OTC Hearing Aids

As much as I was hoping these hearing aids would help me I found they had issues.1. The battery life was only 4.5 hours.2. I could not connect them to my computer.3. They occasionally fall out of my ears.4. The reproduction of music is below standard.5. There is no phone number to call for support, only a chat that uses AI and never answers my questions.I guess I will have to try a different company.

I've been struggling with hearing loss for what feels like an eternity, and it's been a real challenge to stay connected with the world around me. Conversations, especially in noisy environments, have become a distant memory. That was until I discovered this remarkable hearing aid for just $309,after applying a generous90 coupon. Let me tell you, it's a breath of fresh air to find such high-quality technology at a fraction of the price of the likes of Lexie's $999 or Eargo′s $1299 models. I was initially skeptical, but the moment I tried these hearing aids, my skepticism turned into pure delight. The sound clarity is simply astounding. With the advanced noise reduction feature, I can have a conversation in a bustling café without missing a single word. It's like a symphony of voices and sounds that I've been missing out on for so long. The pristine audio clarity has brought back the joy of listening to music and the comfort of being part of a lively discussion. One of the features I appreciate the most is the Bluetooth connectivity. Effortlessly pairing my hearing aids with my phone and other devices has made my life so much easier. Gone are the days of fumbling with wires and complicated setups. The user-friendly app is a game-changer in itself. It simplifies the management of my hearing aids, allowing me to adjust settings and monitor battery life with just a few taps. Speaking of battery life, the long-lasting battery ensures that I can enjoy uninterrupted listening for days on end, with minimal charging. For me, this purchase has been a significant boost to my quality of life. It's not just about hearing again; it's about hearing well and feeling confident in social situations. I can't recommend these hearing aids enough. If you're on the fence, take the leap. You won't regret it. To anyone considering an upgrade or a first-time investment in hearing aids, look no further. This is a true game-changer, and I hope you experience the same life-enhancing results that I have.

Was hoping to find something that would be useful with Android (I own Jabra's that are IOS only). These were my last resort, considering all the other Android "compatible" hearing assistance out there. I'm hard of hearing lower ends sounds (for example, my significant others voice) especially in noisy environments, but I travel with an Android device as it's more useful as a travel phone.I did not test bluetooth streaming/calls/etc. I wasn't able to get past the continual login requirement to access the app. Since it doesn't seem to store login credentials, and there isn't a way to create a user profile, it was an annoyance to enter e-mail address, then go to e-mail and get the code, just to log into the app and make changes. Once in the app, I attempted to create a sound algorithm, which takes 10 mins. That worked fine, except since I didn't have a profile, it wouldn't save. I thought updating the firmware would help, but after an hour of the phone sitting at "Downloading" and remaining at 0%, I was pretty sure that was a dud as well. I tried to contact Kingwell customer support via Chat, and received a message that said no one was available and to e-mail instead.I think this is my third attempt at an Android compatible hearing device, and no luck at this time. Sucks. Was really hoping this was the one.

