Screenshot by David Carnoy/CNET
We’re seeing a lot more sound-enhancing earbuds hit the market these days, with big audio players like Jabra and Sony entering the OTC (Over the Counter) hearing-aid space. And while Sennheiser’s new Conversation Clear Plus aren’t being marketed as OTC hearing aids, they are designed to help folks hear better — and clearly understand conversations — in noisy environments, “such as in a busy restaurant or on a loud street.” They’re available for pre-order now and are due to ship on January 20 for $850.
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The buds have both active noise cancellation to block out noise around you, and Ambient Awareness mode to allow sound in when you want. Sennheiser says that thanks to Sonova chip technology (Sennheiser’s consumer division is now owned by Sonova) and Sennheiser’s Automatic Scene Detection feature “which analyzes the noise level of a user’s environment and matches the speech enhancement level to their surroundings,” you can filter out background noise and also hear the people you’re conversing with more clearly. The same technology is also used to enhance voice calls.
The Sennheiser Conversation Clear Plus earbuds being modeled
Sennheiser didn’t mention whether these earbuds can wirelessly stream music and other audio like a standard set of true-wireless earbuds. You’d hope they’d be able to, considering their price. But we still have to confirm that one way or another. What we do know is that they have 9 hours of battery life on a single charge and their charging case offers an additional 27 hours of juice, according to Sennheiser.