smallTalk

smallTalk is an Ohio-based technology company building products intended to support infant brain development through early language exposure. Its current focus is neurodevelopmental care in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU): the smallTalk NICU Egg system lets families record their voices in a Parent Companion App, transfer the recordings to a sealed speaker device, and have the care team play them back to the baby with a single button press. Volume and duration are set automatically by patented algorithms and hardware according to the infant's postmenstrual age and whether the baby is in an isolette or an open crib; the device is indicated for medically stable infants at 28 weeks postmenstrual age and older. The speaker uses medical-grade plastics and a fully sealed enclosure for NICU infection-control requirements, and the hospital-facing app is described as HIPAA compliant.

The company frames its rationale around caregiver voice exposure, which it describes as reduced during NICU stays and as a building block for communication and brain development; it cites benefits for infants including cardiorespiratory stability, growth, deeper sleep, and shorter stays, as well as a sense of connection for separated parents. The NICU product line follows earlier consumer-oriented work described in 2021, when smallTalk was developing a baby-safe speaker (the smallTalk Egg) activated by a sensor-equipped pacifier over Bluetooth Low Energy, playing ten-second lullabies, songs, or stories in parent-selected languages recorded by mothers in their native languages, with a companion app curating content and tracking milestones. Technology underlying the company is licensed from Nationwide Children's Hospital, where smallTalk is listed among startups of the Office of Technology Commercialization.

Founding story

smallTalk was co-founded by Dean Koch, an experienced startup executive and entrepreneur who serves as CEO, and Dr. Nathalie Maitre, a physician scientist and neuroscientist specializing in infant brain development who serves as Chief Science Officer. According to Rev1 Ventures, the two founded the company to translate Maitre's research on the brains of hospitalized babies into products usable at home, building on the premise that the language center of the brain is wired in the first months of life through infant-directed speech.

Business model

smallTalk sells hardware plus accompanying software and services to hospitals and directly to parents. Organizations can buy a Starter System at $500 per device, which includes the NICU Egg speaker with a one-year warranty and free returns, access to the Parent Companion App, and a recording guide and resources. An Enterprise System with plans starting at $3,500 per year adds device maintenance and replacement, a Hospital Companion App on a HIPAA-compliant system for staff to manage parent accounts and recordings, and live and on-demand staff training and implementation support. Parents may also purchase the NICU Egg directly.

Per-device hardware sales at $500 each for starter deployments, annual enterprise subscriptions starting at $3,500 per year covering device maintenance, hospital software access and staff training, plus direct-to-consumer device purchases.

Traction

The company states it is supported by the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, Nationwide Children's Hospital and Rev1 Ventures, and that development of the NICU Egg was supported by the National Institutes of Health. smallTalk appears on Nationwide Children's Hospital's list of startups and was selected for the spring 2025 Techstars Columbus cohort powered by The Ohio State University. In 2021 the company reported having interviewed roughly a thousand mothers about their aspirations for their children.

Latest developments

In March 2025 smallTalk was named to the spring 2025 cohort of Techstars Columbus Powered by The Ohio State University, described there as a first medical device that improves brain development in preterm infants. Current company materials focus on commercial availability of the NICU Egg through starter and enterprise hospital programs and direct parent purchase.