With miniaturization and customization as keywords, Dopple already devised and made numerous smart earplugs for multinationals. Soon, the Assen-based company will introduce its first product under its own brand: EarsOnly. A groundbreaking innovation in the field of hearing protection.
"Look! Tjapko Uildriks removes two handsome earbuds from an equally elegantly designed case. The enthusiasm of Dopple 's CEO is almost palpable. 'For the hearing protection market, this really is a revolutionary product,' he argues. 'It is primarily intended for use in industry, in construction for example. The dynamic protection allows you to communicate as usual and even talk on the phone in a noisy environment. Or enjoy music on the shop floor at a safe noise level, because of course it has Bluetooth. EarsOnly, as the product is called, is our own brand and automatically switches on hearing protection when necessary and also offers the comfort of custom-made earphones.'
Consumer Electronics Show
A little later, sitting at an elevated conference table, Tjapko comes up with a scoop. 'In the second week of January 2024, we will be part of the Dutch startup and scale-up mission to the Consumer Electronics Show, or CES for short, in Las Vegas,' he says with a broad smile. 'Indeed, the largest and most influential tech fair in the world.'
So Dopple, which invents, designs and realizes so-called true-wireless headset products, is not just any tech company. Part of the team, from the former development arm of SonyEricsson, was at the forefront of Bluetooth technology in the 1990s and the development of the very first Bluetooth headset for cell phones. For example, Bluetooth inventor Jaap Haartsen, who was inducted into the prestigious Inventors Hall of fame in Washington for his invention, works within Dopple as CTO. That in-depth technology knowledge, supplemented by recent tech graduates from the Hanzehogeschool Groningen and NHL Stenden Hogeschool Emmen, is now deployed from Assen to make smart earplugs. Unique personalized earplugs, to be precise. Including the EarsOnly Protect.
Miniaturization
'Of course, we're very good at Bluetooth technology,' says Tjapko. But Dopple's core competency is miniaturization, making components as small as possible. All the electronics have to fit perfectly in the limited space of the earbuds. Miniaturization, in other words, is crucial to making products wirelessly portable. We deliberately chose a relatively small team. With an unwieldy organization, far-reaching miniaturization hardly has a chance of succeeding. After all, you have to constantly make compromises. At the same time, you need a great deal of specialized knowledge and expertise to bring electronics, software and hardware together as smartly as possible. That is why we work closely with renowned suppliers in the field of chipsets, antennas, speakers and batteries, among other things. Together you work on a product that is actually needed and makes people happy. It almost feels like magic.'
Freedom
Tjapko started his career as a radio design engineer at Ericsson in Emmen and, after the merger with Sony, as manager at SonyEricsson, was mainly involved in Bluetooth technology. With several associates, he founded Tonalite in 2009, a company that developed portable wireless products such as Bluetooth headsets. Tonalite was acquired three years later by Plantronics, best known for its headsets for call centers. The agreement included a requirement that they be associated with Plantronics for at least four years. After that term expired, they felt it was time for something new. And so in 2016, they decided to found their second company: Dopple. For the first few years, Dopple operated out of Emmen. In 2021, a move to more spacious premises in Assen, right next to the train station, followed.
Dopple's core competency is miniaturization, making components as small as possible.
Tjapko Uildriks, Dopple
'We wanted to have more freedom at the product level to make our own choices,' Tjapko explains. 'To see where we can be significant with Dopple in a niche market. Preferably with products under our own brand. Eventually we ended up with hearing protection.'
Large multinationals
Yet soon after its founding, it started serving large multinational companies. After all, there had to be bread on the table. One of the first customers was Jaybird, an internationally renowned brand of bluetooth sports earbuds that had been bought by Logitech in 2016. The earbuds were, of course, designed in Drenthe. Some time later, through Logitech, Dopple came into contact with Sonova, a leading manufacturer of innovative hearing solutions. The company, headquartered in Switzerland, owns, among other things, Dutch company Schoonenberg and the consumer branch of German audio company Sennheiser. 'Sonova developed its own bluetooth chip for hearing aids,' Tjapko says, 'We made that chip suitable for the consumer market.' In the spring of 2022, that collaboration resulted in the introduction of the Sennheiser TV Clear.'
Incipient hearing loss
The Sennheiser TV Clear is designed to give people an optimal sound experience while watching television. The headset realized by Dopple connects via Bluetooth to a TV connector. That connector makes it possible to change the volume without affecting the sound of the television. 'That means you can adjust the sound individually to your liking,' Tjapko emphasizes, 'ideal when someone in the family has hearing loss. So at its core, it is actually a hearing aid for people with incipient hearing loss. It is one of the niche products that we have realized with a strategic partner in recent years.'
Rollout
The coming period will be dominated by the rollout of EarsOnly. A moment the company has long looked forward to. After all, launching its own brand is one of the reasons why Dopple was founded at the time. 'We emphatically want to go public with EarsOnly,' says Tjapko, 'which is another reason why it is so great that we have been selected for the CES in Las Vegas. A wonderful opportunity to present the brand on a global stage to potential customers and investors. Yet it is not directly our goal to conquer America. Simply because worldwide the Netherlands and France are the most interesting markets in the field of hearing protection.