Oticon Hearing Aid Reviews

Build Quality and Durability

Since the early days, I've always found Oticon products to be well built and durable. They offer up to a three-year warranty, and, in my clinical experience, they have always gone the extra mile to resolve any repair issues promptly. As with other “Big Six” companies in the industry, the warranty is international, and they have an extensive network of independent providers and company-owned HearingLife locations.

Here is a picture of my friend's father-in-law with the Oticon Opn S, which I'll explain in more detail below.

My Friend's Father-in-Law wearing Oticon

Not only can you see that he is wearing a mask for safety, but the hearing aid itself is barely visible. This is his second pair of Oticon hearing aids. The first lasted 13 years; they still work, but he wanted to take advantage of the newest technology.

Below is an image of the rechargeable base station. Simply put it on your nightstand, and you’ll have a full day's charge when you wake up in the morning. It is smaller than a clock radio, making it easy to place.

Oticon Rechargeable Base Station

Here’s one last picture of the hearing aids resting on the bench of this septuagenarian’s boat he rented for the day to water ski. He (wisely) took out the hearing aids before skiing and snapped the photo for me. You might notice they’re color-coded to easily tell left vs. right ears.

Oticon Hearing Aids

A Bit of History on Oticon

Oticon is one of the oldest hearing aid companies in the world. In 1904, Hans Demant became the Danish distributor of Acousticon, which later became Oticon.1

In 1992, Oticon released MultiFocus, their first non-linear, programmable, automatic hearing aid. This new approach to amplification has become the standard. At that time, only Oticon and ReSound hearing aids had this technology. Patients reported significant improvements in hearing and quality of life. The success of the MultiFocus was followed by their first digital instrument, DigiFocus, in 1996.

Since MultiFocus, Oticon's philosophy of hearing aids has revolved around restoring normal loudness perception through the use of compression. Their approach was slightly different from other providers I've reviewed, like ReSound, because Oticon used less compression in the higher frequencies to allow critical speech sounds to remain audible in background noise. In combination with directional microphones, this has worked well for many of my patients.

Current Product Lineup

The current iteration of Oticon’s technology is called BrainHearing, which was first introduced in the Opn product line in 2016.[/citation] The current version of this line, which is also the one my friend's father-in-law has, is the Opn S.

The idea of BrainHearing and the Opn concept is that the brain is the best filter of sound based on the content, rather than the specific direction or combination of pitch and loudness. The approach has been shown to reduce listening effort. I find it works very well with folks who have mild to moderate hearing loss with good to excellent speech discrimination. For my patients with more severe hearing loss, I often provide a manual program with a more traditional directional microphone setting for challenging listening.

The Opn S comes in a mini receiver-in-the-ear (RITE) model, which other manufacturers call RIC, in rechargeable and standard zinc-air battery models. The standard models include a telecoil, so users can pair their hearing aids with smartphones and other devices. For more severe losses, the Opn S behind-the-ear (BTE) model provides a slight modification of the Opn algorithm and much more power. This model has a telecoil and uses a zinc-air battery.

On the custom, or in-the-ear (ITE) side, Oticon offers the previous generation Opn in invisible-in-canal (IIC) through full shell models.

Oticon also offers an “essential” line of hearing aids called Ruby (BTE and MiniRITE devices) and Siya (ITEs). These are very high-quality products that are essentially “pre-Opn” level technology. These legacy products are sometimes described as compromises for people who can't afford the latest and greatest, but in reality, these were the latest and greatest just a few years ago. One of the things I like about Oticon as a company is that they offer a very wide range of price points, making their technologies available to more people. From the outside, the Ruby and Siya devices look exactly the same as Opn S and Opn, and they support all the accessories and apps described below.

Opn and Ruby products are “Made for iPhone,” which allows direct streaming to iPhones and iPads. This is a nice feature not only for phone calls and, in the days of COVID-19, it also provides better fidelity from binging streaming media or connecting with family remotely using FaceTime or Zoom.

Accessories and Apps

The Oticon ON app provides basic remote control of the devices and cool features like “Find My Hearing Aid” and the ability to manually adjust the “mix” of accessories and ambient sounds. This is great for TV listening (keeping the noise from the kitchen down) or when using a remote microphone.

They also provide an app so your hearing care professional can provide remote support. This is very useful for those who don’t want to visit a store in-person every time they need an adjustment.

ConnectClip Microphone

The ConnectClip is a nice multifunction device. First, as the name suggests, it is a directional remote microphone. This allows you to control the negative impact of distance, reverberation, and background noise by picking up speech very close to the person talking and then wirelessly streaming that “clean” speech to your hearing aids up to about 60 feet away.

Secondly, it acts as a simple remote control for volume and program change. This is good for users with dexterity difficulties and those with memory problems who may need a family member or caregiver to assist them with their hearing aids.
Finally, Android users can use the Connect Clip as a Bluetooth “re-broadcaster” to stream phone calls and music from the phone.

TV Adapter 3.0

This small device connects to your TV or cable box using either an analog or digital connection. Once paired to the hearing aids, it will stream the TV audio up to 45 feet. This is separate from the TV speaker, so your listening partners have separate volume control. As noted above, the mix of TV sound to environmental sounds can be adjusted using the ON app.

Phone Adapter

This small box connects to your landline phone and pairs to the ConnectClip, which then streams to your hearing aids. This essentially turns your landline phone into a cordless phone.

The Bottom Line on Oticon

While I think Oticon does a good job of trying to offer a wide range of price points, the reality is that many people still cannot afford hearing aids. Unfortunately, the most seemingly obvious solution, Medicare, doesn’t provide any coverage for hearing aids. There is legislation in the works, but for now, that’s a non-starter. Some private insurance plans cover some of the costs. If you are of limited means, your state Medicaid program may be able to help. If you’re still working, as many seniors find themselves needing to do, check with your state Vocational Rehabilitation office. If you are a veteran and eligible for general VA healthcare, hearing aids, including premium devices like the Opn S, are fully covered, as are accessories. For more information, head to our guide on how to find free or reduced-cost hearing aids.

If Oticon hearing aids are in your price range, I have a high degree of confidence that you will hear better and have a good total user experience – from fit to service to reliability.

Watch my interview on Medicare and hearing aids with SeniorLiving.org Editor-in-Chief Jeff Hoyt below.