TympaHealth, an ear and hearing health technology provider, has secured a £2 million Innovate UK loan to support the development and scaling of Tympa Assist. The AI-powered guidance platform is designed to support ear and hearing care delivery in community settings. The loan will also support development of clinical diagnostic functions intended to improve decision-making in community settings and align with the NHS ambition to deliver more care through a Neighbourhood Health Service.
Tympa Assist helps non-specialist practitioners, including pharmacists and care providers, deliver more consistent ear and hearing health assessments while supporting appropriate referral to specialist services when needed. A central component of the platform is Otoscopy Assist, which uses AI-powered guidance in real time to assess image quality and estimate wax levels as minimal, moderate or substantial. When findings suggest a possible need for specialist support, the system highlights this to support timely onward referral.
The system is designed for individuals presenting with non-complex ear and hearing health conditions in primary and community care settings. TympaHealth said it is not intended for individuals with known or suspected complex conditions requiring specialist ENT assessment, in line with NHS and ENT guidance. TympaHealth’s broader mission is to bring ear and hearing health services closer to communities while providing frontline practitioners with support and guidance.
While some devices on the market describe themselves as AI-enabled otoscopes, TympaHealth said these often focus on isolated features such as image capture guidance or condition-specific diagnostic algorithms. By contrast, TympaHealth’s platform integrates high-definition digital otoscopy, AI-assisted image capture and wax assessment, hearing screening, microsuction capability, and cloud-based referral pathways into a single connected platform.
AI is often associated with diagnosis, but that’s not where the biggest challenge lies in everyday ear and hearing care. The real need at the frontline is consistency, confidence, and knowing when to escalate. Tympa Assist is the first feature to apply AI across the full ear and hearing health workflow, supporting image quality, wax assessment, audiogram assistance and referral decisions, while keeping clinical judgement firmly in the hands of trained practitioners.
