Sennheiser unveiled a new pair of earbuds called Conversation Clear Plus that will enable wearers to better hear others talking. While they’re not quite hearing aids, they sound pretty close. I haven’t had the chance to try them yet, but I get the idea of what Sennheiser is trying to do here.
It collaborated with Sonova, a renowned brand for developing technology for true hearing aids, and a Sonova chipset drives the performance to enhance the clarity of both phone calls and in-person conversations. The chip powers Sennheiser’s Automatic Scene Detection, analyzing ambient noise and adjusting the level of clarity to meet the wearer’s needs. Basically, you should be able to hear someone talking to you in noisier environments, which may be of help to the hearing-impaired.
These are earbuds too
The Conversation Clear Plus work just like other wireless earbuds do, including several features you’d expect. Active noise cancellation works the same way, and a companion dedicated app lets you adjust how much you actually want to block out. If you want to hear background noise, you can do that too. All that is very much in line with what other Sennheiser earbuds already do.
There are three main presets: Relax, Communication, and Streaming. Relax is the mode that lets you adjust the background noise however you like. Communication focuses on clarity for conversations, while Streaming focuses on performance for audio and video content you want to listen to. While the Conversation Clear Plus aren’t finely tuned to the wearer’s ear like a pair of hearing aids are by an audiologist, for instance, these over-the-counter earbuds are trying to bridge that gap. The bonus is that they’re supposed to also play high quality music, which hearing aids often don’t do well.
Sennheiser says they can play for up to nine hours per charge, with an extra three charges coming in the case. They will work with both iOS and Android.
No word on when these might come to Canada, but they will be available in Europe first starting January 20. Check out the latest Sennheiser gear available, and look for the latest tech coming out of CES.
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