You do not have be almost deaf to use a hearing aid. Many doctors recommend that their patients get started early with devices, before hearing loss becomes critical. Olive Max from Olive Union is the first hearing aid I’ve come across devices designed for this specific purpose, designed for users with “mild to moderate” hearing loss, which the company defines as hearing loss of 26 to 55 decibels. This matched my diagnosis perfectly, so I thought I would be an ideal candidate for these new devices.
Out of the box, you’re likely to say what I and everyone I’ve been around immediately said when I first laid eyes on the Olive Max: They’re really big. Like, really big. Each one looks like a Bluetooth headset from the early 2000s, except you have to wear two. At least the units, in a two-tone white and gray design, have a sporty look, including a wraparound ear hook that helps keep them in place. They also wear a IPX7 water resistance rating. But at more than 12 grams each, they weigh four or five times the weight of a traditional model. over-the-counter hearing aid. A total of eight different tips, in three different styles, are included in the kit to ensure a good fit.
Photography: Union of olive trees
As hearing aids, the Olive Max units work pretty much as advertised, and casual users can take them out of the box and put them in their ears to get started with minimal hassle, although hooking them properly to your ear can be tricky, especially if you wear glasses. Controls on the back of each aid manage the volume (independently for each ear) and allow you to select one of four environmental modes (TV, Meeting Room, Outdoor, or Restaurant). You can also use the buttons to enable “Hear-Thru mode,” which lets you turn off environmental audio processing completely if you just want to use the Olive Max as Bluetooth headphones.
You can fine-tune your listening experience in the My Olive app. However, oddly, the hearing aid manual doesn’t mention that an app exists, or even that you can use the hearing aids as Bluetooth headphones. (You want the My Olive app (Android, iOS), not the incompatible Olive Smart Ear app.) The app lets you make the same adjustments as the physical controls, but it also offers noise reduction and feedback cancellation (pro tip: maximize both), and it includes a more detailed graphic EQ that lets you further fine-tune the frequency response.
You can’t test your hearing directly in the app, although a short questionnaire offers you various “AI-recommended presets” based on your age and some other basic information. If you want something more refined, you’ll have to delve into the EQ by hand, but this is mostly a trial and error situation. It’s also worth noting that the My Olive app includes an audio therapy system designed to help people suffering from tinnitus. I don’t suffer from tinnitus so I wasn’t qualified to test this feature.
Photography: Union of olive trees
