Sensory Bridges — Investor Brief

Real Voices

The People Who Inspired This

These are real people from 300+ discovery interviews. Their words shaped every feature of the Brooks Band.

"My teacher would say 'Warren, use your inside voice.' But I thought I was. I couldn't tell that I wasn't. It made me not want to talk to people."

— Warren, 20-year-old autistic adult (Sensory Bridges Discovery Interview)

"My 15-year-old son struggles with social cues, especially voice volume. It's isolating for him, and heartbreaking for me. A device that could gently cue him in real time could be a game changer."

— Shelly, parent of a 10th grader

"Thank you for creating a solution for a challenge I've faced my entire life."

— College student, UTC Pitch Event (approached founder after pitch, visibly emotional)

"The Brooks Band has the potential to fill a critical gap in our current range of tools — empowering individuals to communicate more effectively."

— Saskia Splane, CCC-SLP, Licensed SLP & Assistive Tech Professional

Who This Is For

Meet Jennifer and Marcus

Jennifer — School-Based SLP

12 years · Caseload of 48 students · Public school district

"I know he's getting better. I can see it. But I can't prove it on paper."

Jennifer spends 12+ hours per week on IEP documentation and Medicaid billing. Her notes say "emerging" because she lacks objective data. Her Medicaid claims get rejected because notes aren't specific enough.

The gap costs her: $28K/year in non-billable documentation time. Her district leaves ~$1M in Medicaid unclaimed annually. Brooks Band pays for itself by unlocking revenue the district already qualifies for.

Marcus — Autistic Adult, Age 24

Distribution center worker · Diagnosed at age 7 · Lives independently

"I know I'm loud. I just can't feel when it's too much. By the time I see it on someone's face, it's already happened."

Marcus searched for a tool that monitors his own voice — not the room. He found nothing. He doesn't want to be fixed. He wants an instrument — like glasses for someone who can't see clearly.

The gap costs him: Autistic adults lose an estimated $8K–$12K/year in career opportunities due to social communication barriers (Drexel National Autism Indicators Report). A $279 device has transformative ROI.

The Parent — Getting an IEP Before a Diagnosis

Your child's teacher says "something seems off" but can't explain what. You sit in meetings where professionals use words like "emerging" but nobody has data. A wearable captures what you see but can't prove — biometric patterns that show how your child's body responds to transitions and environments. For the first time, you walk into the IEP meeting with objective baseline data — not opinions.

The Problem

A $9 Billion Paperwork Crisis — And No Tool to Fix It

8.4M

Students under IDEA

U.S. Dept. of Education, 2023

3.2%

Of U.S. 8-year-olds with autism — up 5x since 2000

CDC ADDM Network, April 2025

$4–6B

Medicaid reimbursement schools leave unclaimed

CMS / MACPAC 2024

📋 What is an IEP? What is a 504? Why should investors care?▼

An IEP is like a personalized learning contract. Every child with a disability in a U.S. public school gets one. A team creates it — the special education teacher, general ed teacher, SLP, OT, school psychologist, an administrator, and the parent. The IEP sets measurable goals and requires the school to track progress with evidence.

A 504 Plan is simpler — it provides accommodations (extra time, assistive tech, preferential seating) without full special education services. Often the first step before an IEP.

Assistive technology is any device that helps a student participate in education. Under IDEA, the IEP team must consider AT for every student. If AT is written into the IEP, the school must provide it — at no cost to families — funded by IDEA Part B ($15.5B annually). (Source: adayinourshoes.com, U.S. Dept. of Education)

The gap: Tracking progress is almost entirely manual. No widely adopted objective measurement tool exists for the behavioral and sensory goals that make up most IEPs. That's what Brooks Band fills.

🧩 What does "neurodivergent" mean? What is "atypical prosody"?▼

Neurodivergent means a person's brain works differently — including autism, ADHD, sensory processing differences, and apraxia. About 1 in 5 people are neurodivergent.

Atypical prosody means difficulty regulating voice volume and tone. Over 70% of autistic individuals experience it. Some speak too loudly without realizing it; others speak too softly. This isn't a behavior problem — it's a neurological difference that the right tools can support.

