Product release: Nuance Audio hearing glasses
- Koorosh Nejad
- 19 hours ago
- 8 min read
Old concepts, new execution. Some of you may remember hearing glasses back in the day. But Nuance Audio hearing glasses are a breakthrough technology.
This article is a full review of Nuance Audio hearing glasses, who can benefit from them and their technical aspects. This article is useful for patients with mild or mild-to-moderate hearing loss looking for alternative solutions to hearing aids.
Are hearing glasses a new concept?
No. The hearing glasses have been there as long as hearing aids have been on the market. The idea of having the electronics inside the temples of the glasses is a smart way to make the overall product nice, practical and fully discrete. In the past, most hearing aids had a thin tube canalising the amplified sound to the ear canal, similar to the hearing aids. The Nuance Audio hearing glasses changed this concept by placing speakers under the temples closer to the ear. This concept has advantages and disadvantages compared to the old concept of hearing glasses.
How do Nuance Audio hearing glasses help with hearing loss?
Nuance Audio hearing glasses accommodate 6 microphones on the front and the temples of the frame. They have a directional capability, so they can receive and amplify sound from the front angle of the user more than from the sides. The directionality can be switched to omnidirectional through the mobile app. The amplified sound will be presented through tiny speakers installed at the end of the temples of the frame, closer to your ears.
What is the range of hearing loss that Nuance Audio hearing glasses can cover?
Nuance Audio hearing glasses are only suitable for mild and miled to moderate hearing loss.
Are Nuance Audio hearing glasses good for severe hearing loss?
No. The Nuance Audio hearing aids do not have an earpiece to go in the ear canal and seal it, hence they are not able to provide enough amplification for a severe hearing loss.
Can Nuance Audio match my hearing loss prescription?
The Nuance Audio hearing devices are categorised as over-the-counter (OTC). They cover mild to moderate hearing loss. At the current model, the Nuance Audio hearing glasses cannot be programmed to your hearing loss prescription; however, there are 4 preset programs in them for flat mild hearing loss, sloping mild hearing loss, flat moderate and sloping moderate hearing loss.
What is the warranty and aftercare on Nuance Audio hearing glasses?
Nuance Audio hearing glasses come with a 2-year UK warranty and aftercare, and a 30-day money-back policy.
What is the refund policy of Nuance Audio hearing glasses?
Nuance Audio hearing glasses have a 30-day trial and full refund policy (our Return and Refund policy). The cost of the shipment of your package back to the clinic will be paid by the customer. Please use the information on our support page if you need to ship any product back for a refund.
Where can I fit or replace the lenses of Nuance Audio hearing glasses?
I like it that the Nuance Audio hearing glasses come with a transition high-quality pair of glasses, i.e. they come as sunglasses by default. Any optician can help you to fit a pair of single vision, bifocal or any other type of glasses for you.
Can I use Nuance Audio hearing glasses as sunglasses?
Absolutely. As mentioned before, the Nuance Audio hearing glasses come with a pair of transition high-quality glasses by default.
What shapes do Nuance Audio hearing glasses come?
They come in two models, Square and Panthos shapes.
What colours and sizes do Nuance Audio hearing glasses come in?
Nuance Audio hearing glasses come in 3 colours: Black, Blue and Burgundy, and 3 different sizes: 48, 52 and 54.
Square: Lens 54mm, Bridge 18mm, Arm 150mm
Square: Lens 56mm, Bridge 18mm, Arm 150mm
Panthos: Lens 48mm, Bridge 22mm, Arm 150mm
Are Nuance Audio hearing glasses waterproof?
They are rated IPX4, which makes them "water splash resistant", but you should not submerge them in water, or there is a high risk of permanent damage to the electronics inside the frame.
How long does the Nuance Audio hearing glasses battery last?
It takes about 2 hours for the rechargeable batteries of Nuance Audio hearing glasses to go from zero to fully charged, and then they will provide 8 hours of running time to the user. This is one of the limitations of the device. However, in my opinion, since the hearing glasses are suitable for mild to moderate hearing loss hence the user might not need hearing devices all the time during a 14 to 16-hour day. So I am not too concerned with the battery life.
Can I do streaming through Nuance Audio hearing glasses?
No. This release of Nuance Audio hearing glasses does not support Bluetooth streaming or hands-free.
Do Nuance Audio hearing glasses have Tcoil?
No. This release of Nuance Audio hearing glasses does not support Tcoil. I do not imagine that they will ever make the Tcoil compatible in the future either. They are LE energy Bluetooth, hence the next release might support streaming and Auracast, but that is just my best guess.
Do Nuance Audio hearing glasses help with Tinnitus?
Yes and no, I would say likely but not guaranteed. By virtue of amplification, a patient with a mild tonal tinnitus might find a degree of alleviation to his/her tinnitus, but it can be very case by case; certainly not guaranteed. Please review our articles about tinnitus and how hearing aids can help with your tinnitus here.
Do Nuance Audio hearing glasses come for single-sided hearing loss?
Unfortunately, in this first release of the product, the Nuance Audio hearing glasses are not able to present amplification only on one side. They can be used for someone with complete deafness on one side, with mild to moderate hearing loss on the other side. But you cannot switch off the amplification on one side.
Can Nuance Audio hearing glasses be set as a CROS or biCROS setting?
The first release of Nuance Audio hearing glasses cannot be set for CROS or biCROS.
