August 8, 2024
How Silent Discos Inspired Better Hearing in Senior Living
What do silent discos and senior living have in common? More than you’d think. In this Senior Living Minute, Matt Reiners shares how his experience creating silent disco events led to an unexpected revelation—wireless headphones could solve a major challenge in senior living: hearing accessibility. When communities started reaching out for help with resident council meetings, worship services, and group activities, his team saw an opportunity to create a solution that re-engages older adults with the world around them—including his own grandmother.
Transcript: How Silent Discos Inspired Better Hearing in Senior Living
Before we started Eversound, my co-founders and I created a company that helped people across the country host silent disco events. For those unfamiliar, a silent disco is an event where everyone wears wireless headphones, dancing to music that isn’t played out loud.
Then, senior living communities started calling us. They were struggling with hearing accessibility in group programs—resident council meetings, worship services, bingo—and they were looking for a wireless headphone system that allowed for individual volume control. Essentially, they needed the same silent disco technology we had been using.
Around this time, I also saw firsthand what my grandmother was going through. She couldn’t hear well, so she stopped attending activities altogether. That experience set us on a mission—to create a solution that would help people like her re-engage with the world around them through better hearing.