April 06, 2021

I am standing in my kitchen now, listening to “Abraham, Martin and John” through the device’s speakers (stereo enhancement turned on). It sounds AWESOME, and yet if I take it off, it is certainly not loud enough to bother my next door neighbors, like my TV used to…

The sound fidelity is crystal clear, the tonal qualities are just right, I can hear fine nuances in the music, it is comfortable to wear and it is so easy to use. I love the fact that I do not have to use the earbuds. I don’t want to stop listening.

Now I’m mellowing out to the sound of Barbra Streisand singing “What’s it All About, Alfie?” I am in music heaven!

A few weeks ago I had created a personalized hearing profile in the BeHear app when I reviewed the BeHear ACCESS. Is it possible to copy that hearing profile over to the BeHear PROXY, or will I need to get my hearing tested again?

I really love listening to my music library, while I wear the BeHear PROXY. It lets me consistently listen to pleasing, high fidelity audio, without the need to use earbuds or headphones. When walking, driving and engaging in other activities, the BeHear PROXY hearing amplifier should enable users to clearly hear, and be aware of, all that is going on around them.

Now, finally, I can enjoy my music at a volume that is loud enough for me to hear it, without bothering anyone. Life is good. You’ve really hit a home run with BeHear PROXY.

January 28, 2021

Rodney’s Story

Now, it took me a while to realize that I actually needed any help with my hearing. The family really pushed me into it. And when I eventually got the hearing aids, after much discussion about the high costs, I found them OK, but then I found that batteries are expensive, so in the long term I stopped wearing them, which really was a very silly thing to do, but that’s what happened. So this led me to look for another solution.

I was actually looking for hearing aids that are rechargeable.

But when I was looking I found this interesting company called Wear & Hear and after some searching with Frequently Asked Questions and listening to people who had actually used the device I decided to take a plunge and go ahead and buy the BeHear NOW. It was of course very very very much cheaper than the headphones I was looking at and so I bought it and I’m very pleased with the results so far. And of course, particularly in the family they’ve stopped sort of saying “why can’t you hear?”, “why’d you ask me to say that again?”

So, it’s changed quite a lot in the house, because my wife particularly is benefiting from not having the television absolutely blasting out.

The situation I find now is that when I’m particularly listening to a conversation on a mobile phone, this is dramatic improvement for me because I was finding it very difficult to hear conversations either on the actual phone itself (holding it to my ear) or in fact through the speaker. This has made a dramatic difference, it is really very very clear, and that’s a great help. The other thing I find is that, it’s rather interesting, if somebody’s on the line, and absolutely gabbling away to me, I press the speech “slow down” button and that really helps also!

Advice for Others Starting Their Journey to Improved Hearing

I would say that anybody who’s looking for hearing aids, or some solution to help their hearing, I would certainly say try one of the Wear & Hear headsets because, first of all, there is a tremendous saving from the economical point of view but also from the actual quality of hearing.

People think you’re listening to music and people don’t realize you have a hearing problem.

Thoughts About Usability: Simple as A-B-C

I love playing with gadgets, and this to me was a new gadget. It took me a very short time, I read the instructions.  There are also very helpful videos, which I watched as well. And, to set it up and do the hearing test, really very simple, absolutely A,B,C. And got it up and running very quickly.  And then after that, of course, I found out there were other little tweaks that you can do. And so, really it was not a problem at all.  Anybody who isn’t sort of “tech” — no problem at all.

Understanding People Wearing Masks is No Longer a Problem

One of the things I do find very useful is when I’m outside the house is when shopping, and particularly at the checkout counter, it’s very helpful to hear first of all, what they’re saying, and nowadays with the Perspex screen in front of the cashier and the masks on, it’s very difficult sometimes to hear what people say and now I have no problem at all with that.

Spreading the Love & Well-Being

I noticed one particular person always asking me the same questions: “how easy is it to use?”, “is it comfortable?” and I said, yeah, yeah, why? “Well, I actually have a little bit of trouble hearing.” And to cut a long story short, they went out and bought one and are forever grateful. Every time we talk she says “oh, thank you so much, thank you so much.” She says to people: “Rodney’s changed my life!”

Watch Rodney’s full video testimonial below:

October 22, 2020

General Comments About BeHear NOW

Fast delivery and good support.

The unit looks very nice and includes a sturdy case. Feels like quality is there!

Documentation is very good and I appreciate the YouTube demos.

I like the neckband form factor and the ear hook design very much. I can wear it all time even when not using earbuds and never worry about losing them or even searching for them.

Most hearing aids come with one side only, I like very much having the two earbuds. Less listening efforts, less fatigue. After all, we don’t wear eyeglasses with only one lens…

The self fitting (personalization) works very well and is quite accurate. I like the sound tuning platform for finer adjustment.

Working Performance of the BeHear NOW Headset

The sound from the Bluetooth is very nice, I can hear all the ssss and other consonants. Also, there is plenty of gain, and low delay when listening to TV. ListenThrough is a nice feature when watching TV with others.

For me, Personal Hearing mode performs best with the volume below mid-level, especially for Indoor mode; at a higher volume, the microphones are overly sensitive to room acoustics (reverberation), especially with noise that is in close proximity. Personally, I prefer using the Personal Hearing in ‘Crowd mode’. It feels less sensitive to room acoustics and and the microphones seem to be more directional.

My Conclusions

 I am a satisfied BeHear customer. I like the form factor and the features, but most important it helps a lot with speech comprehension.

August 20, 2020

I received my new hearing device about 10 days ago.  The first time I put it on I exclaimed to my carer “amazing! I didn’t know how much my hearing has deteriorated.”

Shayna Orbaum, satisfied BeHear ACCESS customer

Before I was able to use the device I had to do the set-up, which included performing my own assessment of how each ear received the different sounds and tones.  And also pairing it with the Bluetooth on my smartphone.
The accompanying instructions are very clear with pictures and big writing.  Very easy to follow. 

I am able to enjoy TV so much more. 

I found myself tuning in more and more to Netflix because there I could read the subtitles. I still love Netflix, but now am able to pick out movies from the VOD library and hear every word loud and clear. 

I used to have the volume up to about 45, when now I don’t need to raise the volume to more than 28, which is comfortable for my carer.

Phone calls: what a pleasure to be able to hear so well.  I don’t even have to hold the phone to my ear.  The phone sits on the table or desk and I just speak normally as though I am speaking to someone nearby. I still have to try out the slow speaking mode.

I have tried medical hearing aids about 3 years ago.  I just could not adjust, always hearing an echo or other noises.  I went back to the audiologist about 6 or 7 times and it was determined that my ear canals are small and hearing aids are not suitable for me. I was refunded the 8,000 shekels without any problems. 

I thank Hillel Fuld for his article in the Jerusalem Post about Wear & Hear.