How do Nuance Audio hearing glasses perform on a windy day?
I have not tried them myself, but from the customer feedback, I gather that there is some level of wind noise, which, of course, depends on the setting of the amplification.
How is the noise cancellation of Nuance Audio hearing glasses?
From an acoustics point of view, Nuance Audio hearing glasses are comparable to open-fitted hearing aids. Since the hearing glasses do not seal your ear canal, there is no way they can control the background noise to improve speech intelligibility. Having said that, Nuance Audio hearing glasses do offer noise management through:
Choose the directional microphone so the glasses focus on the front. This reduces the noise coming from your back and sides substantially.
They can strip off the background noise through processing sound in 3 different levels through the Nuance Audio mobile app, which is quite a handy feature.
As I mentioned before, they might be a great option for a mild hearing loss in quiet to light noise environments, such as office meetings and a not-too-busy coffee shop, park, etc., but one cannot expect them to do noise cancellation in a very loud, noisy restaurant. After all, like any other hearing aid, the best is to take advantage of the 30-day money-back guarantee to try them first in different environments and see if they are beneficial to your lifestyle.
Who can benefit from Nuance Audio hearing glasses?
My advice is that the Nuance Audio hearing glasses are not for everyone with mild to moderate hearing loss. You need to manage your expectations.
You might enjoy Nuance Audio hearing glasses if:
Vanity - The hearing glasses are the best hearing devices in terms of vanity. Invisible hearing aids are placed in the ear canal, and because of that, they often have a side effect of too much occlusion, especially when your hearing loss is only mild or mild to moderate. So if your hearing loss is at mild to moderate, then you could try Nuance Audio hearing glasses.
Comfort - All the models of hearing aids have a piece that goes in the ear canal. That is a simple fact that not everyone can get used to. Often, the first time users of hearing aids complain about an itchy ear canal and that they are conscience that there is something in their ears all the time. Long story short, some people may not easily get used to hearing aids. On the flip side, the hearing glasses have nothing that goes in the ear, hence there is no getting used to process. Of course, you will notice additional sound through the speaker units that need a couple of weeks for your brain to embrace and incorporate into your sound processing.
Special ear conditions - There are patients with special ear conditions who can definitely benefit from hearing glasses. Some of these cases are people with severe eczema in the ear canal, or those with ear canals prone to ear infection, or those with a very large ear canal (e.g. after surgery). Such patients can benefit from hearing glasses which has nothing to go in the ear canal.
First-time users - You have a mild hearing loss, and you are looking for an entry-level hearing aid. I believe that Nuance Audio hearing glasses are the most discreet compared to any hearing aid, hence a great option for first-time hearing aid users. Most patients with a mild hearing loss either delay using hearing aids or, if they buy a pair, they use them for a few hours a day only. The battery life of these glasses is about 8 hours, which is good enough for occasional use during the course of the day.
Narrow ear canals - Your ear canals are very narrow and/or have a problem retaining the receiver unit in the ear canal. Also, it could be that your pinna (the visible part of the ear) is in a shape that hearing aids cannot stay on top of.
Complementary option - You have a mild to moderate hearing loss, and you are looking for a complementary option besides using your hearing aids. You have a pair of hearing aids, but you're interested in a second option for special occasions. Depending on the profile of your hearing loss, the hearing glasses may or may not satisfy you, as you immediately notice a different sound quality compared to your hearing aids. I would say you might not find them perfect, but you may find them ok as a complementary option to your hearing aids.
Nuance Audio hearing glasses may not be a good option for:
Nuance Audio hearing devices may not be for you if you fall into one of the following groups:
Patients who need hearing devices all day long. At the moment, the battery life of the Nuance Audio hearing glasses is about 8 hours, which makes the device suitable for occasional use and not all day long.
People with hearing loss at moderate and severe hearing loss.
Patients who need audio streaming through hearing devices.
Patients who rather to have the hearing glasses programmed to their hearing loss prescription. At the moment, the Nuance Audio hearing glasses come with 4 preset hearing prescriptions that can be toggled through the Nuance Audio mobile app. I am confident that in future releases, Nuance will make the effort to bring in products which can be programmed to a patient's audiogram, but for now, these hearing glasses have only 4 preset programs, which might be good enough for many but not good enough for some.
What is the calibration process of the Nuance Audio hearing glasses?
The calibration of the Nuance Audio hearing glasses is to remove the occlusion effect. Since the microphones installed on the front and in the temples of the glasses are quite close to the mouth of the wearer, the glasses need to be calibrated to remove the sound of your own voice so you don't hear your voice loudly.
Has any independent test been done on the sound quality of Nuance Audio hearing glasses?
Yes, the hearing glasses from Nuance Audio received a 3.2 out of 5 score by HearingTracker lab. Did you notice that they got 4.1 for sound quality? Please see below for more details.
What controls do I have over Nuance Audio hearing glasses through the mobile app?
The Nuance Audio mobile app provides the following controls over Nuance Audio hearing glasses:
Volume control
Toggling through 4 preset amplification profiles:
Switching between Directional and Omnidirectional hearing
What controls a tap-control has on Nuance audio hearing glasses?
A tap on the temple of your Nuance Audio hearing glasses can toggle between directional and omnidirectional hearing.
References
Questions?
If you have questions about Nuance Audio hearing glasses, please get in touch through a free telecare consultation. Book it through the following link.
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