities. We are finalizing our prototypes and starting our medical certification process. We hope to launch in NL, Germany and Spain by Q4/25. In 2026, we plan to roll out to EU/US markets.

Where do you see yourself in 3 years and how can 5-HT support you?

We are well integrated into the NL ecosystem. However, successful market entry into Germany would ultimately determine our success as a company. We need an introduction to the client base, insurance market and government healthcare. In addition, working with a leading diagnostic German corporate partner would greatly assist our development and product introduction in the medical device market.