Legato has begun selling Frames in the United States, a pair of glasses that tucks hearing assistance into the arms of everyday eyewear.

Frames is the company’s debut product, priced from $999 and aimed at people whose hearing loss is mild to moderate.

The pitch confronts the expense, discomfort and stigma that push people away from conventional hearing aids. Rather than rely on directional microphones that falter in noisy rooms, Legato uses on-device AI to pick voices out of background noise and lift them.

The company says every bit of that processing stays on the frame itself: there is no camera on board, and nothing is recorded. Two speakers aim audio at the listener while suppressing the sound that would otherwise leak out, dropping levels by 99% only a few inches from the ear.

On the spec sheet, the frame comes in at 34 grams with lenses in place, lasts between 10 and 12 hours, and ships in three styles that accept prescription lenses; music and calls stream over Bluetooth.

Legato left stealth in August with $12M led by Neotribe Ventures, alongside Listen and Village Global. The 2024-founded startup comes from Mehul Trivedi, who built Bose Frames and later ran smart eyewear at EssilorLuxottica, and Steve Romine, who headed Bose’s hearing-aid division.

The launch pushes AI glasses past cameras and assistants into assistive audio, a quieter segment where regulators are friendlier and the user need is sharper. For a category chasing mainstream adoption, hearing loss may be the most defensible use case yet.

Source: TechCrunch