Startup Blitz: listen to friends, coaches, music in water with Stroke Tech

This week’s Startup Blitz features hardware startup Stroke Tech. Founders Thys Pretorius (CEO) and Matt Pretorius (Sales and Social Media) applied bone conduction technology — which sends sound to the inner ear through the bones of the skull — to a modern use: water sports communication and entertainment.

Currently Stroke Tech has two prototypes, a communication device which allows a swimmer/surfer/kite boarder et al, to hear instructions from a coach, or listen to their friends all the while keeping their ear channels obstruction-free thanks to audio being transmitted by the tech used as far back as during World War 2.

The other device is an MP3 player, which allows say, swimmers to listen to music while they practise laps in a safe and comfortable way — the kicker is that you can hear ambient noise as well as the music.

Stroke Tech is looking for its first round of funding, and will then look to taking the prototypes into commercial production.