I tried the new hearing glasses and here's what happened, received from Saga, 2026 02 19

[Colin Howard]

Greetings,

An interesting piece, little use for me, as nowadays, I do not have any
useable sight.

A new range of audio spectacles amplify sound without the need to stick
anything in your ears, but do they really help you hear better?
By Jo Waters | Published - 10 Feb 2026

As a lecturer at a university, my husband admits he sometimes struggles to
hear his students at the back of the class, but like me he doesn't want to
wear a hearing aid for fear of being labelled "past it", so he walks around
the room when he doesn't quite catch the question the first time.

He's blaming ear wax and paying £70 every six months to get them irrigated,
as no syringing is available on the NHS locally. If your family is shocked
at how loud you turn the TV up and exasperated by you asking them to repeat
themselves, or you find yourself slightly dreading eating out in busy
restaurants because of intrusive background noise, you probably have a
hearing problem.

Hands up, I'm in this camp. Which is why I volunteered to road test the new
hearing specs. At 62 I'm struggling to hear friends when we meet in noisy
social situations, constantly turning up the TV and switching on subtitles
on American dramas as I reckon all the actors "mumble".

I'm usually okay hearing one to one conversations in a quiet place but
increasingly blame "poor acoustics" when I struggle to keep up with
conversation in noisy places, so am bordering on possibly needing a hearing
aid.

However, memories of my grandmother Nellie's clunky NHS hearing aids
constantly whistling (and not really working very well), are holding me back
from investigating.

Plus, I'm working in an ageist industry and worried wearing one carries a
certain stigma, could be seen as a badge of old age, rightly or wrongly.

I did an RNID online hearing test which indicated I had some hearing loss,
although a follow up test with an audiologist found this was mild.

My husband is in the same boat, so we're constantly shouting "What?" and
"Pardon?" at each other and telling each other off for not listening.

Our three daughters, all in their twenties with near perfect hearing
(despite their heavy use of headphones), recoil at how loud the TV is
blasting in the living room and get tetchy when we can't hear them over the
extractor fan when we're cooking in the kitchen.

Many people are not as comfortable wearing a hearing aid as they are glasses

Why you need to get over the stigma of hearing aids

It turns out we are far from alone in our reluctance to get hearing aids.
Figures from a survey by the Royal National Institute for the Deaf (RNID)
found that 47% said hearing aids hadn't been accepted in the way spectacles
have and 34% said they would hide their hearing aid if needed, with 11% even
saying they would prefer to live with hearing loss rather than wear a
hearing aid.

"We know more than half of people aged 50 and over have a hearing problem
and this rises to 80% in the over 75s," says Franki Oliver, audiology
manager at the RNID.

"For whatever reason, people just don't seem as comfortable wearing a
hearing aid as they do a pair of glasses," Oliver says.

"Some people hate the visibility of a hearing aid, others find them
uncomfortable to have in the ear, or are prone to ear infections, or find
them difficult to wear with spectacles that have thicker arms."

There are long waiting lists for NHS audiology appointments and the price of
private digital hearing aids can be eye watering, the average cost is £2,800
(although NHS models are free and also use digital technology). These are
the obvious reasons why many of us put off doing anything about our hearing
loss.

Why treating hearing loss early is beneficial

Apart from obvious things like keeping up with conversations and enjoying
music, correcting hearing loss means you are less likely to become socially
isolated, a risk factor for dementia. The Lancet added hearing loss to its
list of modifiable risk factors for dementia, along with vision loss
(something most of us are much less reluctant to correct).

With my late mother sadly succumbing to dementia, I'm keen to do all I can
to reduce my risk. And there are other reasons for starting now.

"There's. evidence that getting used to wearing hearing aids at an earlier
stage helps the brain adjust better to new sounds rather than waiting until
your hearing loss is severe, when it can be a much bigger adjustment to make
for the brain," says Oliver.

"They also help people stay in work, enjoy music and have conversations with
grandchildren and all the things contributing to quality of life."

Could hearing glasses and buds help your hearing loss?

So, could a new generation of "hearing specs" and other devices such as
hearing earbuds be the cheaper and more aesthetic answer for reluctant
hearing aid wearers like me?

I must emphasise, these only work for mild to moderate hearing loss (mild
hearing loss is classified as being able to hear sounds between 20 and 40
decibels and moderate hearing loss between 40 and 70 decibels). The hearing
spectacles for instance have microphones and speakers built into the arms of
the glasses to amplify sound close to your ear, but nothing in your ear or
behind it.

"These types of glasses don't have enough amplification for severe hearing
loss, so probably work best for people who can hear okay on a one-to-one
basis but struggle in busy environments with lots of background noise," says
Oliver.

"We'd advise you to always have a hearing test first before buying them
though as your hearing loss might be too severe for them to work for you.

"We think they may be a good way to get people into trying amplification
earlier if they are reluctant to go down the hearing aid route. We don't
know just yet but might be one of the benefits of these types of glasses and
other devices, we're starting to see this in the US where hearing aids have
been sold over the counter in supermarkets (without prescription) for some
time."

