Jabra Enhance Plus review: Getting closer to my $5,000 hearing aid than I thought (2023)

I've been wearing hearing aids since kindergarten, and it's amazing how much the technology has changed in the past quarter century. My first hearing aids were bulky and bulky, and I had to rely on an external FM microphone to better hear the teacher at the front of the room. Compare that to my current Phonak Audéo M70 set, which is virtually invisible and offers native Bluetooth audio and phone streaming with no special hardware required. However, the Phonak Audéo that I own is at the higher end of the price range, and someone just starting their hearing improvement journey might be hesitant to buy such a professional and expensive device. Enter Jabra Enhance Plus.

You may know Jabra through himexcellent earplugslikeAlita 5, but you might not know that the company is part of the larger audio empire GN Group. The group also includes hearing aid specialist GN Hearing, the company behind the ReSound hearing aids. The GN Group draws on the resources of all its different brands, so the Jabra Enhance Plus benefits from extensive research and development in the hearing aid sector, while looking just like plain old earplugs, without the look reminiscent of those oft-stigmatized earplug hearing aids ( It's a problem people like to exaggerate anyway).

Brown:Jabra

Jabra EnhancePlus

9/ 10

The Jabra Enhance Plus aren't actually hearing aids, but they're definitely more than earbuds with hearing-enhancing features. This may be the perfect stop-gap solution if you notice your hearing is getting worse, but not severe enough to require hearing aids.

Battery Life

12:00; extra 35 hours just in case

noise reduction

I

Bluetooth

Made for iPhone Hearing Aids

microphone

4

IP value

IP52

Supported Codecs

SBC, AAC

load

USB-C just in case

price

$800

advantage

• I'm closer to my $5,000 hearing aid than I expected
• Battery lasts all day with mixed current and hearing aid use
• Very small, even compared to normal earbuds

be opposed to

• The three standard-sized eartips that come with it aren't as comfortable as custom-made eartips
• Enhance is sensitive to feedback at very high gain levels
• No Android compatibility (but it will eventually)

$800 from Amazon $800 u Best Buy Jabra $800

Availability and Compatibility

The Jabra Enhance Plus is available in the US and Europe, although in Europe they are called Jabra Enhance (no Plus), which is what I am reviewing here. However, since they are the same device from a different brand, I will refer to them as Enhance Plus in this review.

You can get them for $800 on Amazon and Best Buy. That might seem a bit high compared to all those great entry-level headphones out there, but keep in mind that the average hearing aid can cost upwards of $1,000. Jabra Enhance Plus, for example, is something between earbuds and hearing aids.

Let's get the main downside out of the way first. The Jabra Enhance Plus is currently only compatible with iPhones, though the company has promised support for Android in the near future. Even then, Jabra Enhance Plus may only work on certain Android devices, depending onASHA, Google's dedicated energy-efficient Bluetooth connectionCustomized for hearing aids. i'm sure about everythingbest android phoneBeyond that, however, they will support it.

Design and Hardware

As someone who wears in-ear hearing aids a lot, the first thing I noticed about the Jabra Enhance Plus is that they are small and light. Even compared to in-ear hearing aids like the ReSound One pictured below, the Jabra Enhance Plus looks surprisingly small. Even compared to in-ear hearing aids like the ReSound One, the housing and the earbuds themselves are much smaller.

The headphones I received for this review have a black casing, which is also black, giving it an understated and elegant feel. Unlike the iconic Apple AirPods or other earphones with protrusions, they fit snugly in the ear and almost disappear into the ear. When you put them on, you really only see a fingertip-sized button. This button is used for volume control, phone call options, and re-pairing. To turn them on, just take the earphones out of the case, and to turn them off, put them in the case.

To measure battery life, there are LEDs on the earphones and case, giving you traffic light-like indicators (green for full, yellow for partially charged, red for low). What I really don't like about this case is the soft touch, which does a better job of protecting the earphones from bumps but makes cleaning and dusting incredibly difficult.

ReSound One in-ear hearing aids in the foreground and Jabra Enhance Plus in the background

install app

The setup of these hearing aid-like devices is very different from that of regular Bluetooth headsets, so it's worth taking a closer look. First, you'll need to download the Jabra Enhance app from the App Store, which has the same name as the headset itself.

After agreeing to the app's general terms and conditions and activating notifications, the app will ask you to pair your headphones using the iOS system settings and then take you directly to the hearing aids section. By returning to the app you must accept the Privacy Policy, which includes a mandatory section for basic functionality and some additional personalized notifications that promise to further improve the product for you. The app then reminds you of hearing aid coverage and prompts you to see a healthcare professional if your hearing continues to deteriorate or you have other problems.

