Music has been a passion of mine for as long as I can remember.
My bedroom as a teenager became my pretend Wembley Stadium where I would sing along to my favourite songs played on full volume.
Compared to other kids, I loved long car journeys because it would mean I would be able to play my very own version of Carpool karaoke as my sister looked on pleading with me to be quiet.
Then at 17 I formed my own band. A blues, rock 'n' roll and soul outfit called RoadRunner. We played pubs, clubs, weddings and birthdays and I was in my element as the frontman.
I remember the band's bassist Bob telling me at one of our very first rehearsals how important it was to protect my ears and wear earplugs whenever we played.
I, like most teenagers, ignored that advice, something I would ultimately regret.
Over time I started to notice I was getting a ringing sound in my ears after every gig. It would last no more than a few hours and then disappear.
The same thing had happened to me and my friends back in our clubbing days and so I was not unduly worried.
However, as more gigs were played the time it took for the ringing to disappear grew longer. And along with it I was now experiencing temporary hearing loss for about 30 secs every now and again.
I continued to immerse myself in music whenever I could.
I was that guy blasting out songs from the car with the windows down, or the guy who played the music through his headphones so loud that people around you could hear the lyrics.
Then in my mid-30s the ringing sound became constant and I started to notice I couldn't hear people when there was background noise.
I was referred to a hearing specialist who diagnosed me with tinnitus and noise induced deafness. I was told that unless I stopped the band I would need a hearing aid by the time I was 40.
I was distraught. The band was my life and I was not ready to quit. So I decided to stop listening to all music.
I bought a pair of professional earplugs which filtered levels of music down by 25 decibels and I carried on with the band promising myself that if my hearing deteriorated any more I would stop.
That decision gave me four more years of live music but eventually I had to call it a day when my tinnitus started affecting the quality of my everyday life.
Only recently have I started to listen to music again with headphones but on a very low level and because of this I don't feel as immersed in my music as I used to.
But that all changed when I was asked to review Nura's latest wireless earbuds with personalised sound.
I was promised that I would never listen to music the same again once I had tried them - a bold statement to say the least.
I was given the NURATRUE and Nuraphone to try out and like most earphones and buds these days they both came in sleak boxes which oozed premium quality.
Now I'm going to cut straight to the chase here and talk about the incredible USP - the personalised sound. Because I have tried a lot of headphones and nothing comes close to the rich sound you get when you listen to songs with NURATRUE.
The way it works is it creates your very own hearing profile by playing a range of tones into your ears. It then measures very faint sounds called otoacoustic emissions (OAEs), which your ears generate in response to these tones.
Encoded in the returning sound wave is information about your hearing, and Nura synthesise this information with their self-learning engine to create your personalised hearing profile.
Your NuraTrue will then sonically shape your music so that it matches your hearing profile and deliver every detail of the music you love.
The whole set-up process takes about 5-10 minutes using their simple to use app.
Once you've finished the personalisation you can toggle between that set-up and the 'neutral' set-up - how music sounds normally.
I had tears in my eyes when I turned on my personalisation because suddenly I was able to listen to songs in the way they had been produced in the first place.
It was like I was listening to new music because I was hearing lots of new bits on the songs I'd never heard before.
A tambourine, an extra riff or bass run or a percussion instrument. My ears felt alive again. And I didn't need to have the volume up either.
The personalisation may not be for everyone, and so it's good that you can choose your preferred level of immersion for richness, depth and bounce you can feel.
As with most earbuds you get four ear tips, two wing attachments and two foam tips to choose from but Nura's app comes with a great fit detection feature for optimal sound.
There's your normal noise cancellation feature which helps to reduce outside noise and block out everything but your music and normally it's this feature which usually is a let down when it comes to earbuds compared to your normal headphones. But NURATRUE - helped by the personalisation - is able to compete with the best.
Battery life is six hours but combined with the fast-charge case you can get up to 24 hours use with the earbuds charging in just two hours.
With the IPX4 rating you can take your buds to the gym and the handy customizable touch buttons means you can have complete control at your fingertips.
The experience of listening to music through NURATRUE is almost as good as going to a music concert. However, with NURATRUE you can be your own soundman!
