Hard to Hear? New Hearable Saves the Day!

Do you or someone you love have trouble hearing? The new hearable is a hearing amplification device for those with mild-moderate hearing loss.

Hearing loss is a growing concern among seniors.  According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), 1 in 3 people between ages 65-74 experience hearing loss and nearly half of those over 75 do as well.

As hearing loss is a gradual process, many people might not even know its happening. 

Going straight to hearing aids is a costly endeavor as it involves getting a hearing test with an audiologist to see if they are a candidate. 

If approved, purchasing hearing aids can cost well over $4,000 and they will need to be adjusted by a professional every once in a while.

Oftentimes, hearing aids are not needed as a first step.  People with mild-to-moderate hearing loss can start with a hearable, a new category of hearing devices encouraged by the FTC.

A hearable is similar to Bluetooth headphones that can play music and amplify calls, but it also includes similar sound processing, similar to hearing aids.

Hearables amplify sound, people talking, music, TV, and phone calls.  They are do not require a medical professional and can be purchased just like any consumer device.

BeHear NOW Bluetooth Sound Amplification Headset

The BeHear NOW Bluetooth Stereo Headset is a hearable (a play on words instead of wearable).  It’s a handy device that looks similar to lightweight headphones/earbuds that hand around your neck.

BeHear NOW is a personable hearing amplifier that combines an advanced digital hearing aid with assistive listening and a Bluetooth stereo headset.

Similar to hearing aids, the BeHear NOW hearable allows the adjustment and control of how sounds are heard for each year. 

Only, the adjustment and control can be made in real-time by the user instead of a technician, using their free app.

In fact, users can use the app to adjust settings to hear better during live concerts, indoors, outdoors, or while in crowds.

To set up BeHear NOW, users take a hearing test in both ears to decipher the sound levels of common frequencies and how they like to hear them.

For example, high pitched frequencies might be preferred to have their volume lower and low pitched frequencies heard at a higher level.  And this can be different for each ear.

Once a user sets their preferences, based on the auditory test, the app remembers and serves them up to the BeHear NOW headset.

This setting is remembered in the headphones, even when his/her phone is not with him/her.

Because BeHear NOW is Bluetooth-enabled, users will be able to hear phone calls.  In fact, a phone conversation can be slowed down so callers are more understandable.

If videos, movies, and music are not streamed from their phone, users can get an Assistive Listening Transmitter called HearLink for their TV so they can watch live TV with little latency.  

This gives them more control over the volume of the TV and other audio sources.

Or they can use a typical 3.5mm lead cord or audio out cord to attach to their BeHear NOW headphones to watch TV.

Does This Hearable Really Work?

I tried the BeHear NOW hearable to see how well I could hear things.  My hearing is not impaired so I found I had “super” hearing. 

I could hear things said in a room down the hall, although not completely clear.

I wasn’t sure if the BeHear NOW hearable would work with my mother-in-law.  She already has hearing aids and yet we still struggle in our attempts for her to hear us.

As BeHear NOW is designed for those with mild-to-moderate hearing, I had my doubts.  But I thought, if perhaps this bearable could work, it would be a blessing for both her and my family!

I’ll never forget the day I put BeHear NOW in her ears.  She immediately liked them.  She could hear me clearly and the headset was so comfortable in her ears.

Next, we fine-tuned beHear NOW to her hearing preferences, using the free app.  The hearing test tests both ears and shows a graph of what her hearing looks like.

We were then ready for the “coffee” test.  You see, every week my mother-in-law spends the night. 

In the morning we have coffee, only we are sitting 10 feet away from each other. 

Sometimes it’s only 4 feet.  Either way, it’s like a shouting match.  My son has commented that he has heard us from upstairs in the mornings! 

You can imagine, our family doesn’t talk as much as we would if she could hear us. 

Since it’s the morning, she hasn’t put in her hearing aids yet, and quite frankly, often doesn’t put them in as she hates the hassle.

If you have ever talked with someone who is hard of hearing, you are familiar with the strange “shouting” match you tend to have.

Conversations certainly get stifled.  

Helen Keller once said,

“Blindness cuts us off things but deafness cuts us off people.”

Helen Keller is so right.  It is really hard to have a lengthy conversation when someone can’t hear well.