4 of these

The app then guides you through the process of fitting the earbuds into your ears, making it clear that a tight and comfortable fit is key. You'll also be asked to use a different size eartip if you can't get the right eartip. After a bit of trying I ended up with the large size, I can only recommend trying all the sizes thoroughly to see what fits your ears best.

The installer then guides you through the personalization process. Hearing loss is rarely just a loudness issue, you may experience problems with certain sounds and frequencies, not all sounds. After you give the app more details about your gender and age, the app will play a series of progressively louder sounds in one ear, then the other. Your task is simply to tap the touchscreen immediately after the beep. This is the exact same process you go through when your hearing healthcare professional fits your device.

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After Jabra Enhance Plus has adapted to your hearing, you can select the desired speech filter. Cafe scenes are played in your headphones so you can instantly tell the difference between Jabra clean, normal and full filters. When you're done, you'll have a simplified visualization of your profile that shows you how Jabra has adjusted the treble, midrange and bass to suit your hearing.

By default, when you take the Jabra Enhance Plus out of the case, its listening mode volume is 7 out of 10, but you can change this to remember your last setting in the settings. I personally found the preset listening volume to be too low compared to my hearing aids, so I had to manually turn it up to 10 to match my hearing aids. However, the point is that I have moderate hearing loss - if you're someone with mild hearing loss and not ready to get the right hearing aids, it's pre-setyou shouldIt's fine to start with, but be sure to keep tweaking and tweaking.

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The whole process might seem daunting and complicated at first, but the app walks you through it all quickly with just the right amount of detail. All in all, the entire installation and extraction process, including downloading the app, took me 15 minutes, and I even took some time to take screenshots, pictures, and notes.

Speaking of unboxing, in the box you'll find the earbuds themselves, three different sizes of vented and closed-back earbuds, a manual, and a USB-C to USB-A cable.

Post-installation experience

After the initial fitting, on-the-go fitting and adjustment is key, just like any pair of hearing aids. The earmolds you choose may be too large or too small, so be sure to try on all three sizes you receive. Jabra also includes vented earcups, which allow air to enter your ear canal, giving you a more natural listening experience at the expense of loudness and bass. I would definitely recommend trying out both closed-back headphones for a few days. It takes some getting used to, as your own voice sounds very different from what you know it to be, but the added volume and bass are a big part of the normal headphone experience when all you want to do is listen to music or make a phone call. However, the trick of ventilation will make your voice sound more natural, so you need to choose your tradeoffs carefully.

You should also change the volume of the listening mode and see which gain works best for you. If necessary, you can also change the listening mode from Adaptive to Surround or Focus, depending on your environment. Adaptive should work just fine most of the time, but if you prefer a more natural listening experience, surround sound is your best bet — but be warned, you'll lose some smarts that way. Additionally, when you go into the settings, you can customize the voice filter you selected during installation.

Brown: Jabra

How are youhear test, you can easily compare your results with this chart to see if Jabra Enhance Plus is right for your hearing loss

The Jabra Enhance app will even prompt you to retest your hearing after you've used the tools for a while. This is to ensure that your hearing is well supported as you get used to your hearing aids, which is what your hearing healthcare professional will do for you during the first few weeks of wearing your hearing aids. You can also manually repeat your hearing test in the app at any time, which I found much more convenient than making an appointment with my hearing healthcare professional.

The IP52 dust and water resistance rating is also a big plus if you want to listen to music while exercising or better hear your trainer. For me, the headphones stayed in my ears for the full 45 minutes of my HIIT workout, which is a testament to their water and dust resistance and tight fit.

Sound and Sound Quality

After tweaking everything to my liking and using the headphones for a few days, I was surprised how close the Jabra Enhance Plus came to my $5,000 Phonak hearing aids. They may not be as comfortable as custom earphones over long periods of time, and may not achieve the same fidelity as a dedicated hearing aid when listening to ambient sounds and voices, but surprisingly, I have had little trouble understanding others with mine hearing aids.

That's why the Jabra headphones are particularly impressive, because I have more than a mild hearing loss, which is what they're for and what they're advertised for. My hearing is probably on the edge of the Jabra Enhance Plus feature as I have to manually turn the volume up to max. For me, this also had the side effect of occasional mic feedback. The earphones are specifically advertised as being resistant to this, which leads me to believe that I'm either choosing earphones that don't fit 100% of me, or I'm amplifying my hearing beyond what the insert was designed for. However, apart from this minor issue, everything else is fine.

