Why people refuse a thing that would help.
The hearing aid has worked for decades. Yet among adults who could benefit, roughly one in four actually wears one, and many wait years before asking for help. Money matters, but it does not explain everything: prices have fallen and adoption stayed low.
Take cost out of the equation and what is left is the image of the object. A traditional hearing aid signals one thing the moment someone sees it: you have aged, something no longer works. It is a label people put off as long as they can, sometimes until they cannot ignore it. The research literature calls this, drily, a stigma barrier.
The bet behind the companies entering now is that the problem solves from the other side: you do not make the aid better, you hide it inside something people wear anyway, without embarrassment, or even with pleasure. Glasses. Earbuds. Objects that say nothing about your age.
What "hearing glasses" actually are.
The leading product is Nuance Audio, made by EssilorLuxottica, the largest eyewear group in the world (owner of Ray-Ban, Oakley, LensCrafters). The group bought a small startup, Nuance Hearing, in late 2022 and rebuilt the idea from scratch. The result looks like an ordinary pair of glasses, but the frame holds six microphones and two directional speakers.
The sound does not go into your ear. The speakers sit open, above the ear canal (an open-earⓘSound is projected towards the ear, with nothing plugged into the canal. You hear the room around you normally, with amplification layered on top, and none of the "blocked ear" feeling. design), while the microphones use beamformingⓘSeveral microphones combined to "aim" at sound from one direction, usually in front of you, and play down the rest. That is how it picks out the voice across the table in a noisy room. to amplify the voice in front of you and cut the surrounding noise. Settings are adjusted from a phone app.
Nuance Audio was authorised by the FDA in 2024 (the first preset hearing aid software cleared as a medical device) and reached the market in February 2025, first in the US and Italy, then France, the UK, Germany and Spain. By mid-2025, EssilorLuxottica reported the product was available in around 10,000 points of sale across six countries. The price sits at roughly $1,200, which the group describes as about a quarter of the average price of a traditional prescription hearing aid.
"Nuance Audio represents a breakthrough in hearing solutions, removing traditional barriers of stigma, cost and accessibility."
— Stefano Genco, head of Nuance Audio, at the US launch
An earbud you already own can be a hearing aid too.
Glasses are not the only door. In September 2024, the FDA authorised the Hearing Aid feature on Apple's AirPods Pro 2, the first OTCⓘOver-the-counter: a device you buy and tune yourself, without a prescription or a trip to an audiologist. In the US, the rule that allowed this took effect in 2022. hearing aid software ever cleared. The phone runs a hearing test, builds a personalised profile, and the earbuds amplify sound in real time.
The bet here is different: you need to buy nothing special. Plenty of people already have the earbuds in their pocket. The hearing aid becomes a setting rather than a purchase.
"You may already have a hearing aid in your hand and not even know it."
— Catherine Palmer, director of audiology at UPMC and past president of the American Academy of Audiology, on the AirPods Pro 2
The feature targets adults with perceived mild to moderate hearing loss, the same band as the Nuance glasses. For severe loss, both fall short.
The road spectacles have already travelled.
Glasses were once a mark of weakness, hidden where possible. Today they are a fashion accessory, a designer frame, something people wear even with non-prescription lenses. EssilorLuxottica says openly that it is betting on the same trajectory for hearing: a market held back by stigma, cost and visibility, exactly as eye care was a few decades ago.
There is a more recent commercial precedent too. Costco became the largest hearing aid retailer in North America by volume (around 16% of US units sold in 2024-2025, second only to the veterans' programme) precisely by taking the aid out of the clinic and putting it on the shopping list, at roughly a quarter of the price clinics charge. It made the product more ordinary and cheaper. And still, overall adoption stayed low, a sign that price alone does not move the needle.
"We have the potential to improve the quality of life of over a billion people."
— Francesco Milleri, chairman and CEO of EssilorLuxottica, presenting Nuance Audio at CES
What hearing better costs, by form.
Indicative price, by category
Prescription aids remain by far the most expensive. The Nuance glasses and AirPods Pro shift the conversation into a different price bracket. Approximate figures; the clinic average is from US data.
How a frame aims at one voice.
In a crowded room your ear takes in every voice at once. Beamforming uses several microphones to work out which direction each sound comes from and to amplify only what is in front of you. Move your gaze towards the speaker and switch the focus on to see the difference.
Three forms, one problem.
All three target mild to moderate loss. For severe hearing loss, traditional prescription aids remain the only serious option.
| Nuance glasses | AirPods Pro 2 | Prescription aid | |
|---|---|---|---|
| How it looks | Ordinary glasses, electronics hidden in the frame | Earbuds people wear anyway | Visible device in or behind the ear |
| Indicative price | ~$1,200 | ~$249 | from ~$2,000 to over $4,000 a pair |
| Battery | ~8 hours | a few hours between charges | all day |
| Who it's for | mild to moderate loss, especially if you already wear glasses | mild to moderate loss, occasional use | any degree, including severe |
| Prescription / audiologist | no (OTC) | no (OTC) | usually yes |
What is proven and what remains to check.
- WHO: about 1.5 billion people live with some form of hearing loss, of whom 430 million need rehabilitation.
- The FDA authorised the hearing aid feature on AirPods Pro 2 in September 2024, the first of its kind; the US OTC rule dates from 2022.
- Nuance Audio gained FDA clearance in 2024 and launched in 2025 across six countries; EssilorLuxottica bought Nuance Hearing in late 2022.
- Hearing aid adoption is low (around one in four of those who could benefit), and people wait years on average before seeking help.
- Stigma is a documented barrier, though recent research (MarkeTrak 2022) suggests it may count for less than once assumed.
- Costco sells around 16% of US hearing aids, at roughly a quarter of clinic prices.
- The Glimpse figure, +159% year on year, comes from proprietary trend data; it shows direction, not a verifiable market measure.
- The real benefit of the glasses is promising but tested so far in the lab (a 2026 study of 21 adults), with no field evidence yet.
- The 48% figure from ACHIEVE is for a high-risk subgroup, not for all wearers.
- The often-repeated claim that "only 29% wear a hearing aid" does not hold up in the primary literature: that 29% comes from a 2018 Malaysian study about how many seek professional help, not how many wear an aid.
- Real usage rates vary by how you measure: under 11% globally among those with severe loss, around 40% among Americans over 65 who admit to a problem.
Does this really change the habit?
The open question is not whether the technology works, but whether hiding it convinces people who have refused for decades. Here is how it could play out, and what evidence each version would need.
An old idea that comes back.
The frames hide the electronics. The question left open is whether hiding them convinces the people who refused for decades to try, or whether it just sells handsome glasses to those who would have bought an aid anyway.