Lexie B2 Listening to Aids Overview: Nice Sound, Geriatric Look

Whereas some client electronics corporations, like Sony, have jumped instantly into the burgeoning over-the-counter listening to assist market, others are getting there by way of partnerships. The most recent of those is veteran audio producer Bose, which is “powering” listening to aids from a producer known as Lexie. Not too long ago I took its newest mannequin, the Lexie B2 “Powered by Bose,” out for a spin by way of my auditory meatus.

Like the remainder of the trade of late, Lexie’s B2s are self-fitting, over-the-counter listening to aids, which suggests you should buy them anyplace (not simply from a licensed listening to assist retailer) and modify them your self, with out the involvement of a health care provider or audiologist.

However not like the opposite OTC listening to aids I’ve tried of late, that are designed to suit utterly inside the ear canal, Lexie’s use a extra conventional design, with the electronics becoming behind the ear and a small wire connecting to a receiver which inserts within the ear canal. Whereas technically often known as receiver-in-the-ear (RITE), the design has an look very similar to that of an old-school behind-the-ear unit.

Having {hardware} exterior to the ear canal is problematic, foremost due to the way in which it appears. Whereas new-school in-the-ear listening to aids are just about invisible, the RITE design telegraphs “I’m dropping my listening to” from throughout the room, which most likely isn’t the aesthetic that the majority customers are in search of. Whereas Lexie’s B2 is definitely svelte—every assist weighs simply over 3 grams—they’re removed from invisible, and the impact on one’s look is decidedly ageing. There’s merely no means you’ll be able to fake these are earbuds.

Getting began with Lexie was a bit comical, involving textual content verification codes that went nowhere and limitless pages of phrases and situations to scroll by way of earlier than I might begin utilizing the items. Luckily, the principle portion of the app is significantly better designed, that includes an intuitive interface that allows you to modify “world quantity,” the general amplification stage, on one aspect of the display and set your desire for bass or treble on the opposite. Further features allow you to modify the steadiness between your proper and left ears—or mute an ear individually—and select amongst preconfigured environments (noise indoor, outside, music, or on a regular basis). You possibly can set as much as 10 private environmental settings and select between two directional modes, whether or not you wish to amplify audio from all over the place or simply in entrance of you.

As is the case with most listening to aids, these extra refined settings may be hit-or-miss on the Lexie B2, because the grasp quantity setting is by far essentially the most impactful. Nonetheless, I discovered that they are often value toying with if you happen to actually wish to get nuanced about your audio expertise. Sadly, the Lexie B2 has no coaching characteristic that allows you to measure your listening to loss or fine-tune your listening to, equalizer-style, which makes it all of the extra stunning {that a} 124-page guide is required to elucidate how all of this works.

Placing the aids on can be one thing of a problem, and whereas there’s clearly a studying curve that may be overcome by the persistent, I by no means received to the purpose the place it was straightforward to slide a unit on with only one hand. Most problematic, although, is that I simply didn’t discover the items comfy. Though the system contains ideas (Lexie calls them domes) in three sizes and two types—open or closed—I by no means discovered any that each match properly and didn’t ultimately begin to itch, although the smaller ones have been much less irritating. The silicone domes really feel delicate to the contact of a finger, however they sadly really feel a bit rougher within the ear.