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

Streaming quality was better than expected, given the Zeals’ small size, with a separate three-bar EQ available when listening to media, independent of the hearing aid’s EQ. It has no noise-canceling capabilities to speak of, which means you won’t use them to stream on a plane or at the gym, even with the closed-back eartips my audiologist suggested. (I normally wear hearing aids with open eartips.) Closed earmolds turned out to be the right decision, and I didn’t experience much, if any, occlusion—the uncomfortable rumbling sensation caused by blocked ear canals—during my use of the devices.

Another shout out to Oticon’s app, which is extremely intuitive and very easy to use. (It also includes a “find my hearing aids” feature.) Pairing was quick with an iPhone, and while I wasn’t able to test the functionality, Oticon also claims that 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 do not have physical controls due to their small size, but they do offer touch controls that your audiologist can turn on or off in their office. These can be used to manage the volume, change the environmental mode, or answer incoming phone calls through various combinations, but as my audiologist noted, many people choose to turn them off because they often trigger inadvertently when hearing aids are inserted or removed. In the end, I didn’t use them much.

Long-term comfort, for a price

Photography: Chris Null

The Oticon Zeal hearing aids were surprisingly comfortable in my tests, even for sessions lasting several hours. I think their small size has a lot to do with it, but I also think choosing the right sized eartips is just as essential.

That said, they can be quite difficult to put on and take off, not only because of their unique shape and the need to spiral the retention lock into your conch, but also because they are very small. I expect users with dexterity issues will have a lot of difficulty using them, because they have to be positioned precisely – and with no easy way to see them clearly, even if you’re working with a mirror.