Money Left on the Table

$9B+

National SpEd doc burden/yr

BLS · ASHA 2024

$1M+

Unclaimed Medicaid per 500-student district

CMS/MACPAC

$28K

Non-billable time per school SLP/yr

$44.89/hr × 12hr/wk

$20–31K

Lost billing per private therapist/yr

$80-120/session × 5 lost/wk

Autism Prevalence Is Accelerating

CDC data for 8-year-olds. Hover for details.

Source: CDC ADDM Network, 2000–2025

Where a School SLP's Time Goes

Only 48% goes to students. Documentation is the #1 burnout factor. (ASHA 2024)

The Solution

Brooks Band™ — A Platform, Not Just a Device

Built on Samsung Galaxy Watch with Knox Manage enterprise security. The BrooksClip (built by UTC College of Engineering) is the primary voice-capturing device — detecting both voice too loud AND voice too soft, covering the full spectrum of atypical prosody. The watch provides the full biometric sensor suite, haptic feedback, and user interface. No audio is ever recorded, stored, or transmitted.

The Closed-Loop: Listen (BrooksClip captures voice amplitude) → Process (on-device edge computing against personalized baselines) → Cue (private haptic vibration — only the wearer feels it) → Document (timestamped data auto-exports to compliance dashboards). See live demo →

Full Biometric Suite: Voice monitoring is the entry point, but the platform captures continuous biometric patterns — creating baselines that IEP teams have never had access to. The device serves as a comprehensive multi-use IEP tool.

Customizable Calming: When escalation is detected, the system can activate personalized calming protocols — guided box breathing or a partner regulation app customized to the user. The user or their therapist chooses what works.

Open Platform: Partner apps can plug into the Brooks Band system via API — the output can activate another app, expanding the ecosystem's value. This creates partnership revenue without building every feature internally.

Innovation

Why This Has Never Existed Before

Innovation at Sensory Bridges is measured by one standard: does this create something that has never existed, for people who have never had it, in a way that is immediately, measurably useful?

Technical Innovation

The Brooks Band applies proprietary adaptive monitoring of self-generated voice output on a wrist-worn device — novel in the patent literature. No prior art covers this specific approach for self-regulation purposes. On-device processing makes it one of the only privacy-first wearables in the assistive technology market. Multiple patents filed.

Sources: USPTO patent search; Freedom-to-operate analysis confirms low infringement risk against Phoeb-X US11,779,275 B2 and US12,208,213 B2 (inbound sensory filtering, not outbound voice monitoring).

Market Innovation

Sensory Bridges created a new product category — a Closed-Loop Adaptive Self-Regulation System — bridging assistive technology, clinical documentation, and regulatory compliance into a single wearable platform. This is not an incremental improvement. It is category creation. No competing product generates IEP progress notes or Medicaid-compliant SOAP notes from wearable sensor data.

Sources: Competitive analysis of Revibe/Pearson, Mightier, Floreo, Empatica, AngelSense, Brain Power, Harkla — none offer documentation generation from wearable data.

Impact Innovation

The neurodivergent population has been served by subjective, memory-based documentation for the entire history of IDEA (1975 to present — 50 years). Brooks Band introduces objective, device-generated behavioral data into IEP and Medicaid workflows for the first time. Pilot deployments will produce the first outcomes dataset of its kind.

Sources: IDEA (P.L. 94-142, 1975); 34 CFR §300.320 IEP requirements; ASHA 2024 Schools Survey documenting subjective documentation practices.

Competitive Analysis

Brooks Band vs. Everything Else

The Brooks Band is entering a space where the real competitor is manual documentation — paper, clipboards, and typed notes. Among technology solutions, no direct competitor exists for wearable voice self-regulation with documentation generation.

Feature	Brooks Band™	Revibe (Pearson)	Noise Apps	Manual Documentation
Measures	Outbound voice + full biometrics	Physical fidgeting	Room noise	Therapist observation
Feedback	Private adaptive haptics	Timed vibration	Public alarms	Verbal correction
Documentation	Auto IEP notes + SOAP notes	Attention charts	None	Handwritten
Compliance	FERPA + HIPAA dual path	No HIPAA	Consumer only	Varies
Voice too soft	Yes (BrooksClip)	No	No	Subjective
Yr 1 Cost	~$308	$848	Free–$10	$28K+ (staff time)
Security	Samsung Knox (DoD-level)	Standard	None	Paper files

The key difference: Revibe generates attention charts. Brooks Band generates legal documents. That's the difference between a consumer gadget and institutional infrastructure.

