Legato launches from stealth with $12M to bring AI-assisted hearing to eyewear
Legato, a startup founded by former Bose and EssilorLuxottica executives, has come out of stealth with $12 million in funding and introduced its AI hearing glasses, Legato Frames. The glasses embed hearing-assistance technology into the arms of eyewear, targeting the large population with mild to moderate hearing loss. The company aims to make hearing care as routine as vision correction, with the product expected to launch this fall.
Legato's founders bring complementary expertise from two distinct industries: Trivedi previously led smart eyewear development at EssilorLuxottica, including work on the Meta Ray-Bans, while Romine ran Bose's hearing aid division and later served as COO at Audicus. The company was founded in late 2024 after Trivedi identified acoustic technology that could bridge hearing assistance and eyewear.
The startup's funding round was led by Neotribe Ventures with participation from Listen and Village Global, with proceeds directed primarily toward product development and marketing. Legato Frames employ a dual-speaker system that directs audio to the wearer while suppressing sound leakage by 99% at a few inches from the ear, addressing privacy concerns common with open-ear designs.
This product could meaningfully shift how millions of Americans approach hearing care, particularly the estimated 40 million people with untreated mild to moderate loss. By embedding assistance into familiar eyewear, Legato may reduce the stigma and cost barriers that deter treatment, potentially improving social engagement and cognitive health for older adults. However, its success depends on whether consumers accept glasses as a hearing device and whether the AI-driven noise filtering performs reliably in real-world settings.