On April 4 we started our Kickstarter campaign. Our goal at first: collecting 30.000 euros to start the production of the world’s first adjustable analog hearing solution. Within 24 hours we reached this goal and the support we’re getting is freakin’ overwhelming.

These past weeks business went through the roof. We’re heading towards a funding of 150.000 euros which is insane and beyond anything we could have dreamed of! Last weeks were filled with lots of loving messages, but also a lot of important questions. We found out that the demand for Knops is even bigger than we thought.

Besides the interest throughout the music scene, we got a lot of questions about what the product could accomplish when it comes to stress relief and hypersensitivity for city noises.

Next goal: create awareness of hearing damage & noise-related stress

For example, more and more people are working in shared or open offices where it sometimes can be hard to find focus. Listening to music or wearing your ear buds to filter could help, but still aren’t the perfect solution. With Knops you can adjust the volume as you wish and even cancel noise in the room.

We also got a lot of questions about hearing damage and prevention. Therefore we kind of feel a responsibility to share everything we know about this subject. According to The World Health Organization the shocking number of 1,1 billion youngsters (aged 12-35 years) are at risk of hearing loss due to exposure to noise in recreational settings. The danger of hearing damage is that in many cases you don’t even notice it at first.

Not only at music festivals or rock concerts, but also at work or during your daily bike ride through the city, noises can be harmful for your ears. And this is what a lot of people don’t realise. Especially residents of a crowded city are exposed to daily noise from 60 to 95 decibels. Even though you will not notice this immediately, this could cause hearing damage in the long run.

Knops offers the solution

With the release of Knops we offer a solution for both issues. The stylish adjustable ear plugs prevent your ears from hearing damage during a loud concert, but also help you find focus when it is crowded at your workspace or during the day. Besides the beautiful product we’d love to bring on the market, we feel it as our duty to create awareness for this growing problem. The larger we become, the more awareness we can create and the more people we can help in preventing irreversible hearing problems.

These past weeks we noticed that hearing damage, noise filtering and also silence are hot topics. We have started writing a daily blog about sound and its impact, because we feel the responsibility to explain and inform everyone about these subjects.  Therefore it is important to keep supporting us so we can spread our knowledge and our product to those who are interested.