Validation

What 300+ Interviews Told Us

NSF I-Corps (UTK) + Vanderbilt I-Corps SXSW Cohort + Vanderbilt Builder Program + independent surveys. 150+ families on waitlist with zero paid marketing.

Customer Discovery Results

Survey and interview data from parents, autistic adults, teachers, therapists, administrators.

Source: Sensory Bridges surveys (n=168) + NSF I-Corps + Vanderbilt I-Corps (n=155+)

Business Model

Hardware + Recurring SaaS + Data Licensing

Every device sold generates annual platform subscriptions. Published at sensorybridges.com/business-model

School & District

$249 device

+ $59/student/year

IEP portal · SpEd dashboard · FERPA DUA

Year 2: $99/yr managed rental (zero-capital)

Funded by: IDEA Part B federal grants. Zero cost to families.

Clinical & Medicaid

$249 device

+ $49–$149/mo/practice

Unlimited clients · Auto SOAP notes · Medicaid routing

ROI: Pays for itself in 3 weeks of saved SLP time ($150/hr).

Consumer & Family

$279 device

+ $149–$249/year

Daily dashboards · Weekly summaries · IEP data export

Value: Saves families hundreds vs. private therapy.

Est. COGS: Samsung Galaxy Watch ~$120–$150/unit at volume · Knox Manage ~$5/device/mo · Cloud ~$20–$30/student/yr · Software gross margin: 50–70%

How the Business Evolves

Phase 1 — Paid Pilots (2026)

5–8 school pilots + 8–10 OT trials. Low-cost to prove fit and generate data.

$17K

Month 6 ARR

$112K

Month 12 ARR

3+3+50

Districts/Clinics/Consumers

Phase 2 — Institutional Scale (2027)

15 districts + 10 clinics + 200 consumers. SaaS becomes primary revenue.

$620K

Year 2 ARR

130%+

Net Revenue Retention

80 districts

Year 2 target

Phase 3 — Clinical Acceleration (2028)

Major autism center partnerships. Medical advisory board. Data licensing begins.

$2.5M+

Year 3 ARR

Series A

$6M–$10M raise

2,500

Devices to centers

Phase 4+ — Medical Reimbursement (2029+)

Medicaid EPSDT in 1–2 states. Cost to families: $0. Prescriber network. Flywheel.

$10–20M

Year 5 ARR

6:1–11:1

LTV:CAC

$50–150M+

Revenue ceiling

Revenue Growth

Conservative Year 1, scaling with institutional adoption.

How projections are calculated: Bottom-up from (1) pilot commitments/pipeline, (2) published pricing × devices-per-account, (3) NRR 120–130%. Year 1 = signed commitments only. No Medicaid assumed until 2029.

The Transition

The Path from Education to Medical

The clinical-first question investors ask: "Why not go straight to hospitals?" Here's why education builds the proof that makes clinical work — and how the transition happens. Full roadmap at sensorybridges.com/roadmap

Why Education First

Schools buy with IDEA Part B money that already exists. No FDA clearance needed. Faster sales cycles. Schools operate under FERPA (simpler than HIPAA). Every deployment generates the outcome data and IEP documentation proof that clinical partners will demand before they sign anything.

Why Clinical Is Already in the Plan

Clinical channels unlock bigger contracts and legitimacy. The model already includes OT/therapy sales starting Year 1, Medicaid waiver research in Year 2, and full clinical reimbursement by Year 4. Education builds evidence; clinical scales revenue.

The Pivot Point: Education Data Unlocks Clinical Credibility

By end of Year 2, Sensory Bridges has peer-reviewed outcome data from real school deployments, a proprietary behavioral metric in IEP documents, and 40+ institutional accounts. This is what makes autism center partnerships viable — not aspirational. Without this data, approaching top centers is premature. With it, you arrive with evidence, not just a pitch.

The compliance bridge: In schools, data flows through FERPA via Data Use Agreements. In clinical settings, data flows through HIPAA via Business Associate Agreements. FERPA and HIPAA never apply to the same data — the platform enforces a strict digital firewall. This dual-compliance architecture is what allows one platform to serve both markets without regulatory conflict.

Five-Phase Roadmap

Each phase builds the foundation for the next.

