Oticon Zeal Review: A High Bar (and Price) for Hearing Aids

Given the small size of the Zeals, streaming quality was better than expected, with a separate three-bar equalizer available when listening to media, independent of the hearing aid equalizer. There’s no noise canceling capability, which means you won’t be using these to stream on an airplane or at the gym — not even with the closed ear tips recommended by my audiologist. (I typically wear hearing aids with open ear tips.) The closed tips proved to be the right call, and I didn’t experience much, if any, interference — the uncomfortable pounding sensation caused by blocked ear canals — during my time with the devices.

Another thumbs up goes to Oticon’s app, which is extremely intuitive and extremely easy to use. (It also includes a “Find my hearing aids” feature.) Pairing with the iPhone was quick, and while I was unable to test the feature, Oticon also says these are the world’s first hearing aids that work with Google’s Fast Pair system on Android and ChromeOS devices. Auracast is also supported.

As expected, Zeal hearing aids have no physical controls due to their small size, but they do offer tap controls that your audiologist can turn on or off in his or her office. These can be used to manage volume, change environmental modes, or answer incoming phone calls through various combinations, but as my audiologist noted, many people choose to turn these off because they are often inadvertently triggered when inserting or removing hearing aids. I couldn’t use them much.

Long term comfort at a price

Photograph: Chris Null

The Oticon Zeal hearing aids were surprisingly comfortable in my testing, even for hour-long usage sessions. I expect their small size has a lot to do with it, but I also think it’s equally important to choose the right size ear tips.

That said, they can be quite difficult to get in and out of, not only because of their unique shape and the need to spiral the retention lock into your concha, but because they are so small. I expect users with dexterity problems to struggle a lot with these, as they must be rotated in place – and there’s no easy way to see them clearly, even if you’re working with a mirror.