Great information, I have seen several review videos on this product and was very impressed that you thought to use manual adjustments to meet real ear target gain as well as measuring the noise reduction abilities of this device. As a fellow audiologist, I found the information to be incredibly accurate, informative, and well thought out. Honestly, I wish I had thought to add noise reduction measurements and the use of manual controls (rather than the settings provided after the hearing check) prior to doing a real ear comparison of this device to a prescriptive device in my review. Extremely informative video.
I purchased these 3 days ago and mostly concur with everything you said. However you did not cover the fine tuning section of the app, there are a number of options there for tuning. I found increasing the loudness in this section made a tremendous improvement. Previously I had the Bose but never found optimal settings, these however, are excellent. I also like the in the ear, mostly invisible design. Now let’s see if they last. My Bose stopped operating 2 weeks before the warranty expired so I was able to return them for a refund.
I'm glad you commented. I just got the Bose ones yesterday and right away I knew they weren't for me. They're going back. I'm planning on buying these Sony ones tomorrow.
Does the app allow individual adjustments of each hearing aid or only both? I need to adjust each hearing aid separately as there is a significant difference in hearing loss between my ears. Thanks
@@billk2381 the app initially configures each hearing aid separately as you would expect. After that, you can still adjust the volume of each ear separately. Beyond that, the fine tuning tweaks are done combined.
@@billk2381 I have these hearing aids you can set the volume separately for right and left ear but the fine tuning (I found) sets both hearing aids I hope this helps
Cliff, Thanks for this video. I have been using Lyric HA for 3 years. They are great but pricey as you know. I am considering giving these a try. Any thoughts on comparing the two. I tolerate in the canel well and are adept at taking them in and out on my own.
I'm trying these out and am pretty pleased, and although I know they have no features that will help with tinnitus, I wonder if a tinnitus sufferer should buy them at all. Will they exacerbate the condition?
It would have been interesting to get Bri's opinion on the effectiveness of these hearing aids . . . and others. I'm not sure that parameter adjustments in OTC vs. Rx'd hearing aids are that significant to an actual mild to moderately hearing impaired individual.
From the appearance of these hearing aids, I could swear they are exactly the same as what Rexton calls their M-Core iX. Am I correct? If I'm wrong, have you done a video about the latter?
I’m a high frequency hearing loss and I just brought these hearing aids yesterday and did my profile hearing test which it didn’t go through cause it was not comparable to my ear profile cause I found out I was high frequency hearing loss but not mild and moderate hearing loss when I pressed “0” and “1” buttons on all beeps. Sometimes I pressed “2” and “3” times beep when I hear it but setting up a hearing profile was hard to me cause I didn’t hear all beep, I’m soo disappointed why Sony didn’t let me in and give me the sound of their device, even they should start making hearing devices for people who have high frequency hearing loss because I hate spending thousands on companies that ain’t even worth my budget. I’m returning the hearing aids tomorrow, I’m so disappointed of what I can’t get, I might remain a mute person! 😢😢😢😢
I will check on these. I tried out a pair of pretty expensive aids after going to an audiologist. She apparently reportedly the aids based on her tests. The only "benefit" I got from them was that it made things louder - not any more crisp. I told her I'd like to have something so that I could mix (EQ) bass/mid/treble myself from something like a cellphone. Apparently, there was only one aid supplier that had worked out something with Apple. It sounded like a good thing, but I wasn't about to shell out big bucks to replace my non-Apple phone AND buy a high-end aid. So, I returned the aids I had (at no cost to me, fortunately) and went on my merry way.
Question please- What kind of feed-back method is used? Currently, I have Costco aids and they interrupt the signal many times per second to prevent feedback. The result is like the sound you got as a kid when speaking into a fan- Robo-sound. It's slight but most annoying. Most high-end audio gear senses the particular frequency of feedback and temporarily reduces the volume on only that frequency. I'm hoping to find some that do it that way. Thank you for your time.
Not clear. When he says that they are the best he's seen to this date, what date? Does that mean he likes these better than the Lexie B1 and B2? Or were those better? It would be good to know.
I like my Sony C10’s. I have one question though. I was wondering if the Sony 10’s use the same wax guard as the Signia Silk? Sony’s documentation doesn’t address wax guards.
Very informative video. I haven't had a hearing test since i was in 7th grade. I had a test today from an audiologist. According to the test my left ear is at 82% my right ear is at 92%,both ears together i'm at 96%. Would these be a good fit for me? This is the first time ever looking into hearing aids. The most advanced hearing aid they offered was 10k. With a discount ,they brought it down to about $5800. Thats still a lot of money for me. I'm only 54 and my hearing is bad.
I want to use these for choir rehearsals. I have mild-to-moderate high-frequency hearing loss. My conductor's voice is soft, but the choir is quite loud. So I have two questions: (a) Do these OTC aids without a "Music" setting, give reasonable fidelity and low distortion? (b) What's the maximum SPL before the microphones start to distort ? Thanks --- Charles
Since you did this review 1 year ago, I was wondering if you still thought that the Sony CRE-C10 was still any good. I am in my trial period, so right now I am not sure and my verdict is still out.
