Ease of Use: Overall, we found the Eargo 8 to be easy to use. Setting up the hearing aids is easy but not as intuitive as other models. There is a self fitting test available to customize your personal hearing profile, which is part of the setup process. Help is available from online, phone and email or chat. The left and right hearing aids are clearly differentiated. There are preset programs available to select an ideal hearing situation, which can be chosen from the app. Volume can be controlled from the app but not from the device itself. These hearing aids do not support streaming music or phone calls directly to the device. The water resistance offers protection from moisture and water damage.
Performance: Performance is very good for daily use. It has a rechargeable case that uses a USB-C cable. The battery runtime should last 16 hours. Charging the device should take 2 hours and charging the case should take 3 hours. In tests, this model was able to reduce noise well. In practice, some found a lot of improvement in understanding dialog in movie and TV programs compared to when not wearing hearing aids, and a lot of improvement in hearing speech in a noisy environment. They agreed that they could wear this model more frequently, and agreed that they had confidence wearing it. It seemed more discreet than other models.
Sound quality: This model showed very good sound quality in tests. It exceeded FDA requirements for amplifying lower-pitched sounds. It was unable to meet FDA requirements for amplifying higher-pitched sounds. Harmonic distortion and noisy interference created in loud environments was acceptable. Sound delays during hearing aid processing were minimal. Audibility evaluations suggest this model can provide the right amount of amplification at the lowest or highest volumes.
