Audien Atom X OTC hearing aids... initial review.

The wife has been pushing for me to deal with my hearing issue for years now.  I think with the new year she did one of those resolutions things.  It was determined by majority vote between the two of us, and my vote didn't count.

The pro shops price their products with WAY too many zeros before the decimal point.   Five years ago, that is what stopped me. Insane pricing, and Obamacare?  It's no care at all.

Since then the laws have been changed. and actual humans get a say in this crap.  Thus we are on generation 3?, 4? of the OTC hearing aid market.  I've been loosely following it, waiting for value to approach cost.  

There are a lot of choices on the market, as there should be in any non-commy world.  That means research is a friend, and research I did.   Amazon reviews, web sight rounds ups, YouTube galore.  

In the end we (I) went with the Audien Atom X, $369 on Amazon at this time.  FSA covered it completely.

This (latest-generation-for-it's-class) set of in-ear hearing aids met most of my criteria, and seemed to be worth at least what they charge.  They are new enough that finding reviews is difficult, but what I did find worked for me.

These, as said, are in-ear, contrasted with those that park a school bus behind the ear and wire up a plug to go with it.  Speaking for myself, mounting one of those old style things on my ear was a no-go.  It would irritate me enough I wouldn't use them.

Are they super duper feature laden widgets?  Not really.  Are the sound amplifiers that can be manipulated for voice/music/TV etc?  Yup.  In the case of the Atom X, are they also bluetooth ear buds?  Yeah, I suppose.

Okay, review time.

They come in a lovely package that's attractive, sturdy, and easy to like.  The buds come fully charged, as is the charging station slash control case.  The buds themselves have only one button each, which will run volume up or down.  That button can also turn the Bluetooth connection off if the case isn't handy.

The charging case is also the primary control system, and it's dirt easy to figure out.  In hearing aid mode, one has volume control on each bud, as well as 'mode' control.  Four modes, which seem differentiated by accentuated frequency range.  

Within the first day of playing, I concluded mine will be left on comfort mode.  The other modes do DO something, but not enough for me to mess with.  I find comfort mode and volume at 20-30% is my jam.

Bluetooth mode, accessible from the control case, gives only a single volume control and a four-level control for sound transparency.  The transparency control actually makes a noticeable difference, which is cool.

My impressions after just a couple days use:

• These are very easy to figure out and use.  They were in my ear and active within a minute of opening the box.
• They have a learning curve, and a 'getting used to' curve.  The wearers own voice is a bit boomy in the head.  Crunch a handful of nuts?  Forgeddaboutit.  Cars going past kick up an odd doppler effect that takes a while to live with.  On the other side of that coin, sounds that vanished years ago are back.  I can hear every running electric anything anywhere in the house... every cat licking itself... the furnace pump coming on... everything.
• Conversations ARE easier.  Much easier.  On the other hand, voices have a tinny quality to them.  Not unforgivable, but noticeable.
• Bluetooth ear bud mode.  The sound lacks all base and a lot of definition.  One can hear the music just fine, but it's not good listening quality.  Think 'Free earbuds that came with a transistor radio' sound quality.  When I listen to music, I still reach for my JBL headphones and these buds get put away.
• Battery time, so far. On hearing aid mode the batteries hold just fine.  Maybe six hours of wearing time equals 20% of ear bud battery life.  Popped back into the case, they charge quickly and seamlessly.  SWAGing it, I think the case itself might render three or four days of charge before it's own battery needs topped up.
• Putting that charging thing together, the case charges from a USB-c cable, just like all our cell phones.  The ear buds charge wirelessly when placed into the case, and no other way.  DO NOT lose the case.   Also noted, the control/charging case has built in UV sanitized which comes on while the case is on a charging cable.  I can't understand why that's not standard on all these things.
• The set comes with a charge cable and wall-wart, a cleaning brush, four wax-guards already mounted on tools, and about ten ear cups in different types and sizes.  Finding the ones that works best for you is half the learning curve.  Replacements are fairly cheap on the A-zon.
• Another item on the learning curve is the wearers own personal way of wiggling these things into the ears.  I found inserting with the little 'handle-tenna', and then push-wiggle it in by holding the sides works for me.
• The buds magnetically snap into the charging case only one way, and that means trying to orient them for ear installation is a no-brainer.  From opening the case to both in place and operational takes seconds, and can be done one-handed.

I'm only a few days into using these, and still in the learning phase.  I'll come back later and update this review as lessons smack me in the face.