You likely know what hearing aids are, and you’ve probably seen a few of thebest wireless earbudsout there. However, an emerging product category combines these two devices into one device called a hearable. These new products promise to bring some of the best qualities of hearing aids and in-ear headphones to consumers, along with the ability to stream and listen to audio like you wouldwith your preferred Bluetooth codec. Let’s dive into what makes them special.
What exactly are hearables?
There isn’t a universally agreed-upon definition of hearables at the moment. They can be defined either as earbuds with certain augmentations like built-in fitness tracking and smart voice assistant features or as devices sitting on the threshold between earbuds and hearing aids. Given that most earbuds include at least rudimentary voice assistance features and would count as hearables, the industry is moving toward the second definition. This is what we focus on here.
Hearables are sold over the counter and offer more advanced hearing augmentation than earbuds.
What makes these hearing augmentation hearables so interesting is that you don’t need a specialist to fit them to your ears and your hearing profile. Instead, hearables are sold over the counter and offer more advanced hearing augmentation than earbuds. Since the U.S. hearing aid market is difficult due to the size of the country and the difficulty in accessing hearing aid specialists, over-the-counter hearing aids and hearables offer a better alternative to living with hearing loss.
What makes hearables different from earbuds and hearing aids?
There’s no clear cut-off between earbuds and hearables that make them fundamentally different devices. Many advanced earbuds offer hearing augmentation, like the Apple AirPods Pro. They offer a Conversation Boost feature that uses the microphones in the earbuds and beamforming to help you understand others in loud environments, making it easier to selectively listen to what’s in front of you. When it comes to Android-first earbuds, theSamsung Galaxy Buds 2 Prooffers something similar under an Ambient Sound moniker.
The Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 Pro
The main difference between hearables and earbuds is that hearables are more specialized and better at augmenting sound than earbuds. The products are developed with hearing enhancement in mind from the get-go. Devices like theJabra Enhance Plusand theSennheiser Conversation Clear Plusmay look like earbuds at first glance, but their setup process makes it easy to custom-fit them to your specific hearing loss. Hearables offer multiple listening modes for different situations that partially automatically adjust for you, like for loud environments when you want to hear what’s happening in front of you or for silent rooms where you’d like a rich surround sound.
Even though hearables and hearing aids serve the same fundamental purpose, the difference between these two device categories is bigger than that between hearables and earbuds. While modern hearing aids look a lot more like high-end earbuds than ever, they are more advanced. They can deal with more severe hearing loss than hearables, and they are usually custom-fitted to make it possible to wear them comfortably all day. They are also almost always sold by hearing aid specialists, who fine-tune the experience more closely than what hearables offer with their semi-automated self-diagnosis systems. At the same time, hearables are often smaller and look more like consumer products than hearing aids, like you see in the image below.
ReSound One in-ear hearing aids in the foreground, and Jabra Enhance Plus hearables in the background
Comparing all three form factors, there are vast differences in pricing.Excellent budget earbudscan be as cheap as $40, and you can get the highest-end devices for less than $300. Hearables usually start at about $600 and can go for a little over $1,000. On the other end of the spectrum, hearing aids can cost $5,000 a pair, if not more, if you want the top-of-the-line options.
Should you get hearables?
If you notice that you can’t participate in conversations in big groups or loud environments as well as you used to but aren’t willing to get hearing aids or aren’t medically eligible, hearables can serve as a first step. They may be more expensive than regular earbuds, but they have the potential to improve your social life.
Another benefit of hearables and hearing aids is that they keep your mind sharp. Your brain plays a big role in processing hearing, and when it doesn’t get the stimulation it used to get due to poor hearing, your overall mental capabilities can take a hit.Some studies link hearing loss with increased risk for dementiaand similar conditions.
The Jabra hearing test
A great starting point for your journey to hearables is a hearing test likethe one Jabra provides online. This test isn’t a substitute for a professional test from an ENT specialist, but it can give you a rough idea of where you’re at. Jabra makes the process intuitive, and you need a pair of earbuds or headphones and a quiet room to get your preliminary results.
Hearables have the potential to make hearing devices more accessible
Hearables are still a new device category, and it will likely take a few years for them to manifest themselves as an easily definable product group. It’s clear that there is a lot of potential, though. Hearables take technologies typically found in more expensive hearing aids and make them available for more people, both those who can’t afford hearing aids and those who don’t have a suitable hearing aid specialist close to their location.
Hearables aren’t only great for those with hearing impairments. They also make it easier for anyone to navigate loud and noisy environments where they need to hear as much as possible. There’s a lot of exciting development going on in that area.
