A Stockport entrepreneur who developed tinnitus while ill with covid has been shortlisted for two business awards, five years after starting a company to help other people living with the condition.
Jack Bridge (pictured) was 20 when the ringing in his ears began in January 2021. He had been unwell with covid and had been listening to music through earphones while recovering. When he got better, the noise stayed.
“I couldn’t find much that helped, and I couldn’t find much that explained it in plain English either,” he said. “Most of what was out there was either very clinical or quite frightening. That’s really why the company exists.”
Now 26, Jack runs Sonovo, which provides sound enrichment devices for people living with tinnitus, alongside a full-time marketing role. The company operates from their fulfilment office in Denton and sells direct to customers across the UK and internationally.
Stockport Business Awards
Sonovo has been shortlisted for Most Promising Young Business at the Stockport Business Awards, which take place on October 8 at the Royal Nawaab Pyramid. Jack has also been shortlisted for Young Entrepreneur of the Year at the Manchester Young Talent Awards, held on October 30.
The company is a King’s Trust Supported Business and a corporate member of Tinnitus UK, donating five per cent of every sale to the charity.
A market most people ignore Tinnitus is estimated to affect around one in seven adults in the UK. There is no cure, and Bridge is careful not to suggest otherwise.
“The honest answer is that nothing gets rid of it,” he said. “What can change is how much of your attention it takes. That’s called habituation, and it’s slow and it isn’t a straight line. I’d rather tell people that than sell them a promise.”
That approach has shaped how the business grows. Rather than advertising, Sonovo has focused on building relationships with charities, support groups and clinicians. An image of one of its products was recently used by an NHS audiology department in patient information about bone conduction, and the company works with tinnitus support groups across the North West.
Bridge added: “One charity relationship has done more for us than a year of social media,” It’s slower, but the people it reaches are actually the people we’re trying to help.”
Building in the North West
Bridge is also developing Sonovo’s own device, designed rather than sourced, working with an electrical engineer and a product design studio. The project is self-funded and being built in stages.
“I’m doing it at a pace I can afford, which means it takes longer,” he said. “But it’s ours, and nobody else is making exactly this.
Asked what he would tell someone starting out with a condition they cannot get rid of, his answer is the same one he gives customers.
“I still have tinnitus every day. I also sleep. Both of those things are true, and for a long time I didn’t believe the second one could be.”
