Bell Therapeutics, a neuroscience-based digital therapeutics (DTx) startup, announced on the 20th that it has secured seed funding from FuturePlay, HGI, and the Korea SMEs and Startups Agency. The investment amount remains undisclosed.

Bell Therapeutics is developing a DTx that replicates drug mechanisms through software. Their current pipeline aims to create a new rehabilitation system for individuals with hearing impairments, with the goal of significantly reducing the typical 1-2 year rehabilitation period required after cochlear implant surgery.

A cochlear implant is a device that enables people with hearing impairments to perceive sound. However, the lengthy 1-2 year rehabilitation process post-surgery and the high costs, which can reach tens of millions of won, have been noted as limitations.

Bell Therapeutics is leveraging the latest neuroscience and physical acoustics research to provide a hearing rehabilitation DTx optimized for cochlear implant users. The company plans to develop an AI module capable of precise auditory diagnosis and to build clinical datasets from both normal-hearing and hearing-impaired populations to create customized rehabilitation DTx.

The Bell Therapeutics team includes CEO Lee Jae-eun, an economics graduate from Columbia University, along with neuroscientists, auditory neuroscientists, music cognition experts, and AI engineers.