Review: Ceretone Core One Pro Hearing Aids

Ceretone, born on Indiegogo, hit the scene last year with impressively tiny hardware that still remains one of the smallest and lightest hearing aids I’ve ever reviewed. At just 0.96 grams each, the Ceretone Core One were so light they threatened to blow away in the wind. With a price of $349 per pair, they had a similarly minimal effect on your bank account.

The trouble with the original Ceretone Core One is that they just weren’t very good as hearing aids. They were not tunable, suffered from occasional feedback and interference, and could be controlled only via a rudimentary mobile app. More than a year later, Ceretone has emerged with an update in the form of the Ceretone Core One Pro, and they feel like a full reboot with little in common with the original product.

Dated Design

Photograph: Chris Null

The Core One Pro hearing aids are IP66-rated in-the-ear devices that, like the original Core One, are extremely small and lightweight, though at 1.17 grams per device, they’re noticeably bigger than the originals. They’re also noticeably less attractive. While the original Core One had a white, contemporary design with color-coded eartips, the new Core One Pro features an unfortunately dated, industrial brown body.

The included eartips have changed from closed domes to a sort of hybrid open/closed style, and they are now both clear, so you’ll need to look closely to distinguish left and right. (In addition to the preinstalled pair, three additional sets of tips in different sizes are included in the package.) Battery life is now specified at 20 hours per charge, an impressive stat it delivered in my testing, though there is no useful battery meter on the hearing aids or the case. As with the Core One, these hearing aids do not support Bluetooth streaming.

Operationally, Ceretone has completely revamped the way these hearing aids work. Namely, you no longer need to use its mobile app to control them, because Ceretone’s mobile app doesn’t work with this model at all. There are only two types of control offered, volume and environmental program mode, and each is controlled via a different method.

Photograph: Chris Null

To control volume, the hearing aids have to be seated in the included case—a traditional, compact device that provides 80 hours of additional charge. Two buttons—one for each aid—cycle the device through six volume levels. An LED display situated between the two hearing aids indicates the volume setting for each one as it is adjusted. (Having one volume meter for two devices is a little confusing, so it’s important to remember it only shows the status for the most recently adjusted hearing aid.)

The case also includes a small indicator that shows the hearing program setting for each aid, of which there are now four: standard, restaurant, outdoor, and tinnitus-masking, all self-explanatory. (Note that I did not test the tinnitus masking mode, as I don’t suffer from the condition.) These modes can be cycled through by tapping the device twice while it’s in your ear, and as with adjusting the volume, each ear is controlled individually. It’s strange (and inconvenient) to have to control mode and volume via two different methods, and always one ear at a time, but if you rarely change your hearing aids’ volume level, it may not be that much trouble.

Ineffective Aids

Photograph: Chris Null

The bigger problem with the Core One Pro hearing aids is that, as with the Core One, they just aren’t all that effective. Since the aids aren’t tunable, there is no way to customize them based on your audiogram, which means that all frequencies get boosted upward, more or less.

This was immediately noticeable in my testing as lower-level frequencies were amplified far more than I needed, causing everything from footsteps to running water to be uncomfortably loud, and painfully so if I turned the volume up past level three (of six total settings). I also found a steady stream of hiss underlying everything, though this was at least mitigated at the lowest volume levels. Over time, at anything over volume level one, the Ceretone Core One Pro hearing aids were more distracting than beneficial, though there’s no denying the amplification power they have. At higher volume levels, the hearing aids were downright deafening.

They're also not as comfortable for long-term wear as the original Core One, though this probably had more to do with the eartips, which are a little rough around the edges, than the design of the hearing aid hardware itself.

As with the original Core One, I’m not entirely sure who these hearing aids are designed for, even at a quite reasonable price of $390. (List price is $700, for what it’s worth.) Without any tunability features, users are getting a very blunt audio experience that prioritizes brute amplification over everything instead of helping them better hear the sounds they want to hear.