Audien Hearing prides itself on being a value brand for high-quality hearing aids. According to the company, the average hearing aid costs just $100 to make, but the competition might charge anywhere from $4,000 to $6,000 per pair.
With these stats in mind, Audien attempts to offer the average consumer an affordable alternative, even compared to other over-the-counter products from the likes of Bose, Sony, and Eargo. Audien Hearing Aids are produced in an FDA-registered facility that manufactures products to prioritize customer safety, discreetness, comfort, and hearing balance.
The Audien Atom Pro
(available at Amazon)
hearing aids in particular are designed to service people like myself with mild-to-moderate hearing loss. But do they truly provide medical-grade quality at a fraction of a prescription price? That’s precisely what our first Audien hearing aid review aims to find out.
About the Audien Atom Pro hearing aids
Credit:
Reviewed / Robert Rekowski
Unlike many OTC hearing aids, the Audien Atom Pros can be used soon after removing them from their box.
The package features a pair of Audien Atom Pro hearing aids and a charging case, which can hold four additional recharges for times when electrical outlets aren’t available. The devices also come with several sized silicon earbuds, which should be tested for proper fitting, as well as a cleaning brush that can be used to turn up your hearing aids’ volume. To round out the set, Audien includes wax guards to ensure ear wax stays away from the electronics.
The Atom Pros are rechargeable, meaning there’s no need to constantly buy and replace your hearing aids’ batteries. The aids’ battery life persists for a full 24 hours after a six-hour charge cycle, making them practical for all-day use. Under these conditions, the battery is expected to last three to five years.
The Audien Atom Pro is simple to use and requires virtually no setup aside from fitting the correct-sized earbud and setting the device volume to the appropriate level. After this is done and the devices have been fully charged, the Atom Pros are ready for use. It should be noted that Audien recommends taking several weeks to slowly acquaint yourself with the hearing aids before all-day usage.
What I like about the Audien Atom Pro hearing aids
Impressive sound quality and amplification
Credit:
Reviewed / Robert Rekowski
These hearing aids are so refreshingly simple that they don’t even require an app to use.
The Atom Pros’ amplification is simple yet high quality. At the proper volume setting, the sound is crisp but not excessively loud. Other devices I have tested have suffered from unmanageably loud amplification of certain frequencies, such as the sound of running water or the crinkling of a plastic bag, however the Audien does not have this issue. At all times the amplification feels natural.
The hearing aids performed well in conversation, while watching television, and even in crowded environments. However, unlike other OTC hearing aids that use a companion smartphone app, there are no specific environmental settings to focus on sounds coming from specific directions, like behind or in front of you.
Audien claims the Atom Pros are specifically designed to target speech and remove white noise and feedback. I personally never find myself using environmental settings or programs with OTC hearing aids, so, for me, the Audien’s simple, volume-setting-only approach was fine. If you are someone who prefers more customization or programmable options, then Audien may not be your best choice.
I really enjoyed using these hearing aids while watching TV. I found myself listening to the television at a much lower volume, straining less to try to clearly hear what was being said. I didn’t even need closed captioning on while wearing the devices.
App-free simplicity
The Audien Atom Pros remind me of the old-school hearing aids I used as a child about 20 years ago. They exude a set-it-and-forget it style: Just pop them in when you want to hear, and take them out when you’re done. There’s no app to download, no Bluetooth to connect to, no hearing test to take, no customization to spend hours playing with.
The devices come with a brush which, on its back end, has a small flathead screwdriver-like tip that can be used to dial up or down the volume. It’s that simple to program. For some, however, having apps and being able to connect them to your smart device to customize your hearing experience may be a must-have feature.
I, on the other hand, enjoyed the return to an era before you had to spend an hour or more setting up your hearing aids only to find yourself struggling to connect it to your smart device or, sometimes in my case, finding the app didn’t work with my device at all. Having a simple, smartphone-free hearing aid was a welcome change. I wish more over-the-counter hearing aids came with an option to run straight out of the box with a manual volume control like the Audien Atom Pros, so they could be used without a smart device.
Audien Atom Pro hearing aids
These high-quality hearing aids don’t require phone apps or a doctor’s prescription.
Budget-friendly pricing
The Audien Atom Pros are very affordable compared to other over-the-counter competition. At just $249, the Atom Pro devices are likely not going to require additional financing or long-term payment plans. Many over-the-counter hearing aids cost more than $800 per pair, with some costing $1,000 to $2,500. In our non-scientific testing, though, Audien Atom Pros offered quality hearing amplification at an impressively low price.
What I don’t like about the Audien Atom Pro hearing aids
Volume setting
After praising how simple the devices are to set up straight out of the box this criticism may seem contradictory, but the volume controls are not as accessible as they probably should be. The control dial is very small and requires a flathead screwdriver to adjust, or you can use the included brush to dial the volume up or down to your desired level.
The central issue here is that the dial is just too small. For older individuals and those with vision or dexterity impairments, this design flaw could be a limiting factor. I would prefer the devices had a small dial that could be turned using your fingertip, that would also allow you to adjust the volume while in your ear, making it far simpler to program out of the box, versus having to use trial and error to find the perfect volume.
A fingertip dial would also allow those to adjust the volume on the go without having to find a tool every time an environment becomes unexpectedly noisy. I hope future models have a better volume dial to service these concerns.
Difficult fit
Credit:
Reviewed / Robert Rekowski
The Audien Atom Pros take a minute to find a proper fit, but they sound great once they’re in.
Though my Atom Pros are comfortable now, finding the right fit took some time. In fact, these were probably the most difficult devices I have tested with regard to figuring out the best fit. Firstly, there is no bespoke left or right hearing aid. Either fits in either ear, but they need to be twisted, turned, and positioned correctly, which can take several attempts regardless of how used to the devices you are or how familiar you are with putting them in.
After using the devices for one week, I still found myself sometimes making two or three attempts at getting the hearing aids comfortably inserted into my ear. I tried several different-sized earbuds and encountered the same issue. That being said, once they are in the proper position, I found the fitting to be very comfortable and practical for all-day use.
Phone call feedback
Like my older prescription hearing aids, the Atom Pros did not perform well while using the phone. I found feedback to be a constant occurrence when trying to hold the phone, which made the experience anything but pleasurable. This meant I had to take the hearing aid out to talk. Fortunately, I rarely use my phone for voice calls, but, if you are one to do so, then the Audien Atom Pro may not make an ideal purchase.
Should you buy Audien Atom Pro hearing aids?
Yes, especially if you’re new to OTC hearing aids
Credit:
Reviewed / Robert Rekowski
The Atom Pro hearing aids are a great introduction to the growing OTC landscape.
If you are new to over-the-counter hearing aids and you are not sure if they are for you, the Audien Atom hearing aids are a great place to start before considering more premium-priced alternatives. You aren’t going to get the customized experience you might enjoy when visiting an audiologist or with devices that connect to an app, however the sound quality is fairly comparable despite the lower price.
I have been fortunate enough to write many hearing aid reviews for products designed to circumvent mild-to-moderate hearing loss, and I think the Audien Atom Pros do a really good job reducing my symptoms without reducing the size of my wallet. I would enthusiastically recommend the Audien Atom Pro to anyone new to hearing aids in general, or over-the-counter hearing aids, especially if they are not tech savvy and don’t make many phone calls. For $249, I think you will be satisfied with what you get from the Audien Atom Pro.
Audien Atom Pro hearing aids
These high-quality hearing aids don’t require phone apps or a doctor’s prescription.
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Prices were accurate at the time this article was published but may change over time.
