Working from Home?

February 04, 2021

Hear loud and clear in your virtual meetings and mobile phone calls with BeHear headsets

Video calls are a workday staple while we shelter in place, and hearing clearly is essential to performing well in these sessions. You’ll appreciate how effortless it is to communicate using a BeHear headset, which is specifically designed to help you hear your colleagues, clients, and classroom clearly.

All BeHear Bluetooth headsets pair simultaneously with your computer and smartphone. Get the full benefit of working remotely, whether via mobile calls or conference platforms such as Zoom, Skype, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, etc., as you enjoy these great BeHear features:

  • Customization: Using the integrated smartphone app you can automatically program the headset to suit your unique hearing profile.
  • Amplification: Get a volume boost when you need it: about 20% greater than your mobile phone gives you!
  • Comprehension: Our proprietary EasyListen technology imperceptibly slows down incoming speech to improve understanding.
  • Loudspeaker: The BeHear PROXY can rest on your shoulders, or on a table to deliver clear dialogue to your unencumbered ears.
  • Multi-functional: Our Bluetooth headsets can be used for live conversations as well as streamed audio.

Which BeHear is Right for You?

All are great for Zoom, Skype, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, etc., mobile calls, and face-to-face conversations!

Pleased with Mobile Call Clarity in BeHear NOW

January 28, 2021

Rodney Lever, satisfied BeHear NOW customer

“In the family they’ve stopped saying ‘why can’t you hear?’, ‘why’d you ask me to say that again?”

Rodney Lever, BeHear NOW Customer

Rodney’s Story

Now, it took me a while to realize that I actually needed any help with my hearing. The family really pushed me into it. And when I eventually got the hearing aids, after much discussion about the high costs, I found them OK, but then I found that batteries are expensive, so in the long term I stopped wearing them, which really was a very silly thing to do, but that’s what happened. So this led me to look for another solution.

I was actually looking for hearing aids that are rechargeable.

But when I was looking I found this interesting company called Wear & Hear and after some searching with Frequently Asked Questions and listening to people who had actually used the device I decided to take a plunge and go ahead and buy the BeHear NOW. It was of course very very very much cheaper than the headphones I was looking at and so I bought it and I’m very pleased with the results so far. And of course, particularly in the family they’ve stopped sort of saying “why can’t you hear?”, “why’d you ask me to say that again?”

So, it’s changed quite a lot in the house, because my wife particularly is benefiting from not having the television absolutely blasting out.

EasyListen slows down speech to improve intelligibility

The situation I find now is that when I’m particularly listening to a conversation on a mobile phone, this is dramatic improvement for me because I was finding it very difficult to hear conversations either on the actual phone itself (holding it to my ear) or in fact through the speaker. This has made a dramatic difference, it is really very very clear, and that’s a great help. The other thing I find is that, it’s rather interesting, if somebody’s on the line, and absolutely gabbling away to me, I press the speech “slow down” button and that really helps also!

Advice for Others Starting Their Journey to Improved Hearing

I would say that anybody who’s looking for hearing aids, or some solution to help their hearing, I would certainly say try one of the Wear & Hear headsets because, first of all, there is a tremendous saving from the economical point of view but also from the actual quality of hearing.

People think you’re listening to music and people don’t realize you have a hearing problem.

Thoughts About Usability: Simple as A-B-C

Performing the basic hearing assessment in the Wear & Hear app will personalize your headset to match your unique hearing profile.

I love playing with gadgets, and this to me was a new gadget. It took me a very short time, I read the instructions.  There are also very helpful videos, which I watched as well. And, to set it up and do the hearing test, really very simple, absolutely A,B,C. And got it up and running very quickly.  And then after that, of course, I found out there were other little tweaks that you can do. And so, really it was not a problem at all.  Anybody who isn’t sort of “tech” — no problem at all.

Understanding People Wearing Masks is No Longer a Problem

One of the things I do find very useful is when I’m outside the house is when shopping, and particularly at the checkout counter, it’s very helpful to hear first of all, what they’re saying, and nowadays with the Perspex screen in front of the cashier and the masks on, it’s very difficult sometimes to hear what people say and now I have no problem at all with that.

Spreading the Love & Well-Being

I noticed one particular person always asking me the same questions: “how easy is it to use?”, “is it comfortable?” and I said, yeah, yeah, why? “Well, I actually have a little bit of trouble hearing.” And to cut a long story short, they went out and bought one and are forever grateful. Every time we talk she says “oh, thank you so much, thank you so much.” She says to people: “Rodney’s changed my life!”

Watch Rodney’s full video testimonial below:

Most Important: It Helps Speech Comprehension

October 22, 2020

“The sound from the Bluetooth is very nice, I can hear all the ssss and the consonants. Also, plenty of gain and low delay when listening to TV.

Lévis Malenfant, BeHear NOW Customer

General Comments About BeHear NOW

Fast delivery and good support.

The unit looks very nice and includes a sturdy case. Feels like quality is there!

Documentation is very good and I appreciate the YouTube demos.

I like the neckband form factor and the ear hook design very much. I can wear it all time even when not using earbuds and never worry about losing them or even searching for them.