2026

Paid Pilots

$112K

2027

Districts + Therapy

$620K

2028

Autism Centers

$2.5M+

2029

Medicaid

$10M+

2030+

National Scale

$50M+

Market Size

A Massive, Underserved Market

$26B+

TAM — Global assistive tech (10.2% CAGR)

Grand View Research

$3–5B

SAM — U.S. voice/sensory regulation tools

NCES, CDC, BLS

$50–75M

SOM — Year 5: SE U.S. SpEd + therapy

Sensory Bridges analysis

Adjacent markets: 22M OSHA noise-exposed workers · 795K post-stroke rehab · 6.9M Alzheimer's/dementia · 28.8M hearing loss

The Team

Lived Experience + Technical Execution

Megan Cales

Founder & CEO · Neurodivergent founder and mom who experienced these challenges personally · Career Coordinator, Rollins College of Business at UTC · Alum of NSF I-Corps, Vanderbilt Builder Program, Life TN SciPreneur, CodeLaunch · Currently in NEC Project Healthcare & Life Science TN Accelerators · 300+ discovery interviews · SXSW 2026 live demo

LinkedIn →

Zachary Beker

Data Analytics & Autism Advocate · Autistic individual bringing lived-experience perspective to product design, data analysis, and community engagement

LinkedIn →

Dr. Vijayalakshmi Kumarasamy

AI Specialist · PhD in Computer Science from UTC · Strategic partnerships and AI integration · ChaTech TechX Awards finalist (AI Innovation, Tech for Good, Early Innovator)

LinkedIn →

UTC College of Engineering

Building the BrooksClip — the primary voice-capturing device detecting both too-loud AND too-soft voice output · Biomechatronics & Assistive Technology Lab

UTC OT & Psychology

Conducting IRB-approved research study (Protocol #2025-0084) · Clinical validation of platform efficacy

Clinical Partner — COTA/L

Certified OT Assistant at a leading children's rehabilitation institute · Developer of a proprietary regulation protocol integrated into the platform's calming features

Traction & Funding

Grants, Awards & Recognition

$32,250 in non-dilutive funding and awards received. Finalist for Chattanooga Technology Council's TechX Early Innovator Award 2025 (sponsored by Kenco Group).

Kiva Crowdfunding (100 supporters / 3 days)	$8,000
UTC Mocs Innovate (2 grants × $4,000)	$8,000
Project Healthcare Accelerator Scholarship	$6,000
NSF Mid-South Hub Pitch Competition	$2,750
Vanderbilt Builder Program Micro Grant	$2,500
UTC FLY Pitch Competition	$2,000
LaunchTN Travel Grant	$1,500
UTC Travel Grant	$1,000
LifeScience TN Grant	$500
TOTAL	$32,250

Program Partners: NSF · I-Corps Mid-South · UTC · NEC Project Healthcare · Life Science TN · Launch TN

The Ask

Pre-Seed Raise: $500,000

Takes Sensory Bridges from paid pilots to institutional scale — purchasing Samsung hardware, moving the CEO full-time, and building the engineering team.

Use of Funds

Designed to reach $112K ARR (Month 12) and $620K ARR (Year 2).

Where Every Dollar Goes

Samsung Hardware ($100K): Galaxy Watch units for pilots, trials, inventory.

Software Engineer ($100K): Full-time — Wear OS app, educator dashboard, cloud platform.

CEO Salary ($75K): Move Megan Cales to full-time at Sensory Bridges. Paid monthly.

Working Capital ($50K): Runway buffer — ensures 18–24 months of operations through revenue milestones.

Marketing ($30K): Conferences, pilot recruitment, digital presence, content creation.

Patents & Legal ($30K): Patent prosecution, trademarks, corporate legal.

Business Ops ($25K): Insurance, accounting, software subscriptions, office, travel.

Contingency ($25K): Unexpected costs, pilot support, opportunity reserve.

QA & Testing ($20K): Device validation, pilot support, user testing.

UTC Engineering ($15K): BrooksClip hardware R&D partnership.

Insurance & Travel ($15K): D&O insurance, liability, pilot site travel.

Clinical Advisors ($15K): Stipends for medical advisory board formation.

What This Capital Achieves

Month 6: 3 districts, 3 clinics, 50 consumers live. $17K ARR.

