- Hi everyone, my name is Dr. Ben Thompson. I'm an audiologist and I recently went through the patient experience of ordering the Lively hearing aids. These are one of the best hearing aids plus audiology services packages available. And in this video, I will walk through the detailed experience of what it's like from when you make the order to the devices coming to your house, to having the video consultation with one of the Lively audiologists.

The four pros that will be the major benefits of these devices and the two cons, things you need to look out for if you're considering buying the Listen Lively hearing aids, welcome to HearWeb. (gentle music) Hey guys, it's Dr. Ben. I'm one of the audiologists with HearWeb, our videos are designed to give you an independent review of different hearing technology from the entry-level hearing aid so you can find online all the way up to the premium technology that are the most expensive hearing aids out there. Why are there different prices of hearing aids, what are the considerations that you need to know before looking at your options?

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All right, now, let me walk you through my experience of ordering the hearing aids until getting them on my ears. First, I ordered them online I went for the rechargeable hearing aid model and then I submitted an audiogram a hearing test to Listen Lively and they programmed the hearing aids with that hearing test that I submitted. I submitted a mild to moderate degree of hearing loss. This is the most common type of hearing loss. I myself am an audiologist, this is a professional review. I was unable to physically wear the hearing aids with my hearing loss because I don't have a hearing loss. So I replicated with a mild to moderate hearing loss, submitted the hearing test within a few days those devices arrived at my house in California, and they were programmed with the hearing test inside of the hearing aids. Around that time, an audiology assistant called to check in via a phone call, and they made sure that the hearing aids arrived and we discussed a good time to have a fitting consultation with one of their audiologists. I looked at the hearing aids myself and they have a serial number of LH561. Looking up the GN ReSound Company, they have some online free public information that explains that GN ReSound had white-labeled or rebranded these hearing aids under LH561, and that stands for listen Lively. So these hearing aids are technically the same technology as a LiNX Quattro, but they are labeled as Listen Lively hearing aids. Those kinds of hearing aids come in different technology levels: premium, mid-level and entry-level. The Listen Lively hearing aids are considered the more entry level, when I read out the serial numbers and I put out the five that five refers to that third tier of technology for these hearing aids. I wanted to see as an audiologist if I could connect these hearing aids to my fitting computer software and see if I could adjust the hearing aids myself. I was glad to find out that I was able to get access into the hearing aids, meaning that they are not locked. Other places you can buy hearing aids some of them they lock the settings, that means other clinics can't adjust them even if you bring the hearing aids to that clinic. Fortunately, Listen Lively hearing aids are not locked they're open for any professional to adjust.

The hearing aids were set to the manufacturer first fit based on the hearing test that I submitted. I ran real ear measures. I'm going to show a little video clip of me with my ear set up for real ear measures. And then the next image I will show is a diagram of the real ear measures output. So what this means is I'm able to put a small microphone tube in my ear and record how well is the output of the hearing aid matching the prescription target. Meaning that based on the hearing loss I submitted there is a best practice gold standard fitting level of how loud are the different sounds at different pitches. And based on the test that I ran the first fit devices meaning as soon as I put them in my ears when they were shipped to me they were underfit for the high pitched treble sounds. And that's very common for a manufacturer first fit to reduce the amplification of the high pitched treble sounds because if you don't typically the common response is that's too loud. If you're someone that's newly hearing aid it's very common to have reduced gain levels at the beginning of this process over time we do want to see the hearing needs set to match that prescriptive target. As an audiologist, I saw that there really are measures was showing an under fitting of the high pitches and some of the mids. So to make this a fair independent review I decided the next time I saw the audiologist to tell them that the clarity of speech just wasn't quite there I was looking for a little improvement with the clarity and then I would see what the audiologist did in response to that, so I had an appointment scheduled with on telehealth audiologists, through Lively and I could either wait and tell them what was going on, on the video call face to face or I could submit a request through my Lively app.

The app is very easy to use you can control base, mids, treble. You can change programs, you can change volume. Overall, it's a solid smartphone app. It's very similar to the GN ReSound Smart 3D app as well. Part of the experience that I saw the team at Lively was heavily promoting, is the use of the hearing health questionnaire. So they are following a system which tries to optimize your hearing based on the situations that you're having trouble hearing it, this is very commonly done in the audiology practice is to ask you what are the top three situations that you're having trouble hearing it,. Maybe that's in restaurants, with places with background noise, at home with my family, and watching television. Then the audiologist in this case the Lively audiologist would make adjustments to the technology to optimize your hearing in those situations and follow up with you over time to make sure that you are meeting those goals and that you're hearing is functionally improved in those three areas. Now, I can explain my telehealth session with one of the audiologists we met on Zoom video. My telehealth Zoom session was with Brittany Rene who is a licensed audiologist in California, the State that I was receiving the services. I want to show the video of what it's like to work with the audiologist. And we actually connected through my phone as well as through the Zoom video. Here you can see me talking to the audiologist on my phone. They're live adjusting my hearing aids. I asked them, hey, I'm doing okay, but I'm having a little trouble hearing my partner at home, the speech clarity just isn't there. So they made an adjustment where they increased the speech clarity, which is in effect increasing the high pitch and potentially mid pitch sounds. When they increase the high pitch sounds, I was able to notice that speech and sounds were more crisp they were a little more clear, that's what we would expect when we want to boost the high pitch tones. This was all happening live from my phone to my hearing aids in my ears overall pretty fantastic process. And I was very impressed with how easy it was to use.