A pair of Nuance glasses with a dark red frame with stylised sound waves
coming out of the rims
Nuance

Nuance glasses have built-in directional microphones in the arms

What types of devices are available?

Nuance and Meta both have hearing spec models available and both aim to help
people with mild to moderate hearing loss hear better in noisy environments.

Nuance launched its hearing specs in the UK in 2025, they have built-in
directional microphones in the arms which limit background noise and
background noise interference.

Meta announced in September the launch of the Meta Conversation Focus
feature to its Meta Ray-Ban 2 Generation) glasses with built-in microphones
and AI1, to amplify speech. These are currently only available in the US and
Canada on an early access programme.

"Hearing spectacles aren't new, in the past they have included spectacles
linked by a wire to a hearing aid in the ear and others which amplified
sound by using bone conduction technology," says Oliver.

A hearing aid feature available from Apple on the Pr03 and Pro2 model
earbuds is in the same class of devices as the over-the-counter hearing aids
you can buy from pharmacies.

"These devices can help with mild to moderate hearing loss, but they are not
prescription-strength like the hearing aids you'd get from an audiologist
either on the NHS or privately, so not the same as conventional hearing
aids," stresses Oliver.

What did my test find?

At £1,000 a pair (without lenses), the new types of hearing spectacles such
as those made by Nuance aren't cheap, but are, I figure, still less
expensive than a private hearing aid.

After a try out in the Oxford Street Vision Express, I ordered some frames
(there are a choice of five colours, but only two styles, one squareish and
one roundish) fitted with my prescription for distance and reading as well
as Transition lenses which go dark in sunlight.

When they arrive 10 days later, I'm told I'll have to download an app for my
mobile phone and use them to set up the glasses. It's surprisingly simple to
pair the glasses with the app and then follow the instructions for
calibrating the glasses to match the levels of my hearing loss.

From the app you can control background noise, turning it down or up. They
come with a charging pad and have a battery life of eight to 10 hours
(actually a lot less than a traditional hearing aid battery which can last
20 to 30 hours). But if you're worried about battery life, you can always
turn the hearing function off via the discrete switch for when you don't
need it.

There are microphones built into the arms of the glasses and you can set
them to pick up sounds in different directions, either in front of you or
all around and adjust the volume.

The first time I wor them I'm amazed at how clearly I can hear my daughters
chatting during a noisy dinner. The net result is I feel more relaxed and
join in the conversation more. Watching TV later I find I am able to turn
the volume down.

Next outing was to a pub quiz, a loud environment I usually struggle to hear
the quiz master at, but this time my hearing is spot on (and I even overhear
a nearby team discussing their answers). I manage to screen out the
background noise by adjusting the app and some echo I get from my own voice.

At a work event at the Houses of Parliament, I am able to hear a very
quietly spoken MP at a press launch and chat with interviewees in an echoey
corridor and am seriously impressed with how much the glasses improve my
hearing and confidence.

Yes, you do have to twiddle around with the app until you get the levels
right, but I'm guessing the adjustment is no more complicated than you would
have to do with a hearing aid. Overall, I'm impressed and that knot of
anxiety I previously felt when I couldn't hear people in noisy social and
work environments has gone. I now realise what I'm missing out on, I'm more
willing to consider hearing aids if my hearing deteriorates more.

Do get your hearing tested by an audiologist first though, you need hearing
aids if you have severe hearing loss. But hearing specs and earbuds may help
you out in noisy social situations if your hearing loss is mild to moderate
and you don't want to wear a hearing aid for whatever reason. They also let
you kill two birds with one stone by correcting your eyesight too.

Are there any versions you can attach to your own glasses?

The RNID advises: "The only (professionally available) hearing aids of which
we're aware which can be attached to existing frames are the Specaids sold
by Hidden Hearing. These use bone-conduction technology, so are generally
only suitable for people with conductive hearing loss.

"Most people with hearing loss have sensorineural hearing loss, meaning the
hearing loss takes place in the inner ear and the outer and middle ear
function normally. Conductive hearing loss means there is normal inner ear
function but a difference in the outer and/or middle ear which reduces or
prevents sound waves travelling to the inner ear, for example a perforated
eardrum.

"Bone conduction hearing aids and implants work by picking up sound and
transmitting it as vibrations across the skull. These vibrations bypass the
outer and middle ear and go straight to the inner ear. Bone conduction
devices work best when there is good inner ear function."

The RNID adds: "We're not aware of any hearing aids which use the same type
of amplification as Nuance which can be attached to glasses
retrospectively."

Written by: Jo Waters

Jo Waters is an award-winning health and medical journalist who writes for
national newspapers, consumer magazines and medical websites.
She is the author of four health books, including What's Up with Your Gut?
and is a former chair of the Guild of Health Writers.


Colin Howard, living in Southern England.