ABEYE (Lexilens)

The problem

According to France's Fédération française des Dys, dyslexia affects 6 to 8% of the population. Most existing help is speech therapy, which takes years, or compensating tools (fonts, text to speech) that do nothing about how text is perceived.

The solution

Under the Lexilens brand, ABEYE sells electronic glasses (35 g, sizes S, M and L, prescription compatible) and, since CES 2026, a 23.8 inch monitor built on the same principle. Both apply pulsed light stimulation meant to erase the mirror image of letters that some dyslexic readers are said to perceive.

How it works

1. Starting theory: Le Floch and Ropars (University of Rennes, Proc. R. Soc. B, 2017) reported nearly symmetrical Maxwell spots, with no dominant eye, in 30 dyslexic children, said to cause a mirror image (b/d).
2. In that study, a lamp flickering at 70 Hz removed the mirror image for some participants.
3. The glasses drive active lenses from electronics in the temples; frequency and per-eye balance are set in an app and stored (25 hour battery).
4. The monitor (Full HD IPS, 144 Hz, 350 cd/m2) pulse-width modulates its backlight to insert brief black frames between images.
5. EU class 1 medical device, under an exclusive license to the university patent, with frames made in Toulouse.

Value proposition

Immediate help with no training, in any language, the company says. A Lexilens-commissioned Ipsos survey (2023, 519 users) reports 90% satisfaction: self-reports, not objective reading measures.

Technology edge

Unlike tinted filters or dyslexia fonts, Lexilens works on the timing of light, with a per-eye setting, and carries the principle across glasses, a PC monitor and a lamp licensed to Lili for Life. No independent, quantified reading gain backs it yet: a Brain Sciences paper (2023) reports faster reading on a pulsed screen, but the NeuroSpin controlled study found no effect.

Business model

B2C hardware sales, online and at Atol opticians. List prices: 590 euros for the glasses, 750 euros for the monitor, 30-day money-back guarantee.

Market

According to the Fédération française des Dys, cited by the company in 2024, dyslexia affects 6 to 8% of the population. ABEYE claimed nearly 6,000 users in 40 countries in September 2024 and more than 7,000 on its store in 2026. The addressable base is large, but growth and any reimbursement depend on proof of efficacy.

Competitors and alternatives

Lili for Life (France): licenses the same technology for a Bluetooth reading lamp and runs a UK trial. Irlen (tinted overlays): an older approach that NHS Cheshire and Merseyside stopped routinely funding in April 2023 for lack of evidence. Speech therapy and software aids (text to speech, fonts): the reference options, with no optics involved.

Use cases

• An optician chain (Atol) has sold the glasses exclusively in France since 2020 and handles fitting in store.
• A school staff association in Mayotte tested the glasses in May and June 2021 with about 300 fourth-grade pupils in Kawéni, funded in part by insurer MGEN; no conclusive results were published.
• A dyslexic employee plugs the Lexilens monitor into a workstation over HDMI and switches on pulsed mode to read long documents.

Traction and proof points

CES Innovation Awards 2020 Honoree for the glasses; French National Academy of Medicine prize 2020 for the researchers. Nearly 6,000 users in 40 countries by September 2024, more than 7,000 claimed in 2026. Origine France Garantie (size S, 2023), CentraleSupélec Alumni Prix Felix (2023). Shows: CES 2020, 2024 and 2026 (monitor launch, Eureka Park), IFA and Medica 2024.

What remains to be proven

Clinical efficacy is still unproven. In 2023, Stanislas Dehaene's NeuroSpin team (CEA) found no effect of Lexilens glasses or the Lexilight lamp in 22 dyslexic children; a 2024 commentary by Naudet, Bishop and colleagues called the founding study likely not reproducible, and France's education ministry science council deems the theory unvalidated. The CEO disputes this (arXiv, 2024) but has not released data from the Rennes University Hospital trial.