From my experience the telehealth model of hearing aids, it's relatively new. And I was a little skeptical that the workflow, that the technology, that my phone, the computer, the hearing aids they would all work smoothly. But in my case, they honestly did, and I was very impressed by how smooth everything was. To me that shows Listen Lively the company is doing well with their workflow and the technology in general is there it's able to be used. So I was really happy to see that the company is using the technology in the way that it was really designed to be used. Now, you might be wondering how do I know if the hearing aids will fit my ear? Well, each of the hearing aids comes with a little wire, it's called a receiver wire. And at the Zoom telehealth session with my audiologist they give you this, they send this to you in your kit. And you put this on your ear, and your audiologists checks the line to make sure that you have the right size receiver wire.

Fortunately, I did have the right length receiver wire but if I did not then they would send the replacement to my house and I could adjust it with some instructional videos or with their one-on-one support. In that way I would make sure that it fits up in behind my ear really nicely. Let me take the left hearing aid out of my ear right now and just show you how it looks. As you can see here, I'm putting this in the piece up and behind the ear. And then this piece inside the ear canal like so fits really nicely. So that's how it looks on the side of my head. I'll come nice and close there and I'll turn around. That's how it looks behind the ear. Off course, you can order different colors, you can order black to match your hair if your hair's black, you can order a skin color if you don't have any hair in your head I just wanted to show you how it looks on my ear. I was talking to the audiologist on my Zoom session and they explained that the average patient does not need follow ups after that initial Zoom session. And that means, that the hearing aids are working pretty well because if they weren't there would be follow ups requested. It also means that a lot of the adjustments are coming through the app. Going to show a little screen share here of the app as I was using it when I was getting it set up with my hearing aids on my telehealth session. Overall the app is really good. Well, hope you enjoyed that workflow, overall I was really impressed by it. Now, we're going to switch to some of the product specifications and understand a little bit better about what are these hearing aids and who are they for? Make sure to stick around until the end. where all covered the four pros and the two cons of these devices that you must know. A little check in here again, this is HearWeb subscribe to our channel, also to check out the most current prices on these hearing aids and other similar hearing aids.

Go into the link in the description of this video to hearweb.com, and that's where all of this information is kept. Let's get on with the next part, talking about the products. These hearing aids are designed for mild to moderate levels of hearing loss. If you get a hearing test and the audiologist tells you, you have a severe level of hearing loss then this product is not for you. For two reasons the receiver wire that they send you it's not meant for severe hearing losses. Number two, these devices do not have ear molds. If you have a severe loss, you need an ear mold something to take the shape of your ear to make sure you have the best sound quality possible. When you order these hearing aids they supply a large amount of what are called domes. And these are plastic tips that go at the end of the hearing aid with your telehealth session, with the audiologist they will instruct you about which one you need on your ear but I'm happy to see that they provide a large amount of the these rubber tips so that whichever size does fit your ear you will have enough to last you for one or two years easily. The hearing aids come with a warranty period of three years and that also includes follow ups as many as needed with your Lively audiologists via telehealth. In terms of controls on the hearing aid there's one push button for each side. So you can have it configured with your audiologist to either control the volume, the program, mute button, anything like that. That's a good quality setup. In terms of Bluetooth, the Lively hearing aids have great streaming and Bluetooth connectivity, especially to iPhone and also to Android. So this is something that no matter what phone you have as long as it's relatively new, you have a good chance of having these devices connect well through Bluetooth. If you have tinnitus or tinnitus then these hearing aids can be programmed with white noise settings, tinnitus masking, sound therapy that can be programmed by your telehealth audiologist.

