First, I have to credit Audien for producing a shockingly small & discrete set of hearing aids, both in terms of the in-ear-aids themselves & the charging case that accompanies them. In fact, you could easily mistake the case for one that houses a regular set of BT earbuds. This feature alone is incredibly refreshing because it makes these hearing aids FAR more pocketable & convenient than some of our other OTC aids that include massive charging cases that simply won’t stow away in a pocket. And unlike at least some of our other OTC hearing aids, the Atom Pro 2 case has an internal battery so you can recharge your hearing aids on the go without needing immediate access to wall plug & charger/cable. The case’s design is pretty straightforward with a handy 4-segment charge meter on the front so you can keep track of how many more charging cycles you can get from the case before finally needing to plug it in & juice it up. Audien thoughtfully includes both a USB-C charger & short cable in the box, but the ubiquity of USB-C devices these days should mean you’re probably never going to be too far from a charger of some kind that will get you back up & running. Hearing aid battery level isn’t indicated with quite as much precision as you only get two LED indicators: red to denote that the batteries aren’t fully charged yet, & green to indicate that they are. At the very least, it would be nice to have an extra amber LED indicator for mid-level charge status, or even just a set of red flashes to suggest battery level in the aids themselves. Speaking of the LEDs, the Audien Atom Pro 2 includes a standout LED feature that frankly should be included in EVERY set of hearing aids from here on out: built-in UV sterilizers! At the bottom of each charging well is a hyper-bright UV-emitting LED that provides 5 minutes of UV sterilization every time you put the hearing aids back in the charger. It’s a genius little feature because you are always putting your hearing aids back in the case anyway, so why not sterilize them every time they are dormant/charging as well? I haven’t seen this feature implemented in other OTC hearing aids to date–certainly not in anything even approaching the Atom Pro 2’s bargain-level pricing. The hearing aids are impossibly small & will virtually disappear into your outer ear’s anatomy, especially when compared to those with more traditional around-the-ear designs. In fact, they are so small that depending on which size of the 6 sets of included eartips you install, it is possible to easily push them TOO far down into your ear canals making the aids difficult to remove (if that happens, it definitely helps to have a friend with small fingers nearby…ask me how I know). To help compensate for this possibility, a small transparent tether with a little ball at the end is attached to each hearing aid to assist you with grabbing them with your nails or fingertips. The tethers are not very long so it’s not like you’re going to be walking around with what looks like several inches of fiber optic strands hanging out of your ears, but it does take a little getting used to if you’re accustomed to simply grabbing a larger hearing aid assembly nestled behind your ear for removal. Those tethers may also dictate what kind of headphones you can use (if that’s even a concern for you) given that they may slightly touch the covered surfaces of on-ear headphone drivers. Sadly, they do not seem to come in any fashion or skin-tone agnostic colors like frost white, silver, deep black, ocean blue, etc. Rounding out the package is a cleaning brush & set of 4 replacement wax guards. I’ve seen recommendations for wax guard replacement ranging from once a month or more to once every 3-4 months depending on how well you keep your hearing aids clean on your own. At the very least, you probably have enough to last you about a half year or so before you might need to seek out additional supplies from Audien. Given how tiny the charging case is, it would have been a MAJOR win if Audien could have found just a little bit of room on the backside of the case to accommodate a small compartment for the cleaning brush, but that’s just nit-picking at this point. Each hearing aid has one button on the back side. Neither button turns the hearing aids on or off–that is accomplished by stowing/removing the hearing aids from the charging case itself. Instead, the buttons serve double duty for both volume control (quick press to cycle through 5 volume levels) & sound settings (long-press to cycle through 4 operating modes: conversation, TV, restaurant, outdoors). These levels & settings can be adjusted individually on each hearing aid, but there is no way to sync the aids for the same settings between the two so you have to adjust each aid’s level & operating mode manually. Adjustments can be a little tricky by touch as it’s not always obvious just exactly how the buttons might be oriented in your ears when you reach around to find them; & of course a quick or long press inwards on the aids themselves mean you’re likely to jostle them around in your ear canals requiring further refit/adjustments after each change. I also found it somewhat common to get some screeching feedback when I moved my fingers closer to the hearing aids to make physical adjustments or grabbing the tethers for removal, so I would suggest taking care when seating them in your ears & not futzing around with the controls for too long at a time afterwards because the feedback can get LOUD. Note that such issues are not unique just to these hearing aids–every pair we have, & have tried, produced feedback in one situation or another. And if you’ve never used hearing aids before, you may discover that your anatomy also limits the way you can use these (or any other) hearing aids. I am a 2XL kind of guy with a reasonably large melon–screeching feedback occurred, but was not common, when I used the Atom Pro 2s. Unfortunately, my wife is an XS-sized woman with a very narrow jaw & very small head–something about her anatomy made it such that she was not able to use the Atom Pro 2s at all without experiencing considerably uncomfortable feedback that we could not defeat no matter how many times we tried or followed the troubleshooting steps indicated in the manual. Sadly, that meant we could not test how well these hearing aids worked to accommodate her more moderate levels of hearing loss (compared to my milder case of age-related hearing impairment). Because these are not BT-enabled hearing aids, I didn’t really have a good sense of what kind of sound-shaping was going on behind the scenes because there is no companion app available to indicate what frequencies