No earphones in the duct, no air from the device: just a frame. Nuance changes the way we approach hearing and speak to a huge audience that has so far chosen to do nothing.
Shades is the brand with which EssilorLuxottica tries to hide a hearing aid in a pair of glasses, and with Nuance Audio Plus, now also available in Italy, the bet enters its second phase. The project is ambitious but with great foresight: Answers a huge potential demand and bypasses the stigma that accompanies traditional braces.
Half the world already wears glasses and no one notices. This is where the idea comes from: if the hearing aid looks like any other frame, it becomes easier to decide.
What changes with Plus
The technology remains open ear: small speakers in the temples spread the sound without closing the ear canal, while directional and beamforming microphones bring the voice of the person in front of you to the fore. The group claims progress on amplification, speech clarity in noise and perception of one’s own voice.
Autonomy rises to about ten hours of medium use. On the temples there are a switch and volume buttons, and with a compatible iPhone (iOS 16 or later) you can answer calls directly from the mount. From the app you can switch from frontal mode, designed for face-to-face conversations, to 360 degree mode.
Frames, lenses and price
Three shapes, Square 53, Panthos 48 and Upturn 52, in five colours, from glossy black to olive green. Any ophthalmic lens can be mounted, including Transitions. The recommended price starts from 899 eurosdepending on the lenses, and Plus joins the previous collection, which remains on sale. They can be found at Salmoiraghi & Viganò, GrandVision Italia and in independent optical and hearing centers.
A market of 1.25 billion people
According to data cited by EssilorLuxottica, 1.6 billion people around the world live with hearing loss and approximately 1.25 billion they have a mild or moderate form. Almost 90% do not use any solution. This is the area Nuance are looking at.
In the first year the group reached 14 countries and over 18,000 points of sale. Customers are on average five years younger than those with traditional braces, and two out of three had never considered that type of solution.
A category in itself
They are not selfie and voice assistant smart glasses, and they are not hearing aids in the classic sense. The Nuances are class IIa medical devices in Europe, approved by the FDA in the United States, with the appearance of prescription glasses. In fact a new category of smart deviceswhere technology serves to hear better and goes unnoticed. They are designed for light or moderate losses: for more serious cases a specialist is needed.
A bet that looks far ahead
The price is not an impulse purchase, and the market numbers come from the company itself. But whoever enters the shop chooses a pair of glasses, and hearing comes along with the frames. This is why Nuance are a project ambitious and far-sighted: they speak to a huge audience and remove the prejudice that holds many people back.
