I don’t have the original Elehear Beyond hearing aids on hand anymore, but I would agree that there have been some improvements to audio quality—though at high levels of amplification, the static and hiss issues remain overwhelming. As with the old Beyonds, volume can be adjusted per ear in the app or with the rockers on the back of both hearing aids.
Just like the original, the Beyond Pro is not tunable, but you can use the app to adjust a sort of bass/treble “tone” effect and adjust noise cancellation (now knocked down from the previous eight levels to five, which is still plenty). In addition to the new Music mode, environmental modes for Restaurant, TV, and General use are preloaded—along with four extra modes you can set yourself. There’s not a lot of variation among these modes, but I will say that Elehear sounds far better with music playback than most other pure hearing aids (i.e., not hearing aid/earbud combos) I’ve reviewed, thanks to a much better bass response. Phone calls over the Beyond Pro hearing aids were also crisp and clear.
Hearing Test
Photograph: Chris Null
The Beyond Pro hearing aids now include a basic hearing test, but this is really just for your edification and can’t be used to tune the hearing aid settings. It’s a standard ping test at various frequencies and volumes, and after I completed the 10-minute experience, I was given results that stated, “The test results indicate potential [sic] hearing loss” in each ear and no guidance on how to manage that loss.
One additional feature is a tinnitus mode that I didn’t test because I don’t suffer from tinnitus. However, some previously available features like the remote sound capture system and a built-in audio translation system have been jettisoned from the app. There’s no way to adjust directional listening anymore, either. Battery life is specified at an impressive 20 hours—it’s difficult to gauge perfectly but that was roughly accurate in my testing, with the (naturally) oversize case providing extra juice for four recharges.
Ultimately, while Elehear’s quality advances are heartening, its lack of attention to industrial design is not. The hearing aids became uncomfortable after a couple of hours of use each time I tried them, especially when I was wearing my glasses (always). As I noted before, the size of a hearing aid may be second only to its audio quality, but it’s a really, really important second.
