I can follow the conversation again

My hearing started to slip in my late forties, and by fifty-five I had become very good at pretending. I would nod along in meetings, laugh a beat after everyone else, and dread any restaurant with hard floors and music. My wife noticed long before I admitted it. She said I had stopped telling stories at dinner, because I could no longer hear the question that started them.

I was not ready for traditional hearing aids, if I am honest, so I tried the Nuheara IQbuds Squared MAX first. They look like ordinary wireless earbuds, which mattered to me more than I would like to confess. You run a short hearing check through the app, and it tunes the sound to your own ears. In a busy cafe I can turn the background down and bring the voice in front of me up. The first time I did it, sitting across from my daughter, I actually heard the end of her sentence rather than guessing at it.

They are not perfect, and I still ask people to repeat themselves now and then. A very noisy pub is still a battle. But they gave me back the confidence to sit at a table and take part, instead of retreating into myself. My wife says I have started telling stories again. That is the review that matters to me.