Update:Just shy of one week after getting these, the left hearing aid stopped amplifying sound. Both continued to work equally well to stream Bluetooth music from my phone but in normal hearing aid mode the left one was not amplifying sound. The battery was fully charged after being in the case overnight. I examined the aids carefully. There was no blockage to either earpiece speaker or bud and no visible blockage of the microphone hole. I did not get them wet, nor did either fall to the floor. There is no visible damage. I did not contact the manufacturer or seller, I am returning these to Amazon. My experience as an electronic design engineer is that premature failure like this indicates a quality and reliability problem unless I was just lucky enough to get the 1 in a thousand failure prone unit. That means to me that even a new replacement device is likely to eventually fail - And may do so outside the return window in time. That is why I am returning these.Ultimately these were pretty good aids with some useful features with only two big problems - Apparently the manufacturer has a quality/reliability problem plus 8 hours of battery life is insufficient in a hearing aid. I could work around the battery life issue but the quality/reliability problem is a killer.Prior Review:I am not going to talk about how wonderful it is to hear. That's kind of obvious. It's why you are looking at hearing aids right now. This review is about how well these particular hearing aids actually work in my own experience.I have been using a pair of OTC Behind The Ear (BTE) hearing aids for a bit over a year and a half. Those work pretty well but I wanted an OTC hearing aid with Bluetooth so I could:Adjust the audio response to my personal ear response.Control the hearing aid modes and volume from my phone (the single button manual controls on most hearing aids themselves are truly awful - including with these.)Make and receive phone calls directly with the hearing aids.Listen to music directly from my hearing aids.I previously purchased (and reviewed) two other Bluetooth type OTC hearing aids and they were not very good - So I returned them. One sounded and functioned pretty well but the tab that hooked over my ear was very uncomfortable and was not physically adjustable. The other simply didn't work well because their design didn't seal well to my particular ears - leading to either howling or lack of volume.By the way, how well the hearing aid tips seal to your ears greatly influences how well they work or not - Try all the tips included To find an optimum one for you.Let me warn you of one thing if you've never used hearing aids - Your hearing adjusted over many years to your deafness and audio frequency response issues. Suddenly adding hearing aids when you've not used them changes everything. It took me a full week the first time I tried hearing aids to begin to get used to the change in sound - I hated the way it changed music tone and the extra sounds in the high frequencies were distracting. Plus I confess that just occasionally, I really didn't want to hear my spouse go on about something that I had lost interest in while watching TV. But once you have adjusted to hearing aids you can adjust much quicker to new or different ones. And it really is good to be able to hear.First Impressions (day three now) - I will update the review as I get more experience:These, like the pictures show, look in some ways similar to Apple's wireless earbuds so when you go out it doesn't necessarily look like you are wearing aids - It looks like you are wearing Bluetooth earpieces. The fully in ear and Behind The Ear models are less visible, but this is a pretty good approach too.The App for controlling and adjusting these aids is "My Kingwell" which is available for iOS from Apple's App Store - for free.The App is a little clunky (clumsy to use) for some things. The menus could be simpler and more straight forward. I did learn that you can retest your hearing by first selecting "My Sound" and then on that screen "My Current Hearing" and then on that screen "Hearing Check" which takes you to the hearing test. And from that same screen you can also customize your curves. When I wanted to tweak my hearing settings from the hearing test I had to screen print the original settings and then add in the settings I wanted which were a bit tweaked from the original (I am a retired electronic engineer). Ideally I should have just been able to edit the settings on the screen seeing old and new.On the other hand the app does function for the most part. It lets you either answer some hearing experience questions and listen to some audio samples to pick a pre-determined hearing response curve (identical for each ear) or you can take the built in hearing test where you listen for the tone to help it determine your actual hearing response curve for each ear. Once you've done that, the clarity is generally better than with the nominal standard curves. But I wind up "cheating" that a bit for better results in my case. I am nearly deaf at 8 kHz (the top band of these aids) and definitely hard of hearing at 4 kHz (the next to top band). The hearing test in my case turns up the 4 kHz high and the 8 kHz very high which leads to more feedback and peculiar transient responses while making virtually no improvement in understanding speech or enjoying music. So I edited the 8 kHz response and to a degree the 4 kHz to prevent that.Once set up, the App allows you to pick one of two modes - "All around" (normal) or "Hearing in Noise". It also allows you to adjust the volume (per ear) from the App and the degree of noise reduction for each of the modes. Furthermore if you click on the tiny text "sound management" you can adjust an equalizer (4 bands, each ear separately) which appears to be an adjustment relative to the main sound response curves. So there is yet another way to tweak the response.Unlike the other two Bluetooth aids I had tried, music sounds pretty good direct from my iPhone through Bluetooth to my aids - It has some bass response, many competing brands have virtually no bass response at all. Its not "great" musically compared to top end Bluetooth headphones, but its not too bad and its very convenient. I am not a musician, but I am picky about musical sound quality.I have found that using these hearing aids normally (not streaming audio over Bluetooth) that for my new hearing aids from 100% charge to "Low Battery" gives an 8 hour usage time. While this is just 1 hour less than the advertised number - Note that my hearing aids are new with presumably 100% battery capacity. I note that in my case the one with the gain set higher (my ears are not identical in hearing) that it runs out of battery somewhat sooner (it gives the 8 hours). I blame my self for not initially realizing that "up to" and that a hearing aid is normally used for more like 12 hours. I begin to suspect that only a Behind The Ear type aid is large enough to have sufficient battery capacity with Bluetooth - at least as the technology stands for now.The Good:These are fairly comfortable and not too visually obtrusive.(2) They make it easier to understand speech when people are talking and enable you to listen to TV at a more normal volume level.(3) The App has a hearing test that allows fitting the response to your individual hearing, and you can tweak that a bit for improvement if you wish.(4) You can use them like Bluetooth earphones for phone calls and music from your smartphone.(5) The little oval storage holder has its own rechargeable battery and you can take it with you to recharge the hearing aids if need be.(6) The cost is much, much less than prescription hearing aids from an audiologist - Which is usually an out off pocket expense (not covered by insurance or Medicare).Could Use Improvement:(1) The App is a bit "clunky" and awkward in parts - the menu structure could be clearer. It appears to have been designed to look good rather than being optimized for use.(2) The battery life is not what it should be, even when you aren't streaming Bluetooth audio. I would think that anything less than 12 hours is insufficient. Hearing aids are usually worn constantly, unlike headphones which are worn just when you are listening to music.(3) The manufacturer didn't seemed to have anticipated that the tips won't last forever and they should offer replacement tips. These have larger holes around the transducers (hearing aid speakers) than most hearing aids (because of the improved bass response I assume) and the typical hearing aid replacement tips won't fit. When I contacted the manufacturer about this they responded that they expect to be selling replacement tips in two months and that the tips last about 3 months.(4) The "noise reduction" is in three steps "none, medium, and high" - I would like a step half way between "none" and "medium" especially for music.Oh one last thing for now - The app allows you to update the software for the hearing aids themselves. Just follow the directions. Mine showed up needing an update - If it's got a "computer" in it, software updates are a fact of life...

I have a minor hearing problem, but this hearing aud helps me hear when people talk to me and even with tv don’t have to blast the sound on tv. It works grateful highly recommend it😃😃😃