You don’t have to be practically deaf to make use of a listening to support. Many medical doctors urge sufferers to get began with the gadgets early, earlier than listening to loss turns into important. Olive Union’s Olive Max is the primary listening to support I’ve encountered designed for this particular goal, constructed for customers with “gentle to reasonable” listening to loss, which the corporate defines as 26 to 55 decibels of loss. That’s proper in step with my analysis, so I figured I’d be an ideal candidate for these new gadgets.
Out of the field, you’re more likely to say what I—and everybody I’ve been round—instantly mentioned once I first laid eyes on the Olive Max: They certain are massive. Like, actually massive. Every seems to be like a Bluetooth headset from the early 2000s, besides you must put on two. At the least the models, in a two-tone white and grey design, look sporty, together with a wrap-around ear hook that helps hold them in place. Additionally they carry an IPX7 water-resistance ranking. However at greater than 12 grams every, they’re a stable 4 or 5 occasions the burden of a typical over-the-counter listening to support. A complete of eight totally different ear ideas, in three totally different types, are included within the equipment to make sure you get a great match.
{Photograph}: Olive Union
As listening to aids, the Olive Max models work roughly as marketed, and informal customers can pop them out of the field and into their ears to get began with minimal fuss, although getting them hooked over your ear correctly might be tough, particularly if you happen to put on glasses. Controls on the again of every support deal with quantity (independently for every ear) and let you choose considered one of 4 environmental modes (TV, Assembly Room, Outside, or Restaurant). You may as well use the buttons to toggle “Hear-Through mode,” which helps you to flip off environmental audio processing altogether if you happen to merely wish to use the Olive Max as Bluetooth earbuds.
You possibly can fine-tune your listening expertise within the My Olive app—although, bizarrely, the listening to support guide doesn’t point out that an app exists, and even that you should use the listening to aids as Bluetooth earbuds. (You need the My Olive app (Android, iOS), not the incompatible Olive Good Ear app.) The app permits you to make the identical changes because the bodily controls, however it additionally presents a noise-reduction and feedback-cancellation function (professional tip: max out each of those), and it features a extra detailed graphic equalizer that permits you to fine-tune frequency response additional.
You possibly can’t check your listening to instantly throughout the app, though a brief questionnaire will hook you up with numerous “AI-recommended presets” based mostly in your age and some different fundamental inputs. If you’d like something extra refined, you’ll must delve into the equalizer by hand, however that is largely a trial-and-error state of affairs. It’s additionally price noting that the My Olive app contains an audio remedy system designed to assist individuals with tinnitus. I don’t undergo from tinnitus so I wasn’t certified to check this function.
{Photograph}: Olive Union