As I mentioned, the timbre and perceived richness of the sound didn't match my actual hearing aids. However, I was still able to fully enjoy a night at the cinema and a trip to a loud bar with the Jabra Enhance Plus, and after a while I no longer felt like I was missing the nuances of the sound. If I were to go back to my hearing aids, I would immediately notice the difference, but as I said, the Jabra Enhance Plus is impressive for the price and feature set.

When it comes to streaming audio quality, I want to be honest. This is my first audio review and due to my hearing impairment, my audio perception is very different from normal or near normal hearing. That's why I'm hesitant to make any definitive claims about audio streaming quality. I found that the Jabra Enhance Plus provided a better streaming experience than my Phonak hearing aids, if only because I chose to use fully closed earpieces and my hearing aids have vented earpieces. I'm also very happy with how well the Jabra Enhance Plus blocks out ambient noise when you set the external mic to 0. It's easy for me to listen to my podcasts and music while vacuuming, something I usually have a hard time doing.

When talking, as long as you are close enough to the iPhone, you can clearly hear the other party's voice. I feel the range is a bit lower than normal bluetooth headphones like the Bose 700. Best of all, the people I call can confirm that they hear me flawlessly, even in noisy environments. I can't say the same for my Phonak hearing aids. With them, it was always difficult for the other person to understand me, and usually forced me to switch to headphones, which is a more uncomfortable way of listening for people with hearing aids.

Battery Life

The Jabra Enhance Plus boasts 12 hours of battery life on a single charge, which can be extended to 35 hours with the charging case. I doubt I'll be able to last a full day with the earplugs since I wear my hearing aids every hour of the day (equal to 18-20 hours). However, I haven't beaten them once.

This is partly because Jabra Enhance Plus made me realize that I don't actually wear hearing aids 24/7. After breakfast, I can refill them in the shower, and I also remove them after my semi-regular quick lunch nap or work nap so they can be refilled in the box. The same applies to use during exercise. Even with their IP rating, I don't wear the Jabra Enhance Plus (or my hearing aids) because I'm very sensitive to sweat.

Even so, the Jabra's 12-hour battery life is less than you might expect. While I'm probably using Enhance at one of the highest possible settings, these devices certainly deliver on their promises, and then some.

competition

Sony offers a similar over-the-counter self-adjusting hearing aid, the CRE-E10. The company goes a step further than the Enhance by promising up to 26 hours of continuous use and four ear tip sizes. However, the devices cost $1,300 more and are marketed as actual hearing aids. Like Jabra Enhance Plus, they are only compatible with iOS. Sony isn't a hearing aid maker either, though the company has teamed up with WS Audiology, a big name in the hearing aid industry, to develop the product.

If you're not ready for over-the-counter hearing aids or even the Jabra Enhance Plus, the Apple AirPods Pro are an even cheaper way to get into the world of hearing enhancements at $250 — almost affordable compared to the other options here. When paired with an iPhone or iPad, AirPods Pro offer Conversation Boost, which uses computer audio and beamforming to point the microphone at the person in front of you, making it easier to carry on a conversation in noisy environments. The other options here offer the same functionality, but more.

As for Android,Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 ProAs a first introduction to hearing improvement, this seems like a good choice. The company recently rolled out an update that brings higher levels of amplification to its ambient sound option, which transmits and boosts external sound before it reaches your ears.

Sennheiser Conversation Clear Plus is Android compatible

If you're looking for an over-the-counter hearing aid that looks and feels like Jabra Enhance Plus,Sennheiser Conversation Clear PlusThis can be fun. We've only had them hands-on for a short time at CES 2023, so we can't talk about their long-term value in everyday life, but the big plus is that they're compatible with Android for about the same price as the Enhance Plus -- at In their case it was $850.

Should you buy it?

If you feel your hearing is not as good as it used to be, but you're still hesitant to seek professional help, or if you don't want to get a hearing aid for any reason, Jabra Enhance Plus is the solution. gap solution. Even for someone with more than a little hearing loss, the Jabra Enhance Plus works surprisingly well and helps me get through my day-to-day life comfortably - besides being a great pair of headphones.

I went into this review expecting to be disappointed and had a much richer experience than I expected. The experience is only better if you're someone with mild hearing loss, like mine is, and the Jabra Enhance Plus works on the fringes of its capabilities.