Audien Hearing Atom X Hearing Aids Review: High-Tech Case

The four environmental modes can be of some help here, but the best in my experience was the default Comfort mode, which “reduces the sharpness and overall intensity of high-frequency sounds, creating a more comfortable, balanced listening experience.” The Atom X’s Conversation mode was too sharp for much use, while Crowd and TV modes didn’t make much of an impact compared to Comfort mode.

Photo: Chris Nall

I immediately noticed that the Atom X had a much lower level of hiss than previous Audin hearing aids, but the overall experience was still not as effective. By blasting the low frequencies that I don’t need to amplify, I find that I often hear them worse than they do with hearing aids—and the louder I push the volume, the louder it gets. At very low levels of amplification (10 or 20 percent at most), hearing aids were most effective for me. Anything beyond that threatens to be painful.

At $389, the Atom X is a tough sell compared to $249 Apple AirPods Pro 3It has a tuning system, app controls, outstanding noise cancellation, and overall better quality hearing support. Yes, they’re bigger and more visible than the Atom X aids, but if you don’t really wear your hearing aids because they don’t provide a great experience, how important is discretion?