Google may have officially discontinued production and development of the Google Glass in 2015 — nearly a decade ago — but still, the smart glasses industry stays strong today, blending smart and wearable technology with fashion and functionality to fit different consumer needs and preferences.
Our previous post highlighted the collaboration between Zuckerberg’s Meta and renowned eyewear brand Ray-Ban. Shortly after posting, Facebook launched Ray-Ban Stories, the company’s first product meant to supplement a metaverse.
Two years later, a successor to the Stories smart glasses was released, simply named the Ray-Ban Meta. Aside from upgrades in hardware and design, the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses are also the first product to feature the built-in Meta AI assistant. The Ray-Ban Meta is marketed for a young generation of consumers and Internet influencers and prioritizes content creation and sharing over other common wearable features like fitness or navigation.
However, while the Ray-Ban Meta remains one of the more prominent products in the smart glasses segment today, many other eyewear and technological companies are entering the market with their own takes on smart glasses. Aside from built-in cameras and AI assistants, smart glasses pose an interesting question about how modern technology can improve accessibility for people who need it.
Below, we’ll take a look at some of these unique smart glasses that enable accessibility for its wearers:
Hearing glasses
Conventional hearing aids use a microphone, amplifier, and speaker built-into an earpiece to help wearers who are deaf or hard of hearing. These hearing aids help amplify noise and sounds to help wearers communicate more easily. In January 2024, Nuance Hearing demonstrated its high-quality hearing glasses at the annual tech convention, CES 2024. Compared to conventional options, Nuance’s hearing aid glasses look more or less like traditional eyeglasses instead of an earpiece. The glasses are packed with microphones that function around the company’s idea of “directivity”, allowing the glasses to amplify sounds coming from whatever you’re looking, or the direction the eyeglass frames are pointing.
At the same time, Nuance doesn’t claim that the frames can fully replace hearing aids or work for most levels of hearing loss. Nuance’s triumph lies in the innovation of hearing aid solutions, combining tech with fashion and the traditional function of glasses — vision correction. In fact, the Nuance hearing glasses also support progressive lenses and Transitions® lenses for sun protection.
Glasses for blindness and low-vision
This one may seem counterintuitive at first glance, but just as a pair of glasses can boost hearing for those with hearing loss, others can help provide vision and navigation capabilities for those who are blind or have low vision. A PLOS ONE study published in 2023 tested a pair of acoustic touch glasses on individuals with blindness or low vision. Using acoustic touch technology, the glasses help sonify objects, creating unique sound representations as they enter the device’s field of view. A University of Technology Sydney professor exemplified this sonification as the sound of rustling leaves to signify a plant or a buzzing sound to represent a mobile phone.
The study found that the wearable device significantly enhanced the ability of blind or low-vision individuals to recognize and reach for objects without needing too much mental effort. Through auditory feedback, blind or low-vision wearers can navigate themselves more safely in the real world, whether locating specific household items or walking down a street. While the technology can certainly be improved further, the research highlights the potential of acoustic touch technology for enhancing independence and quality of life in people who are blind or have low vision.
Smart glasses with tunable lenses
Finally, while not quite a tangible product accessible to consumers yet, tech giant Apple recently acquired a patent related to future smart glasses that could provide a unique, tunable lens system. If realized, the system could potentially negate the need for conventional prescription lenses for people with vision issues. Insights from Patently Apple describe the concept of the technology as potentially helpful for users showing signs of presbyopia or age-related farsightedness.
More importantly, the tunable lens system can be adjusted to accommodate users with different vision issues and focal ranges. This is done using one or more liquid crystal cells or other voltage-modulated optical materials in the adjustable lenses, with each liquid crystal cell may including a layer of liquid crystal material with adjustable phase profiles. While we’re yet to know what Apple might come up with, the smart glasses may be a purely vision correction product, or even include displays that accommodate augmented or virtual reality content.
