WoW Woman in WearableTech | Kathryn ‘Kat‘ Penno, Founder and Audiologist at Hearing Collective
Interview by Marija Butkovic
Kathryn ‘Kat‘ Penno is Founder and Audiologist at Hearing Collective. Hearing Collective was launched in November, 2018 to provide online audiological consults, support, advice and evidence based information. Hearing Collective is a collective of resources for clients, professionals and communities seeking hearing and communication support or consultation. Hearing Collective allows for consultation within Australia with Kat being based in Perth, Western Australia. Kat has undertaken further education in user experience and design thinking and is passionate about applying these models to hearing healthcare. She is currently undertaking an emerging young leaders course with a key focus on ageing, communities and the disabilities sector in Australia. Kat is passionate about early hearing loss management, education and motivation towards successful hearing technology adoptions and collaborative, inclusive and innovative approaches in healthcare. She is a thought leader in her field and is working towards bridging the gap between humans using technology to better understand and manage their health needs.
What is the idea behind your project / product and how did you come up with it?
At Hearing Collective we have 3 main purposes:
Hearing Collective provides personable, independent, online hearing health care solutions, at your convenience.
Hearing Collective provides inclusive consults which range from advocacy in workplaces, university or community.
Hearing Collective provides education, programs, content and training to companies, schools and the community.
I founded and run a telehealth service providing business and inclusive consults called Hearing Collective. The idea was originally brewed during my Masters studies in Clinical Audiology; I can’t take full credit for it, my thesis supervisor had a futuristic outlook on how hearing healthcare could be delivered to those countries in the World that did not have access to hearing healthcare professionals and one aspect was to deliver services via telehealth. I wrote my thesis on this topic and it took me another 3 years to finally bring a version of this idea to fruition.
The other component to Hearing Collective is Inclusive consults and content creation/curation. This is quite a broad term where I offer services from educating employees, designing programs and consulting on hearing, communication, balance or auditory disorders; and any hearing related aspects for companies. My work has ranged from working with Not-for-profits, government workplaces, university lectures to technology companies. What I value the most with Inclusive consults is the opportunity to educate on the importance of inclusive and accessible communication and how we can do this together.
When did all start and do you have other members in your team?
I founded Hearing Collective in November, 2018. It is currently a solo woman business, but there is certainly room for growth in the near future.
How long did it take you to be where you are now?
It’s taken me since November, 2018 to keep iterations of my delivery and my skill set to evolve. Given I work in the telehealth and digital technology space my capacity for changing tact is easier (then if I had a traditional bricks and mortar clinic with larger overheads). I believe I am always evolving, but my purpose remains the same: To deliver personalised, convenient healthcare. Covid has been the catalyst for a lot of telehealth providers to really take off. The crisis and isolation has given telehealth providers a large stepping stone to confirm the importance of this method of service delivery.
What was the biggest obstacle?
One that remains today is getting consistent referral pathways from professionals within the industry. There are on-going barriers and concerns such as security and privacy of data use and collection when utilising third party applications, similar for the video platform I choose to utilise.
What are your biggest achievements to date?
A variety of achievements:
Meeting the client where they are seeking answers.
Meeting a variety of professionals and networking to expand my skill set
Successful inclusive consults that have changed people’s views and behaviours on hearing loss and how to manage this in the workplace
My first set of tertiary lectures
Being recognised as an emerging young leader in the field
What are the challenges of being an entrepreneur in the niche you are in?
Initially it was a large learning curve to step outside the traditional clinical setting and offer services the way I wanted to improve hearing healthcare accessibility. That learning curve or out of depth feeling doesn’t disappear, I have become more comfortable with continuity of learning throughout my life and now view this as part of the business.
How about being a female founder / entrepreneur?
I have an optimistic outlook on life so I don’t necessarily find that being a female founder has direct challenges. I could be naive to this and good at shrugging it off and I am sure hindsight and reflections may teach me this one day.
What are your projects you are currently working on?
Consulting to Not-for-profits on how to bridge the gap between telehealth and digital technology use for their clients. Developing policies to ensure a holistic and modern service, sustainable delivery model.
Is #WomenInTech movement important to you and if yes, why?
Absolutely. The more we can champion the women in this field, the better we get at changing the status quo, expectations and perceptions of the value we add/bring to this field. When we authentically work together to bring about change, the better, more sustainable the outcomes for women coming into this field and the ones working within it will be.
What is the most important piece of advice you can give to all female founders and female entrepreneurs out there?
Two pieces of advice that have stuck with me and resonate with me every time I need inspiration or contemplate stepping back;
1. Fortune favours the brave. You’ve got to give your ideas and vision a chance to come alive and this may mean leaving the current situation you are in or working around it to enable your vision to work.
2. Create the change, be resourceful. There are plenty of tools and groups available to help you get started. It’s about finding the ones that will work for your vision and being able to iterate over time.
What will be the key trends in the wearable tech industry in the next 5 years and where do you see it heading?
Great question here are my thoughts. Wearables will become more ‘smart’ at accurately collecting more health data and with an accompanying app, be able to provide the consumer and their healthcare professional with a better ‘whole’ picture of your health. Therefore, (I predict) allowing a more personalised healthcare approach and plan for individuals. Wearable technology will also become more commonplace and affordable as the market grows with competitors and standard technology features become more available. For example, low energy bluetooth technology, voice application and wireless headphones are now commonplace.
Wearables may help individuals to be more proactive about their health. With the correct application, interpretation of health data and prompts or notifications, the wearable market has the potential to help educate and motivate consumers to ‘do something’ about their health when anomalies arise.
There will be a blend between what a consumer grade electronic such as a wearable smartwatch or hearable device does and what a medical grade device offers. This trend will hopefully make devices more accessible to more people.
Hearable technology (like a smartwatch but in your ears) will significantly grow. With major brands like Apple delivering iterations of the Airpods and the features of the iOS including more accessibility features, and android platforms improving their features, more people will stream audio content to their ears.
Additionally, voice technology will be featured in more wearables and more commonplace leaving our hands free to do ‘emails, drive, artwork, breastfeed, listen to music, skip music, listen to podcasts, listen to audio books etc’.
Who are your 3 inspirational women in wearable tech?
KR Lui - Head of Accessibility at Google
Dr Josephine Muir and Dr Mary Webberley - founders of Noisy guts (https://www.noisyguts.net/)
Dr Fiona Wood - founder of spray on skin technology (https://www.fionawoodfoundation.com/our-impact/)
Website: www.hearingcollective.com
LinkedIn: Kat Penno
Twitter: @KatPenno & @onlinehearingco
This interview was conducted by Marija Butkovic, Digital Marketing and PR strategist, founder and CEO of Women of Wearables. She regularly writes and speaks on topics of wearable tech, fashion tech, IoT, entrepreneurship and diversity. Follow Marija on Twitter @MarijaButkovic.