Sennheiser Conversation Clear Plus - True Wireless Bluetooth Hearing Solution for Speech Enhancement with Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) - Black

Product Information

Nevertheless, there’s still an unnatural tone to some voices. Some people sounded fine and much like themselves, while others sounded sharper, treading on sibilance (particularly with a female voice) and making their voice sound strained. Sonova’s idea with the Conversation Clear Plus is simple: to allow people with hearing loss to find hearing aids that look like conventional wireless headphones. The idea is not to hide the earpieces but to make them look like true wireless headphones. Most importantly, by displaying the Sennheiser logo, Sonova hopes to break down the stigma some people might feel when buying a first-time hearing aid device. Battery life is rated at nine hours and 27 in total with the charging case (two extra charges). Given the Conversation Clear Plus’ many use cases I don’t think it would be fair to judge its battery life on streaming audio alone but battery life, in general, was solid throughout testing. There’s no wireless charging as the case’s reserves are boosted by a USB-C connection. Plus, the traditional side of these earbuds means you’re getting Bluetooth connectivity, a 9-hour listening time extended to 27 with case charging, and that signature Sennheiser sound. When speaking to a representative, they do mention that the Momentum True Wireless 3 are the optimal option for those who just want a great music experience, but in personal testing, the Clear Plus do come damn close to providing that same clarity and warmth. Outlook READ NEXT: The best headphones for sleep Sennheiser Conversation Clear Plus: What did we like about them?

Conversation Clear Plus provide a respectable sound quality in everyday quiet or one-on-one situations. The audio feed is full, or broadband, and relatively true to how the surrounding world sounds in normal listening conditions without earbuds. There is also no perceptible delay, or latency, which aids the realism of their ambient awareness system. My experiences while streaming music were also similar. After onboarding is completed you gain full access to the app and the three user modes for relaxation, communication, and audio streaming. The first mode, Relax, is designed for comfort and provides user controls over external sounds from 0 (max reduction) to 100% (normal ambience). Conversation Clear Plus uses one of the two onboard microphones for ambient awareness which provides a more 360 degree picture of your surroundings. Communication is the second setting where you can experience the full benefits of Conversation Clear Plus’s multi-mic beamforming speech enhancement capabilities. The app defaults to a specific volume based on your initial onboarding preferences and the volume can be further customized from there. A Clarity Boost switch is also available when further speech enhancement is needed. The final Streaming mode provides a slider for you to control the balance between streamed and ambient signals. Various tabs for support and your personal settings are also available. With that noted, these earbuds were still able to improve speech clarity in noisy environments. I experienced this subjectively while using the devices in my day-to-day life. Objective testing from HearAdvisor™, which is predictive of real-world speech intelligibility improvements, also showed this. As of February 2023, Conversation Clear Plus is the leading device for Speech in Noise improvement having a score 100% higher than the average of all initial-fit devices that HearAdvisor rated for this category. When looking at their tuned performance, their score was 61% higher than the average. So the audio artifacts may be worth overlooking in light of the benefits to speech in noise clarity. The Verdict The headphone housing can be charged via USB-C using a short USB-A to USB-C cable – no power adapter is included – or inductively via Qi wireless charging. CONCLUSIONConversation Clear Plus is also a larger earbud which plugs your ear entirely when worn properly. This means there is potential for the occlusion effect, which refers to the increased perception of your own voice when your ears are plugged. This is often undesirable and described as a “hollow” or “echo” sound quality. Fortunately, the “pass-through” ambient awareness system helps minimize this effect. Conversation Clear Plus also offers active occlusion cancellation (AOC) which further improves the naturalness of your own voice. This element of Conversation Clear Plus was impressive and improved general comfort during long-term wear. Nothing is more powerful than an idea whose time has come”. This oft-quoted saying is attributed to Victor Hugo. Why has this come to mind? Well, recently, I managed to convince my almost ninety-year-old father that his hearing ability was no longer sufficient to participate in normal life, and a friendly hearing care professional presented him with a small in-ear hearing aid along with a bill for almost three thousand euros. My first thought: wait a minute, this is basically nothing more than a regular in-ear with inverted Active Noise Cancelling – only a thousand per cent more expensive. And lo and behold: barely six months later, Sennheiser has come up with the idea of “quasi-thrust reversal” for in-ears. The Conversation Clear Plus is not a fully-fledged hearing aid; instead, this device provides a support measure for noisy environments where it can be difficult to adequately understand the person you are talking to. Sennheiser Conversation Clear Plus: speech-optimised hearables In the box you will find the two earbuds, 3 sizes of eartips and ear fins (small through large), a charging case, USB-C cable, and documentation. Conversation Clear Plus arrives with the medium eartips and ear fins preinstalled. It is worth trying the different sizes to find the best fit as this can improve comfort, stability in-ear, and sound quality. Once this is sorted, it does not take long to pair with the Conversation Clear app and head out into the world. Battery Life & Rechargeability The headphones will analyse the sounds around you to gauge your environment best and calibrate which sounds to reduce and which to keep. In practice, the effect will be relatively weak in a quiet room. In a noisy place, however, the filter will be more pronounced. On the other hand, the headphones will tend to emphasise only the mid-range frequencies and therefore offer a rather tiring sound to listen to, which will need more depth. Since the FDA announced the law change that allows for OTC hearing aids to be sold last year, many companies have jumped in to provide their own solutions. Sennheiser is taking a slightly different route by providing something of a middle ground — buds that do provide similar tech, but to help you hear conversations better in noisier situations.

Sennheiser has integrated large 12mm diameter transducers for the audio part of its headphones. According to the manufacturer, this allows for the reproduction of frequencies from 20 to 20,000 Hz. It should also be noted that the Conversation Clear Plus are only compatible with one Bluetooth audio codec: SBC. Holding down the left in-ear button takes you into Relax mode with adjustable, active ambient noise cancellation. The algorithm does a great job here, reducing outside noise with similar effectiveness to the top-of-the-line Bose and Apple. I've been waiting for this moment for a few years now. After Swiss hearing company Sonova acquired Sennheiser's consumer division a few years ago, I've been curious to see how it would affect the product offerings from our much-loved German juggernaut headphone manufacturer. To my surprise, however, Sennheiser then released some of its best audiophile-friendly flagship products ever, such as the much-touted IE600, the widely adopted Momentum True Wireless 3, and the highly-praised Momentum 4 Wireless. Utilizing sophisticated Sonova chip technology, conversations and calls are enhanced thanks to the Sennheiser Automatic Scene Detection feature, which analyzes the noise level of a user's environment and matches the speech enhancement level to their surroundings.Another prevalent issue I faced was distortion from wind or swift head movements. This was not necessarily surprising as the microphones sit on the outer face of the earbuds making them more susceptible to turbulence. Wind noise is a prevalent issue across both earbuds and hearing aids and is a common complaint for those who use devices regularly. The buds are tiny, covered with vents for various microphone types, and there's a single button on each one. They come fitted with a small removable ear hook and three sizes of tips. The significant upside here is that they are supremely light and comfortable; it's no mystery that the intent behind the design was to leave these in your ears for many hours at a time in social environments. It's often easy to forget you're wearing them. The battery lasts nine hours (give or take, depending on your settings), with another two total charges waiting for you in the case.