...Bionica’s founders — chief technology officer Ralph Beckman and vice president of project development Kipp Bradford — say their experience in low-end consumer audio equipment has given them an edge in the hearing-aid industry.

Currently many hearing aids are fragile, with many small switches to operate and have problems with high-frequency distortions. Providence-based Bionica's roster of toys, including Bert and Ernie and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles designs, are made to be durable and user-friendly. Also, they often include voice-recognition and/or voice-playback features.

Beckman, 61, and Bradford, 33, have worked together at Providence-based Design Lab Inc, an industrial design firm. Beckman started Design Labs in 1978; Bionica, founded in 2005, is its first spinoff. Cranston-based Bay Computer Associates is also assisting with the design.

Last month, Slater invested $250,000 in Bionica. In a statement, Richard G. Horan, the fund’s managing director, called the Clio a “fundamentally new technology for the hearing impaired.”

The investment will help pay for several patent applications associated with the Clio, including software designed to separate speech from background noise.