Most hearing aids come with one side only, I like very much having the two earbuds. Less listening efforts, less fatigue. After all, we don’t wear eyeglasses with only one lens…

The self fitting (personalization) works very well and is quite accurate. I like the sound tuning platform for finer adjustment.

Working Performance of the BeHear NOW Headset

The sound from the Bluetooth is very nice, I can hear all the ssss and other consonants. Also, there is plenty of gain, and low delay when listening to TV. ListenThrough is a nice feature when watching TV with others.

For me, Personal Hearing mode performs best with the volume below mid-level, especially for Indoor mode; at a higher volume, the microphones are overly sensitive to room acoustics (reverberation), especially with noise that is in close proximity. Personally, I prefer using the Personal Hearing in ‘Crowd mode’. It feels less sensitive to room acoustics and and the microphones seem to be more directional.

My Conclusions

 I am a satisfied BeHear customer. I like the form factor and the features, but most important it helps a lot with speech comprehension.

Better Hearing is Now Within Reach – Part 3

March 15, 2019

This is the final installment of a 3-part series. If you haven’t yet read the earlier installments, you can read the first part here and the second part here.

How is this Concept Different from the Conventional Solutions?

Front view of BeHear NOW personalized hearing headset with cables clipped for comfort.
Personalized hearing enhancement technology housed in a Bluetooth stereo headset – BeHear NOW.

Our first personal hearing product, released commercially in the Fall of 2018, is called BeHear® NOW. It is a stylish, comfortable, high-quality Bluetooth stereo neckband style headset that can be used to listen to music or make phone calls. In addition, it can be used to enhance ambient hearing, very similar to or better than hearing aids. Its retail price of $249 ( €249) makes it very attractive to a wide population.

What About Sound Quality?

BeHear NOW has four microphones, two in the earpieces and two in the control boxes. Using four microphones enables unprecedented sound quality for both ambient hearing and voice communication. The headset features two 13mm hi-fi speakers delivering uncompromised sound. It includes a large rechargeable battery allowing the wearer to use its ambient hearing amplification during an entire day without recharging.

The Difference is in the Sound Enhancing Software

BeHear NOW can be used as a standalone hearing amplifier, but its true value comes with its software. It pairs with a dedicated, free smartphone application called W&H BeHear for iPhones and Android that enables full control and self-adjustment of the headset. When the personal hearing mode is activated, the wearer can choose the most suitable preset (Indoors, Outdoors, Crowd or Live Music). S/He can change noise reduction settings from low to maximum depending on the environment.

Fine Tune the Device on Your Own

Find the best sound for your current environment by choosing a colored square.

One of the problems with hearing aids today is that they require professional fitting in an audiologist’s office. Given the large number of people who suffer from hearing loss worldwide, it should be apparent that there are not enough audiologists on earth to provide hearing aids to everyone who needs one, especially in rural, distant areas. With BeHear NOW that is not an issue. Wearers can modify the spectrum of the sound they hear in real time by moving their finger on a grid to locate what we call the Best Sound Point. The Best Sound Point is a highly personal definition, depending on the wearer’s preferences, capabilities, and current location!

Built-in hearing assessment in W&H BeHear app
The hearing assessment in the W&H BeHear app allows the wearer to test his/her own hearing. The results are applied automatically to the headset for a truly personalized hearing experience — no matter what the situation!

Furthermore, the W&H BeHear application contains a simple hearing assessment that anyone can perform and get immediate results. This is not a medical procedure, of course, but when completed, all BeHear NOW sounds will be modified to fit the wearer’s own personal hearing profile.

Advantages That People With Normal Hearing Will Also Appreciate

BeHear NOW also includes some advanced features that may be useful for people with normal hearing as well. For example, many people have trouble with fast speech. We all prefer that the other person speak slower when we need to write down a phone number, understand a foreign language, or are otherwise being distracted. BeHear NOW can do it automatically. When BeHear NOW is used to make or take a phone call, the wearer can activate a special mode called EasyListen™ to slow down speech and improve understanding. While listening to music, the wearer can activate ListenThrough™ technology. Nearby human voices, the noise of an approaching car and other important or alarming sounds will pass through while ambient noise will be blocked, allowing him/her to enjoy the music to the fullest.

Great Potential for Improving Quality of Life

The Wear & Hear line of assistive hearing products is highly innovative, leveraging two successful concepts (consumer electronics and sound technology advancements). The resulting solutions have the potential to improve quality of life for millions of people worldwide. As Helen Keller once famously remarked, when asked which sense was more important, vision or hearing: “Blindness cuts us off from things, but deafness cuts us off from people.” We want the world to sound better to all. With the aid of our personal hearing devices, people can reconnect socially, without the stigma or high cost of a medical hearing aid.

What’s Next? Feedback and Market Education

The first members of our Wear & Hear family of personal hearing devices are ready for purchase, here on our Web site, and through our international partner channel. However, the market needs educating. There are about 400 million people with disabling hearing loss who desperately need a solution, but they have no idea that there is a high-quality alternative to hearing aids. Our concept of affordable, stylish, multi-functional hearing enhancement solutions needs to capture the attention of both the hearing impaired and those who can help us bring them to market. Can you help?