Kindly, please review the other Sony OTC hearing aid, the CRE-E10, with BT streaming and rechargeable battery. I read that they will be available next week and appear to be the superior offering.
They are the same sound quality. I have both and their Signia counterparts. Both are comparable to Signias universal program. But no other programs like music. Supposedly they don't process out background noise as well but I haven't noticed a big difference from universal mode. They are really good. V2 needs a music setting though.
I purchased some Signia closed sleeves (XS size). There was a significant reduction in volume compared to the vented style that came with the hearing aids. For me vented is the way to go.
Can you adjust/customize each hearing aid individually with the app or is the app adjustments for only both? I have significant differences in hearing levels/hearing loss between my ears so want the ability to adjust each device separately. Thanks for the review. I was waiting on this review to move forward on my purchase of an OTC hearing device. I had a hearing test completed 4 months ago and decided to wait on purchasing a hearing aid/device until the OTC rules were finalized.
Initial setup is done with each ear seperately, the 'adjust loudness' function asks you to have a conversation with another person and you can adjust loudness for each individual aid with it, the "fine tuning" controls are done on both aids simultaneously. If you can't get decent results w/ adjust loudness and fine tuning, it's probably best to redo the initial setup in a quiet location. (Don't forget to "replay sounds" during setup as needed, don't rush the process.
Thanks fir the review of the Sony hearing aids. I think I’ll stick with my audiologist-prescribed hearing aids for now. But glad that there is a lower cost option for those without sufficient insurance coverage.
Is anyone using these hearing aides to help with Tinnitus? Just curious if they might help. I have mild hearing loss at the 4000hz level only. All other levels are fine. I’m considering these to see if they will help filter out some of the ringing issues I have in my ears.
Sony or Amazon won't ship to Canada. I have a friend in USA that I can ship to and he can forward to me. The other major issue is the Sony app won't allow me to down load in Canada.
I just realized it's actually from Nuheara which makes the iqbuds2 Max that you reviewed a while back. When you get them could you do a comparison, ie. are they twins or is HP's $200 price increase giving a big improvement? Thanks Cliff, for all your great help here.
I am a long time musician and film composer who is paying the price for all the noise I have experienced, I call it the black lung disease of musicians. I am still mixing but know that the highest frequencies are not perfectly accurate and also find that I am missing words in some conversations. I purchased a pair of these as a way to begin to familiarize myself with what will eventually be a real commitment to addressing my ever decreasing acuity. I did a lot of investigating (mostly through your excellent and educational RU-vid channel). I have a finely tuned ear for the technical aspects of sound and I must say that I was confused by what I was hearing. I am hyper aware of phase and by having a vented click sleeve that contains both direct sound and processed sound I am overwhelmed by the processing delay from the Sony's as they combined with the natural sound. I cannot exactly determine the delay but it is relatively short and under 30 milliseconds. This does give a strong tunnel effect or "flange" effect that seems to change at different times. When I play a note on a piano I get a very strange tremolo effect probably caused by this as well. I cannot find any technical info that might help me with all the questions I have. Does this item employ an FFT or a Filterbank process? And as things seem to change at times, is this making program changes? I also can't seem to find (or hear) a limiter that would choke down loud sounds. And not lastly but lastly for this lengthy comment, the limited bandwidth on the eq is barely in the ballpark. There are many things that now make me see that I may not be served by any digital hearing aids except in very specific situations where I would learn to live with their drawbacks (which at this point may be the Sony's). Are you aware of any high quality, custom fitted hearing aids that employ analog technology? I think I could give up a lot of bells and whistles for truer tone. Thanks for your time (if you have any!).
Have you tried bone-conduction earphones? I like listening to music and was appalled by the sound through hearing aids. There were no high or low frequencies, and the middle was not too good either. I bought a pair of bone conduction phones, figuring they would bypass all the delicate functions in my ear associated with hearing loss. The difference was a revelation, and these were not a particularly expensive pair. There are more and more of this type of listening aid aimed at sound reproduction of music, and they have the advantage that you can hear external sounds as well, popular with the joggers of this world. They want to listen to music but still be able to hear approaching traffic, for example.
I currently have the Bose hearing aids. I bought them just before they were transitioned to Lexie Hearing (consequently I bought them at the close out price of $595.00, so I don’t have a big investment at this point). They have been okay, but not great (this is my very first set of hearing aids). I would really love to know how they compare to the Sony. I would certainly make the investment in the event they are that much better than the Bose (and just keep the Bose as spare/emergency pair). I know Sony has a great reputation for both sound quality and miniaturization. It seems in the comments below people really favor the Sony vs the Bose.
