There have been many attempts to add sound in glasses frames, most of which have failed to create a coherent concept that motivates consumers to buy the actual product. After all, charging your glasses is not an appealing idea, neither is necessarily the idea that you can listen to audio from your glasses, when the demonstrated quality has not been that great. Beaming the sound from the frames to the ear canal is still being perfected but normally generates a sound that is too thin and only works well in the voice range, while sound leaking proves annoying to people nearby.
Many large technology companies have attempted to break the code of "smart glasses" which are now being rebranded as "AI glasses" to keep up with the trends. Essentially, the problems remain the same and the challenges are still unsolved. Of course, you can create concepts that target very specific applications, as is the case of the EssilorLuxottica Nuance Audio hearing assistance glasses. The hope is that a growing number of people get familiar with the concept, while the company leverages the latest NPUs and trained AI models to improve the sound quality and the far-field voice capture ranges.
Another possible approach is to target very specific markets such as sports and extreme activities, where users actually have the motivation to invest in good-quality sports glasses with extra features such as audio reproduction (motivational music helps) and also a built-in camera/recorder, to record those famous last moments or the glory of breaking records. That was the idea behind BleeqUp's new AI sports glasses. The weird brand, as always, is one of those mysteries that probably not even DeepSeek can explain (is it that difficult to find a good name?).
Forgetting the brand, the Ranger AI Sports Glasses have interesting things to look at, such as the fact that the built-in audio in the frames is the result of a 2-way design per side, combining a traditional dynamic woofer for low frequencies with the Cowell MEMS tweeter for the high frequencies and to deliver improved voice intelligibility. Given that the Ranger glasses have primarily been designed thinking about outdoor cyclists (although clearly there are many sports and activities that can benefit - such as lying down on the beach doing nothing, or creepers watching unsuspecting others), there is a good motivation to provide a richer, full-range musical signal, while at the same time ensuring enhanced resistance to wind noise – not easy when our own ears remain open to the environment.
xMEMS offers a growing range of piezoMEMS drivers, which the company divides into MEMS microspeakers and MEMS loudspeakers. In the first category, we find the Muir, a tiny tweeter; the Cowell, which could be configured as a tweeter or a full-range; and the larger Montara Plus, the higher sensitivity and highest quality full range. And there's also the new Lassen MEMS tweeter, eliminating the need for a piezo amplifier.
Of course, xMEMS currently offers also the Cypress, a full-range MEMS speaker that uses ultrasound modulation-demodulation and is currently waiting for validation research, demonstrating that it is safe for human use inside the ears. On the "loud speaker" category, xMEMS includes the Sycamore full-range driver with higher low-frequency SPL compared to dynamic drivers, which would be ideal for "near-field" (open and outside the ear) applications such as glasses frames. Since it also uses the same sound-from-ultrasound technology, the Sycamore is currently pending safety data and - very likely - regulatory approval.
This means that the Cowell tweeter, and the Montara Plus full-range are theoretically the best options from xMEMS for glasses frames. According to Steven Bentley, VP of Worldwide Sales at xMEMS Labs, "the integration of Cowell into BleeqUp's glasses showcases the high-fidelity performance of our MEMS speakers. We’re excited to help more companies accelerate their path to market with compact, high-performance audio solutions for AI glasses."
The Cowell tweeter measures just 1mm thin and weighs 56 milligrams, a fraction of legacy coil-based speakers, giving designers the freedom to create thinner, lighter, and more stylish AI glasses without sacrificing audio quality. As AI processing is being added to complicated air conduction and open ear designs, these will eventually be able to meet the intended applications, with the benefits of a silicon fabrication, offering uniformity and consistency, higher shock resistance, water/dust resistance, and an SMT reflow manufacturing component.
Eventually, the eyewear category could expand to offer real-time translation, personal assistants, and contextual information overlays, where high-quality, discreet, low-profile speakers are much better than any text and visual overlay on the glasses lenses, while preserving situational awareness. According to many market research companies, the global smart glasses market could actually become a thriving consumer category by 2028, when advancements in AI processing, battery efficiency, and better designs will eventually prove useful and appealing to consumers.
The debut of the Cowell MEMS tweeter in a commercially available smart glasses design might pave the way for further explorations in the category. The BleeqUp Ranger uses a Qualcomm Snapdragon platform and features many other interesting details that remain to be validated by actual users. According to xMEMS, this product could also set the stage for the upcoming Sycamore ultrasound platform, eliminating the need for a 2-way system by delivering all audio frequencies from a single 1mm-thin driver, and enabling even more streamlined eyewear designs.
www.bleequp.com
www.xmems.com