are being amplified, cut, or cancelled. Lack of BT connectivity also means these hearing aids can’t take phone calls or provide streaming audio from any outside sources. Honestly, those omissions were forgivable (at least for me) in exchange for the Atom Pro 2’s very reasonable price tag & their truly tiny/discrete physical profile (both the hearing aids & the charging case). But the lack of BT connectivity also means there is no other way to change operating mode or volume levels except manually using the push-buttons on the aids themselves. Infuriatingly, the hearing aids would remember which operating mode they were in before powering off, but they always returned to the default volume setting (3) when powered on. A BT app-based interface (or at least the ability to change default volume) would have reduced my frustration at constantly dialing the volume levels back down to where I wanted them through the same set of sometimes clumsy button presses every time I powered up the aids for use. With all that in mind, how well did the Atom Pro 2s actually work for me to reduce my hearing difficulties? Well, they didn’t necessarily outclass some of our other “premier-tier” OTC hearing aids in terms of tonally natural sound or precision & selectivity of amplification in crowded rooms–and I wouldn’t necessarily have expected them to given their price point. But for what they offer relative to what they cost, I was quite surprised & pleased at how well they did perform. First, I generally agreed with the sound setting menus in that the “conversation” mode really was best for a one-on-one discussion in a quiet room. It was so refreshing having no trouble whatsoever hearing my wife without any amplification-related harshness or watery/artificial-sounding & over-processed tonality to her voice, even when she spoke softly from a position behind me. The “TV” setting tended to amplify much more of the auditory spectrum during TV shows & movies which helped energize more of the soundtrack…although this also included adding a bit more hushed background droning for things like quiet fans or a dishwasher gurgling away in another room when the soundtrack grew quieter. The quality & fidelity of the amplified sound in the more open settings (TV, outdoors) was pretty good, though the TV setting in particular introduced just a hint of sibilance or exaggerated ‘S’ & ‘SH’ sounds for me. It was not unlistenable, but it was distracting at times, & I found some of the other operating modes to be a little more forgiving of human voices. But there is absolutely no denying that these hearing aids worked very well to selectively amplify the voices of those around me without simply acting like a giant volume dial that raised the sound levels of EVERYTHING else. Though I can’t speak to how well they might compensate for more moderate levels of hearing loss, I can say that they actually worked well at countering some of the effects of my more limited hearing impairment. So long as you’re not expecting medical-grade hearing improvements with high-fidelity, headphone-like sound quality, I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised with how well these hearing aids DO perform at a price point that shouldn’t feel like another mortgage payment.

The Audien Atom Pro 2 OTC (over the counter) Hearing Aids are very simple and straight forward. If you have a friend or family member who has been reluctant to try hearing aids due to their complicated nature, they should give these a try. These are lower-end OTC hearing aids that do not work with an app - they are that simple. And each hearing aid operates independently of the other - there is no left and right, making wearing them even simpler. Setup is quick and easy. Charge the case with the aids seated inside with the included USB-C cable and power adapter, then put them in your ears. These hearing aids are small and the beige color goes well with my skin tone, but still they are visible in my ears. They are comfortable to wear and haven't fallen out of my ears but I always feel like they will fall out any second. They don't fit snug in my ears no matter which "dome" I use. These come with 3 sizes of each of the 2 types of domes. There are only 2 adjustments that can be made to these - that's to the volume and listening modes. There are 5 volume levels which can only be done by pressing on the little button at the back of each hearing aid. This button location is questionable since I keep pressing that button when I insert the hearing aids into my ears. Every push increases the volume and every time you will hear beeps to indicate the volume level. That's a lot of loud beeping in my ears. Then I have to do the same to the other aid, since they operate independently. The listening modes are: Conversation, Restaurant, TV and Outdoor. I really cannot tell the difference between the modes except that I hear a "rushing stream' sound on the TV mode 100% of the time, so I do not use that mode. Since the 2 aids operate independent of each other, you would be able to set the modes differently for each ear depending on what you find works best for you. Again, more beeping in my ears for every mode change which is accomplished with a 3 second press on that same button at the end of each hearing aid. When wearing these, I do hear much better - there is no question that sounds are louder and seemingly more clear. I can hear conversations from the next room. But they are more of a sound amplifier to me. All sounds are amplified but the thing that bothers me is that I hear myself talking now. I hear myself sniffle. I guess I should look at the bright side - I am hearing a lot more sounds! These come with a convenient small portable usb-c charging case. The case charges the hearing aids and itself and Audien states the case should provide up to 3 additional charges which I read somewhere are about 20hrs per charge. So if they are accurate in their estimate, I should be able to put them back into their charging case after a day's use approximately 3 more times before I would need to charge the case again. When putting the aids back in the case while it is charging, the UV light will turn on and begin "disinfecting" for 5 minutes. Conveniently, these come with a cleaning brush and a wax guard tool. The wax tool helps you remove the earwax buildup that works itself into the aids. Cleaning these is important. Overall, I would definitely recommend these to anyone that needs to add some amplification to be able to hear things louder and more clearly. You can certainly spend much more to get more features and much better specifications, but for basic amplification, these work very well.

