You don’t have that be nearly deaf to use a hearing aid. Many doctors advise patients to start using devices early, before hearing loss becomes critical. The Olive Max from Olive Union is the first hearing aid I know of that was specifically designed for this purpose. It’s designed for users with “mild to moderate” hearing loss, which the company defines as 26 to 55 decibels of hearing loss. This lines up exactly with my diagnosis, so I thought I would be the perfect candidate for these new devices.
After unboxing them, you’ll probably say what I – and everyone I know – said immediately when I first saw the Olive Max: They’re really big. Really big. Each looks like an early 2000s Bluetooth headset, except you have to wear two. At least the devices look sporty in the two-tone white and gray design, including a wrap-around ear hook that keeps them in place. They also have a waterproof rating of IPX7. But at more than 12 grams each, they’re a whopping four or five times as heavy as a typical over-the-counter hearing aid. A total of eight different earplugs in three different designs are included in the set to ensure a good fit.
Photo: Olive Union
As hearing aids, the Olive Max devices work pretty much as advertised, and casual users can take them out of the box and insert them into their ears to get started with minimal effort. However, it can be difficult to hang them properly over the ear, especially when wearing glasses. The controls on the back of each device adjust the volume (independently for each ear) and allow you to select one of four ambient modes (TV, Meeting Room, Outdoor or Restaurant). The buttons also let you toggle “Hear-Thru Mode,” which lets you turn off ambient audio processing entirely if you just want to use the Olive Max as a Bluetooth earbud.
You can refine your listening experience in the My Olive app – although strangely, the hearing aid manual doesn’t mention that there’s an app or that you can use the hearing aids as Bluetooth earbuds. (You want the My Olive app (Android, iOS), not the incompatible Olive Smart Ear app.) The app allows you to make the same adjustments as the physical controls, but it also offers a noise reduction and feedback cancellation feature (Pro -Tip: Maximize both) and it includes a more detailed graphic equalizer to further refine the frequency response.
You can’t test your hearing directly in the app, although a short questionnaire connects you to various “AI-recommended presets” based on your age and a few other basic inputs. If you want something more subtle, you’ll have to deal with the equalizer manually, but that’s mostly a trial-and-error situation. It’s also worth mentioning that the My Olive app includes an audio therapy system designed to help people with tinnitus. Since I don’t suffer from tinnitus, I wasn’t qualified to test this feature.
Photo: Olive Union