Meta's latest glasses wheeze? They help you hear better

Meta is adding more real world usefulness to its smart glasses, with a software update that aims to make it easier to hear people in noisy places and to trigger music in Spotify based on what you are looking at.

The new features will arrive first on Ray Ban Meta and Oakley Meta HSTN glasses in the US and Canada as part of a v21 software update. Users who have signed up for Meta’s Early Access Programme will get it before a wider roll out.

The main upgrade is a listening tool that focuses on the person you are talking to in a busy environment. The glasses use their open ear speakers to boost the voice of the speaker in front of you, while leaving background noise at a lower level. Wearers can increase or decrease the level of amplification by swiping the right arm of the glasses or by using the companion app, which should help tune the effect whether you are in a bar, restaurant, train or similar setting.

The move pushes Meta’s glasses slightly closer to the territory of assistive hearing devices. Big technology groups are already exploring this space. Apple’s AirPods include a Conversation Boost mode, and the higher end Pro versions now support a hearing aid style feature that has been cleared for clinical use in some markets. Meta is not positioning its glasses as medical devices, but it is clearly thinking about hearing support alongside hands free access to AI.

The second new feature is a Spotify integration that links the camera view with music playback. If you are looking at an album cover, for example, the glasses can start playing a track from that artist. Point them at a Christmas tree and presents, and you could be offered seasonal music. It is a playful function rather than a core capability, but it shows how Meta is trying to connect what wearers see with actions in their apps.

While the hearing feature is initially restricted to customers in the US and Canada, the Spotify option will be available in English in a far longer list of markets. These include major European countries such as the UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy and the Nordics, as well as India, Brazil, Mexico and the United Arab Emirates.

For investors, the update is another sign that Meta is still investing in smart glasses as a longer term platform. By making the devices more helpful in everyday situations, rather than just a way to take photos or talk to an AI assistant, the group is testing whether it can turn experimental hardware into a mainstream consumer product.