Can You Hear Me?

But this changed the day my mother-in-law put on the BeHear Now hearable Bluetooth headset.  She could hear…and she could well!

I sat 10 feet away from her and we actually chatted during coffee.  She could hear what my kids were saying in the kitchen.  

It was like a whole new world opened up to her.

My daughter is nearly 4 feet away and my MIL can hear her just fine.

Later that day, my mother-in-law and I sat at the table, looking at old photos from my Google Photos account.  We sat and talked for 2 hours!

Even when I was facing the computer instead of her, she could hear me!  It was truly amazing.

And with the convenience factor built into BeHear Now, she can wear the headset around her neck to have the earpieces close by. 

If she’s at home, she doesn’t need them in her ears, but she can easily tuck the earpieces in her hears when the phone rings or when she goes outside and sees her neighbors.

It’s a convenience she’s never had before because she doesn’t do this with her $4,000 hearing aids that most often sit in their case. 

Her hearing aids are uncomfortable, so she doesn’t wear them much.  And sometimes, she’ll only wear one.

BeHear Now Hearing Amplification Headset

Features:

• Amplifies sounds to assist in hearing
• Helpful for those with mild to moderate hearing loss
• Comes with a number of silicone earpiece coverings to find the best fit for your ears
• Uses Bluetooth to connect to phones or tablets to hear phone calls, music, videos, etc.
• Can slow down incoming speech on phone calls on mobile phones
• Helps with listening to the TV using Bluetooth transmitter, with little latency or they plug into your TV either with a 3.5mm lead or audio out lead
• Free app provides a quick hearing assessment to provide personalized, real-time sound
• Can adjust sound real-time for live music, crowd, outdoor, or Indoor environments
• Can be self-tuned with use of the free app, allowing for different amplification for varying frequencies
• Ambient sounds can be heard over music
• Includes 4 ultra-low noise microphones to pick up sound
• Microphones stick to each other magnetically to keep cords together when around neck
•  Has a 250 mAH rechargeable battery which lasts up to 12 hours
• 30-day money-back guarantee 
• 1-year warranty

PROS:

• Sound is really good when listening to music or watching videos
• Has a 30 money-back guarantee so if it doesn’t work for you, you can return it
• Very reasonable price – might solve your problems without needing costly hearing aids
• Gives you a lot of control on how you want BeHear to serve up frequencies including  custom hearing
• The live music, crowd, outdoor, and Indoor are helpful and you can tell the difference they make
• Noise reduction helps cut down on sounds but still allows you to hear background noise
• Gives the user the flexibility to hang headset around the neck when not needed but can put on quickly when it is
• Has the option to slow speech down several levels on phone calls
• Much more comfortable often times than hearing aids
• No need to see a professional to use
• Works for people with mild to moderate hearing disabilities

CONS:

• No Google Assistant integration
• Does not provide noise cancelation but it does have noise reduction
• Can make a noise like a cricket sometimes, obvious only to listeners, not the wearer

BeHear Now Personal Hearing earbuds are available from Amazon for $199 with free shipping.

A Mom’s Perspective

The BeHear NOW hearable gave me the ability to talk to my mother-in-law for over 2 hours in one setting! 

I was very pleasantly surprised at how well they worked…and so was my mother-in-law.

She has been through at least two different hearing aids in the last 5 years.

At $4,000 each set, that’s a lot of money that hasn’t brought her the results she’s hoped for. 

Of course, part of the reason is she doesn’t like to wear them is because they are uncomfortable. 

And as with today’s Airpods, because her hearing aids aren’t attached to each other by a cord, one of them can easily get lost.

All of these issues are no longer a problem with the BeHear NOW hearing amplification headset.

My mother-in-law can hear better, wear them around her neck when she’s home alone, the cost is 6.25% of the cost of hearing aids, she can take her own hearing tests and make adjustments rather than going to a professional, and she can turn on EasyListen to slow down speech during phone calls.

If you, your aging parents, or child suffers from hearing loss, try BeHear NOW hearable first. 

Before, there wasn’t a hearable option, but now there is thanks to the new category of hearables.  Embrace them!

*I was given a BeHear NOW Bluetooth stereo hearable in exchange for my honest review.  All opinions are my own.