Glasses with built-in hearing aid stun at CES 2024

From glasses that also help your hearing, to “glasses for the blind” and the world’s first in-ear computer, the audio and vision technology unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) this year could be life-changing.

Euronews Next tried out the impressive technologies at this year’s tech fair in Las Vegas.

Glasses for the hard-of-hearing

EssilorLuxottica, the world leader in eyewear and lenses and home to a multitude of eyewear brands such as Ray-Ban, revealed glasses that can help those with mild to moderate hearing loss.

The glasses, called Nuance Audio, weigh in at just over 40 g and come in two fashionable styles with invisible advanced hearing technology built into the thick Woody Allen-like frames.

The product release comes after EssilorLuxottica acquired the Israeli start-up Nuance Hearing.

The volume – which is controlled via the glasses, an app, or a small remote – can be adjusted for different environments such as large crowds.

The glasses take only 2.5 hours to charge and can be reenergised by placing them on the wireless charging pad.

The key to this hearing technology is that it is hidden in the frames, meaning that it is more comfortable than wearing a hearing aid, and, more importantly, it takes away the stigma of having a hearing issue.

“I’ve seen a lot of people crying when they tried the glasses as all the people were completely disconnected from the world before because for years they couldn’t even hear birds, for example,” Stefano Genco, Global Head of Super Audio and Nuance Audio at EssilorLuxottica, told Euronews Next.

“People in their 50s said they felt they had impaired hearing but that they had never looked for a solution because they didn’t want to feel handicapped”.

The glasses will not be available until later in the year in the United States and not until 2025 in Europe.

Genco said that the company hopes to eventually add features such as blood pressure, body temperature, and posture sensors to the glasses so they eventually act more like a smartwatch.

‘Glasses for the blind’

Romanian start-up Lumen showed off its technology which could replace guide dogs and walking sticks.

Using sensors, the headset can guide you via trackers that sense if something is blocking your path. A vibration in the headset on the right or left side will then guide you to change direction.

This is a more scalable solution for the millions of blind or visually impaired people, Lumen CEO Cornel Amariei told Euronews Next.

“If you look at what solutions are out there, you will actually only find two, and that is the white cane and the guide dog. They’re both thousands of years old and unfortunately, the guide dog costs up to €60,000 to train,” he said.

“But here’s where we come in. We build human glasses that replicate the main features of a guide dog without the drawbacks”.

The headset uses the same self-driving technology found in cars but is even more technical as it has six cameras and uses artificial intelligence (AI) to determine if a surface is safe to walk or not.

The headset will be available later in the year.

The world’s first in-ear computer

Dutch start-up Breggz displayed its luxury hearable which is a wireless in-ear computer that has four speakers per ear, creating a concert-like audio experience.

But it also has a voice-activated personal assistant that allows you to have your emails read out or even call an Uber or use ChatGPT.

You can also choose to answer the phone by shaking your head and you can skip songs or increase or decrease the volume of what you are listening to.

The in-ear computer is custom-sized for a better fit. The product is a luxury one and costs €1,600.

“We are more high-end so it costs more,” Breggz’s co-founder and CEO told Euronews Next.

“You can buy a Seiko watch or you can buy a Rolex. That’s a little bit of the difference between our products”.