Review – If you are a frequent visitor to The Gadgeteer and my reviews, you will know that I am always looking for the perfect earplug. I have tested a few, but so far, none of them have the “wow” factor that ended my search. The latest contestant is Olive Pro from Olive Union. These are not just ordinary earplugs. Olive Pro is also a medical device hearing aid registered by the US FDA.Earplugs with Hearing aid? Can this solve good earplugs at the same time, maybe it can help me hear my wife’s midrange in a noisy environment? Let us find out!
What is it?
Olive Pro is a new earplug. In addition, it is also an FDA-registered medical device hearing aid. The recent deregulation of the hearing aid industry allows more participants to enter the market at a much lower price than traditional hearing aids. What needs to be clear is that these are not cautious, but are to be seen.
What’s in the box?
- Olive Pro bud
- Charging case
- Five sets of earplugs (for installation of medium-sized earplugs)
- USB-A to USB-C charging cable
- User manual
Hardware specifications
- Battery life: six hours
- Charging box capacity: charge twice, a total of 18 hours of use between the charging boxes
- Mode: music, pass-through; hear-thru can be used when listening to music
Design and features
The style of Olive Pro is similar to traditional earplugs with extended microphones. They are marked as “L” and “R” to avoid any confusion.
The charging box is oval, and there is a charging LED indicator at the bottom of the front of the charging box. The USB-C charging port is located at the bottom of the case.
Inside the case, we see a small button in the center between the earplugs. This is the factory reset button. Pressing it for ten seconds will reset the headset, delete the hearing data and Bluetooth pairing.
set up
Set up very standard earplugs at the beginning. Charge them, then pair with your device via Bluetooth. Olive Pro adds a step, which is a five-minute listening test. The app will play a series of tones at different volumes and frequencies in your left and right ears. After hearing each sound, you just need to click a button in the app. When you are done, you apply the hearing data to the earbuds so that the app can customize their sound according to your specific hearing and hearing loss parameters.
What needs to be clear is that this is far less accurate than a comprehensive hearing test conducted by a professional audiologist. However, for many people with mild hearing impairment, this is enough. This recognition is part of the reason for the recent deregulation of the hearing aid industry. As evidenced by this exemption on the Olive Pro order page, it is still a tricky area.
By ordering this product, I prove that:
I am at least 18 years old.
I have the opportunity to view the user manual from the page manual
Olive Union USA LLC has informed me that the Food and Drug Administration has determined that if I obtain a medical evaluation by a licensed doctor (preferably a doctor who specializes in ear diseases) before purchasing, I will receive the greatest health benefits. Hearing aids. I don’t want to have a medical evaluation before buying a hearing aid.
The final setting step is to choose the correct earplugs.
There are five sizes of tips, and everyone should find something that fits. I really like these polyurethane tips. They almost feel like memory foam. You squeeze the tips with your fingers and then put them in your ears. Then the earplugs slowly expand, filling the ear canal every time for a custom fit. I am very impressed with their comfort level. My overly sensitive ears will complain loudly about most earplugs. Although I always knew that the Olive Pro was there, my ears never hurt when I put them on.
After completing the hearing test, apply the results to the headphones and install the correct earplugs, and you can start listening.
Performance
I start with music.
Olive Pro software allows you to choose from a variety of music presets and customize the equalizer to your liking. Overall, the sound quality is pretty good. I want more bass impact, because no matter which EQ mode I choose, the bass is basically non-existent. Therefore, as music earplugs, I rate them as average. I hear better, I hear worse. Let’s take a look at what makes Olive Pro unique.
When you open the app, you will see reports about what you have been listening to, especially the volume level. This is also where you take the hearing test.
Dig deeper and you can see the loudest sounds you have ever heard. This is very convenient because many of us hear too loudly, which can damage our hearing.
The flip listening mode allows you to explore the difference between Olive Pro and other headphones. The listening mode is specifically designed to enhance, clarify or reduce environmental sounds, with priority given to sounds. You can change the volume of each ear independently. The app can also easily display the battery level of each bud-a nice feature.
You can adjust the sound balance of each ear.
The earplugs have three levels of noise reduction and feedback reduction functions. Are they helpful? Yes, it is not.
I tried wearing them while watching TV because my wife likes low volume better than me. This is a bit frustrating for me. Although I can definitely hear the sounds on the TV, they sound very small. I try to mess up the EQ settings and volume settings, but I can never get anything that sounds close to natural. Headphones in Boost mode do not have any benefits, and the volume is reduced to about 5 or 6. Turning it up to 8-10 will definitely enhance the sound, but it sounds like an echo chamber because I can also hear the sound from the TV. So, I can hear two, which sounds weird. In addition, in Boost mode, it enhances everything, for example, tapping the keyboard while I’m typing. It improves so much, which is annoying. It also enhances the general ambient sound, so there is a dull hum behind the sound and keyboard clicks.
Next, I tried the clear mode. I have to adjust them to level 10, and then the sound I hear is equal to the sound I hear without earplugs in my ears. They still improve keyboard clicks, but not very annoying level. When I speak, I also hear my voice increase. I opened the feedback cancellation. In clear mode, I did not detect the background buzzing that is so common in Boost mode.
In quiet mode, most of the background noise disappears. The click of the keyboard is still amplified like my own voice. I had to adjust each bud to 10 so that the TV sound was about the same, but not as loud as when there were no buds in my ears. The only benefit I heard in quiet mode was the cancellation of some other background noises.
I tried them in a crowded restaurant, hoping to make it easier to distinguish my wife’s voice from the crowd. Regardless of the settings, Olive Pro enhanced all the sounds, but it didn’t help me at all. Sitting with six people in a crowded bar, all the sounds reached my ears, and I was at a loss. Although I can hear the voices of everyone at our table, I can almost hear the voices of other people, and I still try to pick out the conversation from the noise. Maybe it’s just my unfamiliarity with hearing aids, which is to be expected. But I don’t like wearing earplugs to listen to conversations or watch TV. Compared to not wearing them, it doesn’t make anything clearer or easier to hear/understand.
In terms of the equation of the phone, although the clarity of the call between the client and the caller is very good, the noise on the client is picked up by the earplugs and transmitted loudly to my caller. In fact, the environment is too noisy and my caller asked what happened. I am not in a place that is too noisy, so in my opinion, the microphone on the bud will pick up and amplify too much ambient noise. Then I gave Bud my standards, and quickly frankly unfairly tested the golf cart. They failed miserably, but again, this is not a fair test. I am still waiting for some magical flower buds to eliminate wind noise.
what do I like
- More comfortable
- Nice information on volume and battery life is provided in the app
What will i change
- The music quality is average
- As a hearing aid, at least for me, if there is any benefit, I don’t get much
- When there is any environmental noise on my side, the quality of the call will decrease
Final thoughts
I am very happy to be able to evaluate the Olive Pro earbuds. Alas, I left with a little disappointment. Maybe this is the quality of my weird ears. Maybe I just don’t understand what hearing aids do. Either way, this is not a good solution for my hearing improvement and music.
Price: $299.99
Where to buy: Olive Union with Amazon
source: The sample of this product is made by Olive Union.
