Hear, hear!

I’ve never made secret of the fact that I wear hearing aids.

But now I shout it from the highest hill (though have yet to tell a golden daffodil).

This is because the NHS have just replaced my bog-standard ‘dumb’ hearing aids with a pair of danalogic GN Ambio app-enabled ‘smart’ devices.

This has been a transformative change.

Now I can understand speech in a crowded room.

Now I can filter out traffic noise on my afternoon constitutional around Ealing Common.

Now I can do mobile phone calls and WhatsApp chats handsfree direct through my hearing aids.

Now I can even stream podcasts through the devices. Obviously the quality doesn’t come near my Bose QuietComfort earbuds, but for speech it is more than good enough and much more convenient.

And it cost me not a penny.

I will not hear a bad word about the NHS – and that’s not because I can’t hear!