Sonova took over Sennheiser’s headphone division in mid-2021. At this year’s CES, the Swiss introduced a new product category for Sennheiser as a first result of the collaboration. The Sennheiser Conversation Clear Plus are in-ear headphones that are primarily intended as a hearing aid. They are aimed at people who, for example, have problems following conversations in noisy environments but do not have to rely on a hearing aid all the time. We were already able to try out the headphones at CES.
For the Conversation Clear Plus, Sennheiser uses the chip technology of the parent company Sonova, a supplier of medical hearing systems, but does not want the product to be understood as a medical device. Unlike the previous Sennheiser hearing aid headphones, the Conversation Clear Plus are not primarily intended for use with the TV.
Rather, they should be used in everyday life and improve speech intelligibility in conversations in noisy environments, but also on the phone. To do this, the headphones analyze the ambient noise 166 times per second and direct it to the ear in modulated form: Disturbing noises are reduced, voices are amplified. Sennheiser also gives the Conversation Clear Plus an ANC mode, which dims all ambient noise – just like conventional headphones with active noise cancellation do.
Mixed first impressions
The Conversation Clear Plus listen to the environment with three microphones in each earbud. In conversation mode, they capture background noise and transmit it to the ear. The headphones amplify the frequencies of the human voice. In the associated app you can dose the intensity very finely in 17 levels.
In practice, the headphones revealed undreamt-of talents: Because even medium settings worked so well that we could even listen to private conversations in a fully occupied restaurant with a little concentration at a distance of two to three meters. The voice of a conversation partner who is actually addressing you is significantly amplified, which makes it easier to understand.
However, the system is not without weaknesses: The microphones are particularly sensitive to the voices of people who are in front of you. But the microphones also catch other voices. You can’t differentiate between important and unimportant, so that the impression of hectic is created even in rather quiet surroundings, which becomes tiring after a short time. This is also helped by the fact that the headphones primarily amplify high frequencies, which makes voices sound a bit cold and tinny. A detailed test with several test headphones follows.
With average ANC mode and for 850 euros
The ANC mode, which also struggles with monotonous background noise, works rather averagely, which the best in class, such as Apple AirPods Pro 2 or Bose QuietComfort Earbuds 2, easily filter out. In addition to the ANC mode, the Sennheiser in-ears also have a conventional transparency mode.
Sennheiser puts the battery life of the in-ears, each with 70 mAh batteries, at 9 hours, and you can fill them three times in the transport case (500 mAh). Sennheiser is asking 849 euros for the Conversation Clear Plus, which can be ordered now. Jabra presented the comparable Jabra Enhance Plus at CES. However, we haven’t been able to try them out yet.
Note: The organizer of the CES paid the author’s travel expenses.
(rbr)