The first time I put the Audien Atom Pro OTC Hearing Aids in my ears I heard that dreaded sound. The sound that always came when we would hug Grandpa years ago. I thought “Oh No I cant wear these. They will never work” I took them out and laid them on the stand. The next day I put them in again and the same noise blurred into my head. I looked everything over and they had the right size ear buds on. I was careful while putting them in but something was wrong. So pulled out the User Manual (Yes they came with an actual written user manual) I followed each step as it was written. It said that if that noise was present to put in a larger ear bud. I wore a medium in all my other hearing aids but I decided to put in a large. It worked. The hearing aids themself are smaller than most other hearing aids I have used. They are easy to put in my ears and very comfortable. They do not go way back in my ear canal. The charging case is smaller than my other cases so it was easy to slip in my jeans pocket. This is the first pair of hearing aids I have worn that come with a case that UV cleaning built in. It lights up a really cool blue color when UV is working. I love the thought of them being sanitized each morning when I put them in again. The Hearing aids charge in the case and comes with a USB-C cable. I just use my iPhone block and this cable to charge. They stay charged all day. I just plug them up at night when I take them out. . These hearing aids are ready to use right out of the box with a few simple adjustments to personalize them. Make sure if they make a crazy noise to turn them down while you refit them. The noise is loud. My husband could hear it across the room. Once I got them adjusted with the correct size ear bud the noise was no longer there. There are videos online to help with using these hearing aids but you don’t really need the internet at all. As there is a manual included. That is rare these days and I appreciate it. My new hearing aid package did not contain everything that was listed on the front. I contacted the company and they shipped out the missing parts but it took between 2 & 3 weeks to arrive via USPS. I was disappointed that they did not arrive sooner.

I ordered these Atom Pro hearing aids to replace another brand of OTC hearing aid that stopped working prematurely. One big advantage of these aids over the prior set is that they are rechargeable. They are also housed inside a handy protective charging case similar to charging cases utilized by music earbuds. The case charges the buds when not in use, and itself charges via the included USB-C charging adapter cable and AC adapter.  Setup is simple and easy. I initially kept hearing a lot of loud feedback and echos. Experimenting with different tips, in-ear positions, and volume helped me achieve a comfortable sound level absent of feedback or excessive echo. Once the feedback was eliminated, I merely hear amplified sound. I sometimes get feedback depending on environmental factors and nearby devices like my phone. The user guide says it can take up to three weeks to adjust to new hearing aids, I’ve only completed one week at the moment, but they don’t seem bad so far. They are small, unobtrusive, and feel comfortable during wear. There are five preset sound modes for different environmental conditions such as watching television or having a conversation. Volume is adjusted in taps, again similar to music buds. The buds automatically power on when removed from the charging case and power off when returned.  The blue UV light inside the case illuminates whenever the case is opened. It turns off when the lid is closed on battery power. It remains on for five minutes regardless of lid position for sanitizing when the case is plugged into an external power source to charge. A brush and wax cleaning tools are also included.  The Atom Pro aids seem to work well so far. I can understand spoken words more clearly, especially when people speak at lower volumes. Same improvement when watching television at lower volumes. I also like that they are rechargeable rather than requiring tiny button batteries. My only complaint is lack of Bluetooth, meaning these can’t be paired and used for phone conversations or listening to portable devices. However, that helps keep costs affordable, as anyone who has shopped for conventional hearing aids knows that prices  are not exactly consumer friendly. For that reason, lack of Bluetooth isn’t a deal breaker if in the market for a hearing aid at a reasonable price. If longevity and durability are both good over time, I have no other complaints.

The Audien Hearing-Audien Atom Pro 2 OTC Hearings Aids come with about 3 small booklets to read before using. The instructions in the booklets are easy to understand. It is important to read the instructions prior to use because of feedback that occurs when using the hearing aids for the first time. When the hearing aids are being set with the fingers, the finger covers the speaker and causes a squelching sound. This sound is mentioned in the instructions. Please note that the sounds have different settings. There are 4 different types of beeps or "boops" that are heard. Each sound setting is good for different types of environments. The average environment sound that it was tested appeared to be the level 3 setting, in this situation. The Ear plug fits perfectly and fit comfortably. The hearing is very clear. and very easy to adjust. I would like to recommend, and this is not a deal breaker for me. For the hearing aids to have an option to connect to the cellphone as well, but have an option to where it is optional and not required. Would also like to see the hearing aid to have a remote that could operate the ear plug. Currently, to turn the volume up you have to use the hearing aid itself. The sound was clear when speaking and listening to the TV and others speaking. We tested all settings which we believe were acceptable ranges. It may be advisable to print ON the BOX the importance of reading the instructions before using and adjusting making sure knowledge is attained before using. Recommending creating Bluetooth capability with cellphones is created in the next version would be nice. Overall this product is recommended for use. Thank you for the opportunity to test.