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Below is a list of previously-tested hearing aids and PSAPs that are still available. To read more about our current picks, check out the guide: Over the Counter Hearing Aids and Other Hearing Solutions
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Model NameOur Thoughts
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Apple AirPods ProApple offers hearing-aid-like adjustments for the AirPods Pro—including the ability to input your audiogram. But our panel found that the boost was too inconsistent and lacking in direction to be helpful in all but the quietest environments. So we also tested the now-discontinued Noopl, an iPhone add-on that looks like a small charging brick and plugs into your phone’s Lightning port. The idea is that you hold or set your phone on a table, and the Noopl’s microphone array picks up conversations around you, transmitting those sounds in binaural form to your earbuds. Although the resulting sonic clarity was an improvement over the AirPods alone, our panelists said the brick was cumbersome to carry, and it was awkward to have to leave the phone on a table.
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Audien Atom This inexpensive pair missed the mark in a few ways. The chassis of the earpieces makes them too large to fit comfortably in small ears, the directions for use and maintenance are incomplete, and you can adjust the volume only by using a tiny screwdriver. This set performed well in light party noise, but unless you have larger ears and plan to keep the same volume all the time, you can do better.
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AudiousThe stem for removing each hearing aid is too short, which frequently results in painful feedback. Similarly, the Audious earpieces produced feedback when being pushed into the ear. As on the Audien set, on the Audious set you adjust volume with a tiny screwdriver, so you can’t make adjustments while wearing the device. One panelist said the adjustment slot was faint, difficult to turn, and plastic, so she feared that frequent adjustments could break the volume dial.
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Bose SoundControl Hearing AidsAlthough Bose seemed to nail the directionality of sound, our panel was less impressed with this set’s performance in noisy situations, saying it was middle-of-the road in restaurants or when music was playing. While the device itself is comfortable to wear, the volume buttons are stiff, forcing you to press the hearing aid painfully into your ear. In the time since we completed our testing, Bose has discontinued sales of the Sound Control.
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Nuheara IQbuds2 Max The IQbuds2 set looks like a pair of very large true wireless earbuds, and our panelists with smaller ears found the design was prone to slipping and uncomfortable to wear for long periods of time. Like the Jabra Enhance Plus, the IQbuds2 set completely seals off the ear canal, so every sound you hear goes through the drivers, leading to less-natural sound. Plus, the battery life was insufficient: Fiona commented, “I wore them for three hours, and according to the app, that took me down to around 30% after starting from a full charge. A full-time user would probably not find these adequate.
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Olive Union Olive ProThis pair worked fine as earbuds but sadly it was a bit of a mess at hearing augmentation, which is probably why it has now been discontinued. The app’s hearing test was able to evaluate panelists’ hearing ability with an accuracy close to that of professional audiograms, and the resulting boost did add clarity to speech in less noisy environments. However, the Olive Pro suffers from latency issues—on occasion, the sound you hear is out of sync with what you see by several milliseconds, which is very distracting.
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Onebridge Rechargeable J707The Onebridge is aggressively marketed in search-engine results and seemingly has a large number of positive reviews, so we decided to test a pair. The experience was absolutely wild. First, our pair arrived with two different manuals with two different lists of setup instructions. Then, Dan discovered that, due to the way the charging dock is designed, closing the lid causes the charging connectors to disconnect from the dock—so the earpieces don’t charge. Digging through the reviews, we found that some desperate folks were actually taping the Onebridge down to its dock every night. Although the J707 is listed as “noise cancelling,” it does not cancel noise actively or isolate from noise passively. In hope of receiving a replacement, we reached out to Onebridge’s customer service through the contact email, chat function, and listed phone number. Unfortunately, the number was disconnected, and nobody responded to our repeated emails and messages. In short, as Dan put it, “these are unusable.”
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Sound World Solutions CS50+This model was a pick in Wirecutter’s previous PSAP guide. Since that time, technology has progressed, leaving the CS50+ feeling dated. Though our panelists liked the built-in hearing test, Fiona described the design as “chunky, like an old Bluetooth headset.” Even after customizing the sound, she was unhappy with the performance. “They really only seem to amplify sounds within a very short radius, but somehow also didn't do much to help with distinguishing close conversation in a noisy area. I had to take them out after about five minutes of use at a bar. My glasses also rubbed uncomfortably against the rather large behind-the-ear component.” The CS50+ is priced around the same as the Tweak Enhance, which is a better choice.
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Volume 10 Digital Hearing AmplifierThe Volume 10 pair is typically priced under $100, and at the time we began our testing, it was a top result on Amazon, so we purchased it. Unfortunately, our panel quickly dismissed this pair. The instructions were unclear. The build was clunky, which Tom said could make someone feel self-conscious when wearing the pieces. The volume controls were easy to bump accidentally, after which it took several more taps to cycle back to the original volume level. Worse, the earpieces amplified indiscriminately. As Tom said, “If I’m watching TV in the living room, and my partner takes a pan off of the stove in the kitchen, I hear that pan as loud or louder than the TV.” Not ideal. Perhaps unsurprisingly, shortly after we completed testing, the device was no longer available to purchase on Amazon. With no company website or contact information, we had no way to reach Volume 10 with questions, a situation that added even more evidence to our advice of sticking to established brands.
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