EssilorLuxottica acquires AI-based hearing start-up, Pulse Audition

Eyewear group EssilorLuxottica has announced the acquisition of a French start-up dedicated to enhancing the experience of people with hearing impairments. Pulse Audition utilises artificial intelligence (AI) to enable noise reduction and voice enhancement, allowing those impacted by such impairments to better understand speech.

Through the acquisition, EssilorLuxottica said it would complement Pulse Audition’s proprietary hardware and software to improve the quality of its own products in the long-term. This will also include the integration of Pulse Audition’s expertise in AI software development and its audio signal processing.

In a release, EssilorLuxottica’s deputy chief executive officer, Paul du Saillant, and its chairman and CEO, Francesco Milleri, said in a joint statement said that as the group continues to explore market opportunities in AI and big data, the acquisition of Pulse Audition aligned with the company’s long-term goals and investments into hearing solutions.

They continued: “It 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.”

EssilorLuxottica had already set about a strategy to expand in the hearing solutions space prior to acquiring Pulse Audition. The company had initially snapped up hearing enhancement firm Nuance Hearing in 2023, and later debuted the Nuance Audio frames, eyeglasses built around sound "directivity".