Start Hearing One: A Comprehensive Review

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. About Start Hearing One
3. Start Hearing One vs. Other Over-the-Counter Hearing Aids
4. Who Can Benefit from Over-the-Counter Hearing Aids?
5. Red Flags to Watch Out For
6. Purchasing Start Hearing One
7. Unboxing Start Hearing One
8. Design and Comfort
9. Default Amplification Settings
10. Self-Adjusting Start Hearing One
11. Bluetooth Connectivity
12. Real Ear Measurement
13. Noise Reduction Capabilities
14. Pros and Cons of Start Hearing One
15. Conclusion
16. FAQs

Start Hearing One: A Comprehensive Review

If You're looking for an over-the-counter hearing aid, you may have come across the Start Hearing One. This hearing aid is one of the newest on the market, sold by a company called Start Hearing. In this article, we'll take a detailed look at the Start Hearing One and see how it stacks up against other over-the-counter hearing aids currently available on the market.

About Start Hearing One

Start Hearing not only offers their over-the-counter hearing aids, but they also act as a third-party administrator contracting with insurance companies to handle their hearing aid benefits. The Start Hearing One is intended for adults with perceived mild to moderate hearing loss. Your ability to receive benefit from them depends on how well you can program them to your hearing loss prescription. If you do not get benefit with over-the-counter hearing aids that you try, make sure that you see a hearing care professional so they can help.

Start Hearing One vs. Other Over-the-Counter Hearing Aids

In terms of design, the Start Hearing One looks virtually identical to the Lexie B1 over-the-counter hearing aids powered by Bose. They are nearly identical in size, Shape, construction, push buttons, receiver wires, and domes. The Start Hearing One retails at $899 for a pair, whereas the Lexi B1's retail for $849 for a pair. Inside the box, you get the hearing aids, small, medium, and large open and closed eartips, a pack of wax guards, a hearing aid brush, a pack of size 312 batteries, and a carrying case.

Who Can Benefit from Over-the-Counter Hearing Aids?

Over-the-counter hearing aids are intended for adults with perceived mild to moderate hearing loss. If you have any of the following red flags, make sure that you consult immediately with an audiologist or a physician who specializes in the ears because it could be a sign of a serious medical condition. These red flags include visible congenital or traumatic deformity of the ears, history of active drainage from either ear within the previous 90 days, visible evidence of significant earwax accumulation or foreign body in the ear canal, pain or discomfort in the ear, acute or chronic dizziness, history of sudden or rapidly progressive hearing loss within the previous 90 days, or unilateral hearing loss of sudden or recent onset within the previous 90 days as well.

Red Flags to Watch Out For

If you have any of the red flags Mentioned above, make sure that you consult immediately with an audiologist or a physician who specializes in the ears because it could be a sign of a serious medical condition.

Purchasing Start Hearing One

While the Start Hearing Ones are considered over-the-counter hearing aids, you can only purchase them over the counter from a hearing care professional. This is both good and bad because while you can purchase them over the counter, you have to go into a hearing aid clinic rather than just purchasing them online. If you'd like to check these devices out for yourself, all you have to do is contact a hearing aid clinic that dispenses Starkey hearing aids, give them a call and see if they can mail a set to you or to see if you can go in and pick 'em up. Keep in mind that they do come with a 30-day return window, so if you try them and you do not like them, you can return them for a refund.

Unboxing Start Hearing One

When you unbox the Start Hearing One, you'll find that they look virtually identical to the Lexie B1 over-the-counter hearing aids powered by Bose. They are nearly identical in size, shape, construction, push buttons, receiver wires, and domes. Inside the box, you get the hearing aids, small, medium, and large open and closed eartips, a pack of wax guards, a hearing aid brush, a pack of size 312 batteries, and a carrying case.

Design and Comfort

The Start Hearing One is designed to fit behind your ears. The domes that are on the ends of the receiver tips can be uncomfortable for some people. You can combat this by ordering a longer length wire, but it may still be uncomfortable. The devices do amplify sound right out of the box at their default amplification settings. There is not a hearing test that you take with these particular over-the-counter hearing aids, but you can make adjustments to them.

Default Amplification Settings

The Start Hearing One comes with four preset base programs including Home, Restaurant, Outside, and Music. You can use the push buttons on the back of each hearing aid to either increase volume, reduce volume, or change between your default programs. They also have their Start Hearing app, which allows you to use an Android phone or an Apple phone to make these customizations to your devices.

Self-Adjusting Start Hearing One

To make adjustments to your Start Hearing One, you can use the push buttons on the back of each hearing aid or the Start Hearing app. If you have an Android phone, you can only use the Start Hearing app to connect to your hearing aids to make adjustments. You cannot do any other types of streaming, whether it's music, podcasts, YouTube videos, or phone calls. However, if you have an Apple device, not only can you use the Start Hearing app, but you can also use the Bluetooth low energy to stream audio directly from your iPhone into both of your hearing aids.

Bluetooth Connectivity

When you connect your hearing aids to the app, you'll see that you have four preset base programs including Home, Restaurant, Outside, and Music. You will also see your volume bars on the bottom of the screen that range from zero to 12. Under the sound options tab, you can activate a Whisper Boost feature or noise reduction feature and either increase or decrease Brightness, which are your high frequencies, or increase or decrease Fullness, which are your low frequencies.

Real Ear Measurement

Real ear measurement is the only way to verify if your over-the-counter hearing aids are capable of meeting your mild to moderate hearing loss prescription. The basic concept of real ear measurement is to measure the amount of amplification that you are receiving from your hearing aids inside of your ear canals and adjust it to match your hearing loss prescription.

Noise Reduction Capabilities

The Start Hearing One has noise reduction capabilities. In the off setting, we measured a five decibel reduction in steady-state noise, and with it turned on, it increased the noise reduction by another two decibels to reach seven decibels of noise reduction.

Pros and Cons of Start Hearing One

Pros:

• Affordable
• Easy to use
• Bluetooth connectivity
• Noise reduction capabilities

Cons:

• Uncomfortable design
• Default amplification settings may not match your hearing loss prescription
• Limited streaming capabilities

Conclusion

Overall, the Start Hearing One over-the-counter hearing aids performed very similar to other over-the-counter hearing aids that we've reviewed already. While we were not able to match Bri's hearing loss prescriptive targets perfectly, we were able to Apply some Meaningful amplification for a mild to moderate hearing loss as long as we used a closed dome. These over-the-counter hearing aids could be exactly what you're looking for if you're looking to self-treat your perceived mild to moderate hearing loss.

FAQs

Q: Can I purchase Start Hearing One online? A: No, you can only purchase them over the counter from a hearing care professional.

Q: What is the return policy for Start Hearing One? A: They come with a 30-day return window, so if you try them and you do not like them, you can return them for a refund.

Q: Can I stream music with Start Hearing One? A: If you have an Android phone, you can only use the Start Hearing app to connect to your hearing aids to make adjustments. You cannot do any other types of streaming, whether it's music, podcasts, YouTube videos, or phone calls. However, if you have an Apple device, not only can you use the Start Hearing app, but you can also use the Bluetooth low energy to stream audio directly from your iPhone into both of your hearing aids.