Legato, a hearing technology company, has emerged from stealth with $12 million in funding to bring its AI hearing glasses to market. The startup plans to launch its product, Legato Frames, later this fall. The glasses integrate the company’s patented hearing-assistance technology into eyewear frames, offering an alternative to traditional hearing aids. The company aims to make hearing as accessible and seamless as vision, according to its co-founders.
Legato was founded by Mehul Trivedi and Steve Romine, who previously worked at Bose and Audicus. Trivedi led smart eyewear efforts at EssilorLuxottica, while Romine managed the hearing aids division at Bose. After years at larger companies, Trivedi took time off to explore the intersection of hearing technology and smart eyewear. During this period, he discovered technology that could merge these fields and reached out to Romine to start Legato in late 2024.
The company is targeting individuals with mild to moderate hearing loss, which represents the largest segment of the hearing-loss population. Legato aims to make hearing care more accessible by addressing the cost, comfort, and stigma associated with traditional hearing aids. The glasses are designed to be small, lightweight, and discreet, with a proprietary acoustic system and signal-processing stack to achieve this. The product also features a dual-speaker system that directs sound toward the wearer while canceling sound that escapes, reducing sound by 99% just a few inches away from the ear.
Source: techcrunch
