Catch up with WIA nominee TRT Speech Labs

Racine-based TRT Speech Labs, creators of the speech therapy software Hello Audrey, were recently named one of the 31 finalists for the Wisconsin Innovation Awards (WIA). The organization, founded in 2014, recognizes the groundbreaking achievements of Wisconsin businesses across various industries.

This is the second statewide competition for TRT Speech Labs this year. In June, they placed third in the Information Technology category of the Wisconsin Governor’s Business Plan Contest.

“We’ve had some really good interactions with some of the sponsors from the Wisconsin Governor’s Business Plan Competition. Some of the awards that we got for participating in the contest were time with other entrepreneurs. They have been giving us a lot of good insight, and also starting amount of ‘yep, that’s how it goes at this stage’ feedback. TRT continues to move at this artisanal pace right now where we have to develop relationships with people and get them to try Hello Audrey,” cofounder Dr. Ben Taft said.

Currently, the beta version of their software is running at several pilot locations. TRT discovered that parents need training to achieve optimal results from the software. The company is collaborating with therapists to create best practice guidelines for at-home use of Hello Audrey.

“Yesterday I was working with a customer, and we brainstormed a bunch of different things parents could try and ways we could prompt those behaviors, so we now have this whole suite of skills that parents could practice to get better at participating in and enriching the therapy,” Taft said.

Frontline feedback drives product development, resulting in weekly software updates. The company is also refining its onboarding process and developing support documentation for a more user-friendly experience.

TRT Speech Labs is hopeful about launching a new pilot program with a new practitioner soon.

“That’s exciting because the more we get speech-language practitioners using the software, the more they’ll share, and it helps build that traction,” co-founder Joseph Tenuta said.

“It’s a slow process, but then I think we’re going to have exponential growth once the network of people using Hello Audrey starts talking about it,” Taft added. “The milestones continue to be with customers and beta testers, and we continue to bring on people who are going to be customers and then be advocates and champions for the product.”

“One of the wonderful things about our company is that if we find a way to increase our market size, we are finding a way to help more people,” Taft concluded.

To learn more about TRT Speech Labs, connect with the company here.

To learn more about the Wisconsin Innovation Awards, click here.