The rechargeable battery is a big benefit, a big pro of these devices. The rechargeable kit itself on a single charge the internal battery will last up to 30 hours. So that means if you charge this overnight for a few hours then the next day you'll have a full day lifespan with these hearing aids. Now, if you're streaming a lot of Bluetooth if you're streaming constantly then the battery can drain rather quickly, but you should be able to wear these all day with no problems. The portable case also holds three charges so that if you're on a camping trip, something like that power goes out, you should be all right. Hey, thanks for staying with us. We finally made it to the pro and con section. One caveats to understand is that every so often Lively does upgrade their hearing aids. So at the time making this video this pro and con list is for the current May, June, 2021 version of the Listen Lively hearing aids. And if there's a new version released we will also cover it here on this YouTube channel. Pro number one, for the Listen Lively hearing aids is that they are a best of class experience for telehealth hearing aids. Hands down, they're using the technology the way that it was engineered and designed to do so that means you can stay at home, have the devices arrive to your house. You can make adjustments with a real hearing doctor over a video. You can adjust the devices in real time through your app very high tech, but still easy to use. And I was very impressed by that experience. Pro number two is that in our industry these hearing aids are reputable with the right kind of programming. They can have good sound quality and they're commonly fit around the country. Pro number three, is that because of the telehealth model and because these devices are not the most expensive, most premium hearing technology out there they do have a very desirable price point to get the most up-to-date pricing on the Listen Lively hearing aids check the link in our description or go over to hearweb.com. Pro number four, is that what the Listen Lively hearing aids you have great rechargeable and Bluetooth hearing aids all in one. Now, let's talk about what you must know before you consider buying these. Con number one, is that these hearing aids are more expensive than other direct to consumer online hearing aids. That's something to consider you can check out hearweb.com to learn about your other options, but that is a consideration, now, we ask why. Of course, they have a lot of audiology staff, they have a lot of doctor services that are included with the devices, so that's a consideration not the worst con but something to think about. Con number two, is that anytime you get online hearing aids you're not getting the same experience that you would in a hearing clinic with an audiologist who is following best practices. In our field real ear measures, is best practices.

Remember earlier, when I ran the real ear measures test I'll put another image here on the screen of the results. The output curves are not matching the targets and best practice, the gold standard of hearing care is within a few months after the fitting to give you the best hearing possible, is to match those curves to those targets. There is a risk of under fitting. That means you may miss 10, 15, 20% of what's possible in terms of better hearing with these hearing aids. Now, a few caveats not everyone has their hearing aids programmed at those prescription recommended levels. However, that is best practices and an in-person audiology clinic if they're doing best practices would try to get you to those levels. So if you're wondering, well, is it possible to get these hearing aids program to really your measures. The only possible solution for that would be, to go to an in-person audiologist in your local area actually pay them for their time to run this measurement and this test. And then you could in theory have the Lively hearing aids programmed to that prescriptive level. It's not what I recommend, if you're going to go that route it probably makes more sense to go see an in-person audiologist. Anyway if you want recommendations for that you can check out here web.com as well. Well, my name is Dr. Ben, I'm an audiologist with HearWeb. I enjoy making these videos because I imagine there's someone who watches them, who's considering, should I buy this product, what should I consider, and is this the right fit for me? I'm hoping that this video explained the review, the pros, the cons in ways that are relevant to you and your history. Fun part that we do here at the end of these videos, on my side we're going to put the Listen Lively hearing aids and a competitor, a different kind of hearing aid to sort of weigh their pros and cons.

On this side we'll put the Listen Lively hearing aids and on this side we will have the ReSound One hearing aids. Listen Lively are much cheaper than the most expensive ReSound One hearing aids. However, Listen Lively if you remember, it's not the premium level of technology, it's actually the third tier down. So we're going to compare that to the third tier down for the ReSound One hearing aids. Still typically more expensive. That's mainly due to the nature of a telehealth model which has no in-person clinic compared to hearing audiology clinic model, which has to pay overhead for the facility, et cetera. The style of the hearing aids they're actually a very similar style. ReSound One is a newer generation hearing aid. The previous generation behind ReSound One was actually the LiNX Quattro. And that's the same shape, the same model, the same internal components that the Listen Lively hearing aids are using. So you could say Lively is one generation behind ReSound One, how about sound quality? Well, ReSound One has a new type of receiver wire that could potentially give some more natural sound quality. Whereas Listen Lively has the more standard style behind the ear hearing aid where the microphone sit behind the ear. Overall, it's hard to say but sound quality might give a little boost to the ReSound One, because it is newer and there has been research and engineering designed to make it a better listening experience. Well, that's all we have for this review video. Again, please subscribe to this YouTube channel give this video a thumbs up and head over to hearweb.com to see other in depth reviews of different technology and learn what's going to be the right fit for you. From all of us here, our audiology team, we wish that this process of finding the right hearing aids is easy and smooth for you, so thanks for being here. On my side, you can check out that full detailed review of the ReSound One hearing aids and make a decision for yourself of what's right for you. Thank you, bye.

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