1. TradeReleaseU.S. Department of Labor For Immediate Release
Occupational Safety and Health Administration October 31, 2016
Office of Communications Contact: Office of Communications
Washington, D.C. Phone: 202-693-1999
www.osha.gov
OSHA and NIOSH hold ‘Hear and Now - Noise Safety Challenge’
WASHINGTON –The results are in for the first Noise Safety Challenge hosted by the DOL’s Occupational
Safety and Health Administration and Mine Safety and Health Administration, in partnership with the National
Institute for Occupational Safety and Health on October 27th, in Washington, D.C. This event provided
opportunities for 10 inventors, selected from 28 challenge submissions to travel from all over the country and
Canada to pitch their solutions for reducing hearing loss from workplace exposure.
The judges awarded first place to Nick Laperle and Jeremie Voix for their eers™ product. eers™, a custom-
fitted earpiece designed to provide a worker with protection, communication, and monitoring. Laperle noted the
goal of his company, stating, “Imagine if we could make hearing loss a thing of the past.”
Brendon Dever and his company Heads Up Display, Inc., were selected by the judges for second place. The
Heads Up product is wearable sensor technology. The sensor, which is affixed unobtrusively to glasses or
protective equipment such as hardhats, detects noise levels and provides warnings and other communications
via color coded lights.
Third place was awarded to Madeline Bennett on behalf of her company Otogear. Otogear’s product is an
interchangeable decorative attachment that attaches to silicone earplugs. The attachments are manufactured
with licensed designs for sports teams, businesses, or music festivals.
Civil servants from partnering federal government agencies worked with the entrepreneurial community to
launch the ‘Hear and Now – Noise Safety Challenge’ on August 1st, 2016 with the dual goals of inspiring
creative ideas and raising business awareness of the market for workplace safety innovation.On October 7th,
they selected the top ten solutions from 28 submissions to Challenge.gov. These solutions were selected
because they show potential for better protecting the 22 million workers exposed to hazardous noise every
day.
After 50 coaching hours with entrepreneurial experts, ten finalists traveled from all over the country and
Canada to Washington, D.C. to pitch their ideas to a panel of judges on October 27th. The event featured
investors, entrepreneurs, representatives of the NIOSH Research to Practice Program, representatives of the
U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and academic professionals.

2. The other selected ideas included hearing protection devices, hardware/software combinations within the
Internet of Things (IoT), audiometric measurement and tracking tools, and analysis systems:
Ted Smith – Corvex Connected Safety™
Manesha Kachroo and Bibex Das – iPING
John Johnson – Sert-A-Plug
Dr. Joe Shargorodsky and Dr. Wolfgang Haupt – Agilis Health, Inc.
Dr. James Craner – webOSCAR™
Rudy McEntire – EarJellies
Les Blomberg – TTS Detector
Congratulations to all of the participants!
For more information an pictures, please visit the DOL Hear and Now webpage at:
https://www.dol.gov/featured/hearing/
Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing safe and
healthful workplaces for their employees. OSHA’s role is to ensure these conditions for America’s working men
and women by setting and enforcing standards, and providing training, education and assistance. For more
information, visit www.osha.gov.
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