Nuance Audio Glasses, now you can have it all *

*As long as by “all”, you mean a VERY expensive pair of boxy glasses, poor hearing, and the ability to lose your hearing every time you lose your glasses…

I tried to look (no pun intended) at this objectively. I really did. First I assumed they worked by bone conduction, but they don’t. The premise of these is that the mics on the frames will form a beam (definitely technically possible) and the speakers on the arms will pass that sound to your ears. That’s not going to be good, as anything that amplifies 65dB speech to 85dB is going to be noticeable to a younger person close to you.

I looked at the reviews, and can see a mix of “I’ve sent them back” and over the top, gushing reviews clearly written by the manufacturer or an optician that doesn’t wear them.

Honestly, if you’re in the UK, why would you buy this tech? We have free hearing aids on the NHS which could beat this technology up the road and back again. NHS aids are not too shabby these days - they’re fairly small and the amplification is very good as long as you’re not in a noisy environment. Even if you are in noise, you’ll always be better with the sound output in your ear canal. Always, I guarantee it. It’s just physics, and you can’t argue with Madame Physics.

NHS aids can get in the way of glasses, sure, but if you need them you’ll figure it out, it’s possible to use both successfully. If vanity is an issue, try growing your hair by 6mm and prepare to be amazed by the number of people who don’t see your hearing aids. But genuinely, no one cares about your aids. No one cared about mine when I was 26. It didn’t stop me dating, getting a job, nothing. The only person who cares is you, and if you think people look ugly when they have hearing aids… well you don’t want to know how I feel about your personality. It’s not good. But suffice to say, no one I’ve ever met who cares about how they themselves look, are actually bothered about their SO having aids. It’s a self-image thing.

Are they as good as a pair of earbuds connected to a mobile phone, streaming from a table? I suspect they well could be. If your hearing is that good though, you’re probably not going to bother wearing these. You’ll just move to a quieter table and save the cash.

Honestly, this product fills a very narrow gap. People with a very mild loss who want to hear ever so slightly better, and won’t use NHS solutions. If affordability is an issue, please try NHS! If style is an issue, I can show you hearing solutions that are invisible externally and incredibly quick/easy to put in/use.

They’re not suitable for moderate/severe loss, but then again neither are Nuance Audio.

If dexterity is an issue, I have something that’s easy to handle and stays in place.

If hearing ability in noise, quiet, on the phone, outdoors is your priority, I can blow these out of the water! 3x the price but can be fine tuned and lovingly fitted/rehabilitated to the nth degree.

And… you won’t need to stop wearing them when you get eyestrain, or just want your glasses off.

If anyone has positive reviews of these glasses, I’d be delighted to read your comments. I simply can’t imagine a situation where they could be better than any of the solutions we now have.