BeHear NOW User-Oriented Review by HLAA Member
July 12, 2019User Assessment of BeHear NOW Personalizable Hearing Amplifier
♦ The following is a review submitted by Katie Robertson, active in the HLAA (Hearing Loss Association of America) Kentucky chapters
I have tested out the BeHear Now Personal Hearing Product Wear&Hear for a week or so and have found it both advantageous and frustrating for me, a 70-year-old female who has been hard of hearing with increasing increments since the year 1999. My hearing loss is hereditary, as well as due to life’s noises throughout my lifetime (head knocks, loud concerts, etc).
I have thoroughly enjoyed how clearly this product has given me the ability to hear during the “indoor” mode, while conversing in a calm quiet atmosphere. This product produced clearer quality hearing, more so than my RIC hearing aids have done at any time. During a trial of wearing the Wear & Hear apparatus in a noisy restaurant, I put it on the “crowd” mode and found it actually did dampen the background noise enough for me to hear the person talking to me, and enabled me to ignore all the different noises around (clattering silverware, loud children right next to our table, music piped in, and other conversations). I also tried the “music” mode in the car as I listened to a cd and enjoyed hearing the music because the earphones allowed me to hear some of the different parts of the music I often miss with my hearing aids.
What I didn’t like were the rubber “wires” that were easily yanked from the clips that kept them up near my ears. I found them more frustrating than helpful. Additionally, they got caught in my small dangling earrings I wore, and being a jewelry lover, that hampered my normal lifestyle. I know this is a small thing and could be gotten used to, but it is a feature that, if eliminated by a different product, might sway my purchase of one over the other.
One other thing that I also didn’t know how to handle was this: I am by heredity a person who profoundly perspires, and it happens not only when I labor, but during emotion, when flustered and in too much heat. The Wear&Hear reacted to the perspiration since it sits on the neck, and the earphones crackled some, then it turned off. I’m not sure if I could wear it for long at the times I have a lot of perspiration.
In conclusion of my evaluation of the Wear & Hear, I would probably love to be on the lookout for one of the newer models to see what has been changed in the way of improvement. It would definitely be something that I might use alternatively rather than replacing my hearing aids though. Some things about it I liked more than my hearing aids, I definitely liked it more than my PockeTalker, yet I still like my hearing aids on a day in/day out basis since they enable me to wear the jewelry I like to wear.
Thank you for the wonderful opportunity to try this product. I think it was worth it both for my experience, and for your enlightenment by the experiences from a user.
The bottom line:
“This product produced clearer quality hearing, more so than my RIC hearing aids have done at any time.”
