Review: Cearvol Wave Lite

Cearvol is a new entrant into the low-cost over-the-counter hearing aid space, which can be a pretty rough neighborhood. Hearing aids in the sub-$500 space are middling at best and dismal at worst. That’s why I still recommend a product whose primary job isn’t even focused on hearing improvement—Apple’s AirPods Pro 3—to those looking for hearing support on a limited budget.

Can Cearvol’s stylish Wave Lite break the low-end curse? I strapped a pair on to find out.

Earbud Inspo

Let’s get this out of the way up front: The Cearvol Wave Lite hearing aids look like Bluetooth earbuds, not stodgy medical-grade technology, and that’s a good thing. Available in either black or an off-white “Starlight,” the units are compact but tip the scales at a substantial 4.17 grams each, shipping in a very compact recharging case that features a fetching fabric cover. Four sizes of ear tips in two styles, one open and one closed, are included in the box.

Photograph: Christopher Null

Out of the ear, the hearing aids feature a bulbous design that doesn’t look like it will make for a natural fit, but I was surprised to find they slipped easily into the ear canal, locking snugly into place with a twist. They’re comfortable for long sessions, and they always felt secure, never at risk of being jarred loose. Conversely, the hearing aids are lightly magnetic and will adhere to each other when out of the case and in close proximity. I don’t know yet if that’s a good or a bad thing.

The devices don’t have physical buttons, but they do feature some basic tap functionality, with various combinations of taps controlling volume and environmental scene selection.

Tunability Time

I was excited to discover that Cearvol’s app includes a rudimentary hearing test to tune the frequencies boosted by the device. A sub-10-minute program gradually alters the volume of test tones across various frequencies, and you tap a button to indicate you can hear them. (You can also input an existing audiogram manually.)

After the test and a firmware update, you’re dropped right into the management interface, which features primary colors and large text, clearly designed with senior users in mind. Management here is basic, giving you access to volume controls (individually or synchronized between the two hearing aids) and access to the four scene modes (Indoor, Conversation, Restaurant, and Outdoor). An additional Ambient Aware toggle is a noise cancellation feature for use when streaming media; if you still want to hear your surroundings while listening to music, make sure this is turned on.

Screenshots: Christopher Null

Streaming is a big part of the Cearvol Wave Lite experience, and as Bluetooth earbuds, the units work a lot better than I expected. They won’t win any professional-grade audio awards, but there’s enough bass, and the high-end is crisp enough to make listening to media enjoyable. The noise cancellation works well enough for moderately busy environments, aided by the fact that the hearing aids get plenty loud whether you’re streaming or using them for ambient sound.

Alas, enhancing ambient audio just isn’t the Wave Lite’s forte. Across all of its modes and various settings, I was only able to achieve a moderate improvement to my hearing. As noted, while the units can get very loud—while keeping hiss to a minimum even at higher volume levels—it’s the quality of the audio that’s a miss here.

Voices regularly sounded tinny and thin during my testing, while sharper staccato sounds like keyboard clacks and footsteps could be overpowering. And instead of filtering out low-level background as I would have preferred, the Wave Lites instead boosted the audio on that considerably.

Lastly, the app has a system to let you dial down the volume of your own voice, and while this works to a degree, I needed my own voice tempered even more than what was offered on the highest setting.

Ultimately, my hearing experience was often better with the Wave Lite hearing aids in than with them out, but I found conversations and movie-watching were not measurably improved no matter how I tweaked settings in the app.

Limited Lifespan

Photograph: Christopher Null

Cearvol claims a battery life of 6.5 hours per charge; I achieved close to that in my testing—5 hours and 45 minutes, with a combination of ambient listening and streaming. The case adds another 15.5 hours of running time on a full charge. (Cearvol says that it is extending those times, and that upcoming production batches will have an eight-hour battery life, with 20 extra hours of life in the case.)

Speaking of the case, spin it around and you’ll find a curious feature I don’t think I’ve ever seen on a hearing aid product: a 3.5-mm aux port that lets you connect the case directly to an audio source. This pipes sound to the case, which then transmits it directly to the hearing aids. It’s a strange addition to the product that I doubt will see much use, but it's not something to complain about.

For $299, the Cearvol Wave Lite system isn’t a massive investment considering the inflated pricing that is endemic to the hearing aid market. But unfortunately, while it has a few bright spots, the audio assistance provided just wasn’t nuanced enough for me.