Listening
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2023
- HeadquartersSan Francisco, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingSoftware
Listening firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Listening
- Legal name
- Listening.com
- Website
- https://www.listening.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2023
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Listening industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Academic Text-to-Speech Software
- NAICS
- Sound Recording Studios (51224), Other Sound Recording Industries (51229), Other Sound Recording Industries (512290)
- SIC
- Services-Prepackaged Software (7372), Services-Educational Services (8200)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Audio Learning Content (Podcasts, Audiobooks, Listening Programs) (EDAGALAM)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Audiobook & Spoken-Word Streaming Platforms (MPAIADAE), Classroom Audio, Voice Amplification & Communication Hardware/Software (EDAFAGAI), Podcast Transcription, Captioning & Accessibility Services (MPACADAK)
Keywords
Where Listening is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- San Francisco
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Markets served
Listening business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Personnel, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Operations
Revenue model
- Subscription - Premium Tiers: The platform operates on a subscription model with premium tiers offering enhanced features. Based on the consumer-facing freemium approach visible on the site, users can access basic features with a free tier and upgrade to paid plans for full functionality. Payment processing handled through Stripe for subscription billing.
- Freemium Access: Users can try the service with limited free access (500 characters mentioned in one instance) to test voice quality before subscribing. The free tier serves as a conversion funnel for premium subscriptions.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Freemium | Monthly | Free tier with limited usage |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels5 records
Marketing channels6 records
Listening product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Listening is an AI-powered text-to-speech platform that converts academic papers, research documents, PDFs, and web pages into natural-sounding audio using voices trained specifically for scientific terminology. The platform serves students, researchers, and academics who want to consume reading material while commuting, exercising, or multitasking, and is delivered across web, iOS, Android, and a Chrome browser extension with cross-device library sync.
Product overview
Listening is a text-to-speech platform designed for academic content consumption, consisting of a core Listening App (web, iOS, Android) and a Chrome/Firefox browser extension. The platform converts academic papers, research documents, textbooks, and web content into natural-sounding audio using AI voices optimized for scientific terminology. Key products include specialized web tools for PDF-to-audio conversion, Spanish language support (Spanish Text to Speech, Spanish PDF to Audio), academic workflow tools (Grant Proposal Audio Review Tool, PhD Thesis Research Assistant, Academic Podcast Creator, Research Paper Audio), and features like Audio Note Taking with auto-timestamps. The platform supports 8 languages with voices trained specifically for academic content, achieving 95% accuracy on scientific terminology. Users include 50,000+ students and researchers from institutions such as Harvard, MIT, Yale, Columbia, Princeton, Stanford, and Cornell.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Listening Platform (Web, iOS, Android)
Quantifiable outcome
- Users can listen 2x-3x faster than reading
- +3 more outcomes
Companies that use Listening
Customer profileNamed customers9 records
Segments6 records
Ideal customer profiles4 records
Listening technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
AI capability4 records
Feature12 records
Listening partnerships and signals
Strategic signalScale indicators3 records
Recent moves1 record
Expansion highlights5 records
Listening competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Speechify: Speechify is the closest direct competitor — a consumer and education-focused TTS platform that converts PDFs, documents, and web pages into audio with natural AI voices. It directly competes for the same student/researcher persona, offers similar browser extensions and mobile apps, and is named in Listening's own comparison content.
- Voice Dream Reader: Voice Dream Reader is a mobile-first TTS app popular with students and people with dyslexia/visual impairments. It targets the same accessibility and study-on-the-go use cases as Listening, with premium voices and document import — a tight direct competitor for the dyslexia/ADHD segment.
- Natural Reader: Natural Reader is a long-standing text-to-speech platform with both consumer and education tiers, supporting PDF, Word, and EPUB with natural voices. It directly overlaps Listening's document-to-audio use cases for students and accessibility users, and is explicitly named in Listening's competitor comparison pages.
- Read Aloud (Read&Write / TextHelp): TextHelp's Read&Write and Read Aloud products are widely deployed in educational institutions for accessibility and reading support — directly competing with Listening's dyslexia/ADHD and student personas, but with deeper institutional procurement penetration and FERPA-compliant infrastructure.
- Speech Central: Speech Central is a cross-platform TTS app supporting web articles, PDFs, and documents with natural voices. It targets similar accessibility and productivity use cases across iOS, Android, Windows, and Mac, making it a comparable niche TTS product competing for the same end-user persona.
Emerging players
- Otter.ai: Otter.ai is named in Listening's comparison content and overlaps in academic note-taking and meeting transcription use cases. While Otter focuses on live transcription rather than document listening, both target the researcher/student persona and compete for the same accessibility budget.
- Play.ht: Play.ht is an AI voice generation platform with high-quality natural voices and a growing API business. While not academic-focused, its voice quality improvements and document-to-audio features make it an emerging competitive threat as it expands beyond podcasting into general TTS.
Broad incumbents
- Murf AI: Murf AI is a general-purpose enterprise AI voice platform also cited in Listening's competitive comparisons (78% accuracy benchmark). It overlaps in professional narration and educational content use cases but does not specialize in academic document workflows.
- ElevenLabs: ElevenLabs is a leading AI voice platform used as a general-purpose TTS reference point (78% accuracy benchmark) in Listening's own materials. While broader and not academic-specific, its voice quality, rapid improvement, and capital backing make it the most credible threat to Listening's technical differentiation.
- OpenAI (ChatGPT Read Aloud / Advanced Voice): OpenAI's ChatGPT can read PDFs aloud and Advanced Voice offers natural-sounding TTS — making it a free, well-capitalized alternative that overlaps with Listening's core 'listen to academic papers' use case. As a foundation model provider, OpenAI represents both a platform risk (commoditization) and a potential partnership opportunity.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Listening social profiles
Digital presenceListening financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Listening leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles1 record
Listening funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds1 record
Investors1 record
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Listening M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Listening
What does Listening do?
Listening is an AI-powered text-to-speech platform that converts academic papers, research documents, PDFs, and web pages into natural-sounding audio using voices trained specifically for scientific terminology. The platform serves students, researchers, and academics who want to consume reading material while commuting, exercising, or multitasking, and is delivered across web, iOS, Android, and a Chrome browser extension with cross-device library sync.
Is Listening a public or private company?
Listening is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Listening founded?
Listening was founded in 2023. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Listening based?
Listening is headquartered in San Francisco, United States, in the North America region.
How does Listening make money?
Two revenue lines are on record. Subscription - Premium Tiers are the primary driver. The others are freemium Access.
Who are Listening's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Speechify, Voice Dream Reader, Natural Reader, Read Aloud (Read&Write / TextHelp) and Speech Central. Emerging players are Otter.ai and Play.ht. Broad incumbents are Murf AI, ElevenLabs and OpenAI (ChatGPT Read Aloud / Advanced Voice).
Does Listening have an API?
No public API is recorded for Listening.
What industry is Listening in?
Listening's product category is Academic Text-to-Speech Software. Its primary akta.pro industry code is EDAGALAM, Audio Learning Content (Podcasts, Audiobooks, Listening Programs), with a secondary code of MPAIADAE, Audiobook & Spoken-Word Streaming Platforms. Its NAICS code is 51224 and its SIC code is 7372.