Month 12: 15 districts, 10 clinics, 200 consumers. First case study submitted. $112K ARR.

Month 18–24: 80 districts, 50 clinics, 1,000 consumers. Medicaid billing integration. $620K ARR.

Runway: 18–24 months, reaching milestones for Series A ($6M–$10M) in 2028.

Research Opportunity

The Value of Baseline Biometric Data

Why Baseline Data Matters

Baseline = how someone's body normally behaves. Without it, you can't tell if anything is improving. Today's IEP teams set goals based on subjective observation. With continuous biometric baselining, they set goals based on objective measurement. That's the difference between a guess and evidence.

What This Is Worth to Research

Clinical trials average $36,500 per participant (SoFProMed, 2025). Sensory Bridges generates longitudinal datasets as a byproduct of normal usage — no extra recruitment cost. At 2,000 participants: $1M–$4M in potential annual data licensing revenue.

Sources: SoFProMed 2025, Kaiser/Intel estimates, PMC scoping review

Frequently Asked Questions

What Investors Ask

Is this an FDA-regulated medical device?▼

No. Classified as assistive technology (IDEA) and general wellness under FDA's January 2026 guidance. It promotes self-awareness, not diagnosis or treatment. FDA clearance becomes a strategic option in Phase 4+ — from a position of strength, not necessity.

How does student privacy work?▼

All processing on-device. No audio recorded, stored, or transmitted. Only numeric metrics cross to cloud. Schools: FERPA via DUA. Clinics: HIPAA via BAA. The platform enforces a strict digital firewall — FERPA and HIPAA never apply to the same data. Privacy policies: sensorybridges.com/privacy1 & sensorybridges.com/app-privacy

Why Samsung and Knox Manage?▼

Knox Manage provides DoD-level security and Freestanding Mode — locking the device exclusively to the Brooks Band app. Can't be used as a personal smartwatch. Eliminates classroom distractions, protects data integrity, meets K-12 deployment requirements. Samsung Health Sensor SDK provides raw biometric data access. No proprietary hardware risk.

Who pays for the device in schools?▼

Schools pay using IDEA Part B federal funds ($15.5B/year). If AT is in the IEP, school must provide it at no cost to families. No new budget needed. The platform also unlocks Medicaid revenue districts couldn't capture — often paying for itself.

What about IP protection?▼

Multiple patents filed covering core platform architecture. Freedom-to-operate analysis confirms low infringement risk (competitor Phoeb-X patents cover inbound sensory filtering, not outbound voice monitoring). Additional filings in development.

How does partner integration work?▼

The platform supports partner app integration via API — system output (escalation events, biometrics) can trigger actions in third-party apps. Includes calming apps, therapy tools, and behavioral tracking. Creates ecosystem value and partnership revenue.

What's the competitive landscape?▼

Primary competitor: Revibe (Pearson, October 2025) — measures fidgeting, not voice; no IEP/SOAP generation; no HIPAA. Market penetration for wearable voice self-regulation: 0%. No direct competitor. Real competitor is manual paper documentation — and it's been failing for 50 years.

Can the BrooksClip detect voice too soft as well?▼

Yes. The BrooksClip is the primary voice-capturing device, built by UTC's College of Engineering. It detects both voice too loud AND voice too soft — covering the full spectrum of atypical prosody. This is critical because autism affects voice regulation in both directions.

Privacy & Compliance Summary: Sensory Bridges processes all audio on-device — no audio is ever recorded, stored, or transmitted. Only timestamped numeric metrics are transmitted to the cloud. Student data in schools is governed by FERPA (Data Use Agreement). Clinical data is governed by HIPAA (Business Associate Agreement). The platform is COPPA-compliant for children under 13. Positioned as assistive technology under IDEA and general wellness under FDA guidance. No personal data is sold or shared for marketing purposes. Full policies: sensorybridges.com/privacy1 · sensorybridges.com/app-privacy

The Opportunity

Sensory Bridges is building the category-defining platform at the intersection of assistive technology, education compliance, and clinical data — in a market with zero direct competitors and 5x growth in demand.

Pre-seed $500K · Chattanooga, TN · Multiple patents · Samsung partnership · 300+ interviews · 150+ waitlist · $32K+ in grants

"With the Brooks Band, we're not just helping people speak — we are helping them be heard."