It really just depends on how close they come to your hearing loss prescription. Its impossible for me to know which one is better for you without knowing that information. You could get lucky, but having REMs done would be the deciding factor.
@@DrCliffAuD I agree. My hearing loss is mild and was caused by chemotherapy. I am however celebrating two years of being cancer free (as of November 14th 2022). Prescription hearing aids or OTC hearing aids, I still think assistance from an audiologist is still plays a critical role in obtaining hearing aids that work to their fullest capability. I bought this first pair (Bose) only as a way to get my feet wet so to speak and have an idea of what to expect. I do wear them all day. I do feel the time has come to get a “real pair” of hearing aids so to speak that truly match my prescriptive target. I have been an audiophile most of my life and do a lot of critical listening. Hearing aids that offer great sound quality will be important to me. An acquaintance who is also an audiophile currently uses the Widex Moment series and claims they offer the best sound quality he has experienced so far. (Only sharing his opinion, or necessarily fact). I really appreciated all of your videos and all the education you provide for us. Thank you.
@@dj-jazzy-jimbob Thank you so much for the information. I am a big time audiophile ( Krell monoblocks/preamp, Naim music server. I have two different pairs of speakers I switch out every now and then. One is the Eggleston Viginti and the other a pair of Martin Logan’s. My hearing loss is mild and was caused by chemotherapy medication.
You cannot enter or import any audiogram data with the Sony hearing aid. Instead, the app performs its version of a hearing test somewhat similar to various phone app hearing tests.
I am not clear on hearing aid products that have an app associated with it. After initial setup, do the hearing aids have to co-exist with a cell phone for it to operate? Do you have to your iphone with you in order for these hearing aids to work?
Since they are so much like the Signia, and were developed with major hearing aid company, and use the same look and feel as the Signia app... are you sure they aren't multi band inside? There is fine tuning that you didn't cover that I assume adjusts this. However, what I really want is an "open" multi band equalizer (at 3 volume levels eventually...) so that I can use my "equal loudness" approach which works so much better than prescription for me - meaning I'm willing to wear them and they help intelligibility, even if the papers think I haven't done enough to optimize speech (I like music too). Sees the apps are going to continue to get in the way of the hardware, as with regular hearing aids using speech optimizing prescriptions based on threshold hearing curve, when that doesn't seem to correlate well with say "50dB apparent loudness" curve, at least in my case. Yes, I'm techie, but lots of people could handle a 20 band equalizer (they do already in consumer audio) and with good apps could adjust to equal apparent loudness curve (tedious but worth it).
To be clear, I have no objection to a speech in noise optimized program. But a better normal program would seem to be one that tries to restore hearing vs frequency to "normal" to the extant practical, as eyeglasses do for vision, rather than counting on the client to adjust to the speech prescription, or tuning driven by "how does that sound" Q & A.
Depends on how your ear canals shape the sound and your ear canal anatomy from a fit perspective. They could do completely different things in your ears vs someone else's ears.
Yay! I JUST asked you yesterday about reviewing these on your last video. I just got the Bose ones and I hate them they are going back. I was planning on buying these tomorrow actually.
I returned a pair of Eargo6 a few weeks ago and I’ve been using the Sony’s for about week and a half now. Hands down, at least for me the Sony’s are much better. I couldn’t get the Eargo’s far enough out in my ear canal. If I seated them flush like I’m wearing the Sony’s they sounded terrible. For me the Sony’s have less occlusion, sound more natural and almost no feedback, which was bad with the Eargo’s. The one thing I wish the Sony’s had is an IPX rating like the Eargo6.
They only have Universal mode. That is the main difference. They supposedly don't process background noise as well but I don't notice that. They don't have a music program
I can tell you this because my ITC (in the canal) hearing aids have broke string. You simple pick it by your finger. Easy. No big deal. This will become issues if you have dexterity problem. Like your hand is unsteadily or finger not functional right. You may accident slip it out of your finger or hand and risk damaged your device.
"Hit the like button as it really helps out my channel and lets me know that you want me to make more review videos just like this one." Like you'd ever stop making review videos, LOL. Keep 'em coming!
For the hard of hearing world. 10dB may not really much that loud different at all. This is different for each individual. This is why this is for "hearing loss" only. Not for normal person. If normal person try on this, they got hearing damaged instantly.
You didn’t comment on the Fine Tuning feature within the app. I don’t like the way it is presented in the app with no idea what is happening when you try to tweak with fine tuning. I can understand the volume and the bass/treble features enough, but that Fine Tuning seems poor.
@@peter7239 To go to the fine tuning hit the pancake menu in the upper left corner of the Remote Control screen. From there follow the prompts where you’ll find Loudness, Own Voice, Speech, Sound Quality and Others.
It's too bad these don't make much sense when I can get professional aids for $1400 a pair through BCBS medicare advantage. They might be worth a try if you don't have insurance. Still, it's not enough of a problem to justify $1400 even for rechargeable aids. I'm dissappointed that the OTC aids are so limited.
