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MILAN — Roughly a year after introducing its Nuance Audio brand, a convergence of eyewear and hearing aid devices, EssilorLuxottica is ramping up its tech capabilities in that space with an acquisition.
The eyewear giant has taken over Pulse Audition, a French start-up that specializes in AI-powered noise reduction and voice sound enhancement to scale up its Nuance Audio’s technology.
Introduced in early January last year at CES in Las Vegas and at Mido a month later, Nuance Audio offers eyewear with integrated high-tech hearing technology aimed at offering a valid and better-looking alternative to hearing aid devices.
“We continuously explore market opportunities in AI and big data, and this acquisition in France — one of our home countries — is a perfect fit with our long-term goals and investments in hearing solutions,” said Francesco Milleri, chairman and chief executive officer of EssilorLuxottica.
To be sure, the acquisition marks a new step in EssilorLuxottica’s foray into the hearing devices space.
Designed to be invisible with technology integrated throughout the acetate frames, as comfortable as any pair of glasses, and easy to set up (configuration takes less than two minutes), Nuance Audio frames are geared at people in their 50s and 60s who suffer from mild to moderate hearing loss.
The technology was a little less than two years in the making since EssilorLuxottica established the dedicated Super Audio division in the summer of 2022 and finalized the acquisition six months later of Israeli company Nuance Hearing.
By integrating Pulse Audition’s proprietary technologies, expertise in AI software development, embedded AI, and audio signal processing, as well as the French start-up’s team, EssilorLuxottica aimes to enhance its proprietary hardware and software and improve the quality of its hearing aid solutions.
The acquisition “reinforces our commitment to advancing the next category of computing platforms, also in Europe. We are excited to welcome this talented team in our group and look forward to further unlocking the enormous potential in the underserved hearing space,” said Paul du Saillant, deputy CEO of EssilorLuxottica.
EssilorLuxottica’s Nuance Audio eyewear.
Courtesy of EssilorLuxottica
The eyewear group, established in 2018 by the merger of France’s Essilor and Italy’s Luxottica Group, has been on a multipronged acquisition spree as of late.
In mid-December, it revealed the acquisition of the Italy-based Espansione Group, which specializes in the design and manufacturing of noninvasive medical devices, protected by international patents for the diagnosis and treatment of dry-eye, ocular surface and retinal diseases.
That investment was seen advancing EssilorLuxottica’s med-tech strategy and followed the deal, revealed in July, to acquire an 80 percent stake in Heidelberg Engineering, a German company that is a specialist in diagnostic solutions, digital surgical technologies and health care IT for clinical ophthalmology.
In July, the company also agreed to take over Supreme from VF Corp. for $1.5 billion in cash, making it the first EssilorLuxottica acquisition in the fashion space.
Last September, the eyewear giant also extended its partnership with Meta Platforms with the aim of building on the success of its Ray-Ban Meta smartglasses to develop the next generation of smart eyewear products. The two companies initially joined forces in 2019 and said they have entered a new long-term agreement.
The year 2024 has been a busy one for the company, which saw the debut of collections for Brunello Cucinelli, Jimmy Choo and Ferrari, Moncler’s new Lunettes collection in September, an Alain Mikli relaunch and an Oliver Peoples four-collection collaboration with Roger Federer.
EssilorLuxottica, which is publicly traded on Euronext Paris, in the first nine months of 2024 reported revenues of 19.7 billion euros, up 3 percent compared with the same period in 2023.
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