Alas, enhancing ambient audio just isn’t the Wave Lite’s strong point. In all its modes and different settings, I was only able to achieve a moderate improvement in my hearing. As noted, while the units can get very loud – while keeping the hiss to a minimum even at higher volume levels – it’s the quality of the audio that’s lacking here.
Vocals regularly sounded tinny and thin in my tests, while higher-pitched staccato sounds like keyboard clicks and footsteps could be overwhelming. And instead of filtering out the low-level background as I would have preferred, the Wave Lites significantly improved the audio.
Finally, the app has a system that lets you lower the volume of your own voice, and while this works to some extent, I needed my own voice to be even more tempered than what was offered at the highest setting.
Ultimately, my hearing experience was often better with the Wave Lite hearing aids than without them, but I found that talking and watching movies weren’t measurably improved no matter how I changed the settings in the app.
Limited Lifespan
Photography: Christopher Null
Cearvol claims a battery life of 6.5 hours per charge; I got close to that in my testing – 5 hours and 45 minutes, with a combination of ambient listening and streaming. The case adds an additional 15.5 hours of battery life on a full charge. (Cearvol says it is extending these times and that future production batches will have 8 hours of battery life, with an additional 20 hours in the case.)
Speaking of the case, give it a spin and you’ll discover a curious feature that I don’t think I’ve ever seen on a hearing aid: a 3.5mm AUX port that lets you connect the case directly to an audio source. These pipes sound to the box, which then transmits it directly to the hearing aids. It’s a strange addition to the product that I doubt will be very useful, but it’s nothing to complain about.
For $299, the Cearvol Wave Lite system isn’t a massive investment given the inflated prices endemic in the hearing aid market. But unfortunately, while it has some positives, the audio assistance provided just wasn’t nuanced enough for me.
For further insights, check the full review Here.
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