Oticon Zeal: Testing Results from Our Audiologist

[00:00:00]A few years ago, this would have been asking a  lot from a hearing aid. But today, this device, Oticon Zeal, promises a discrete fit, all day  battery life, and full wireless features. That sounds almost too good to be true. So, let's take  a closer look. In this video, we'll walk through my real world experiences, objective lab testing  from here, and we'll play sound files so you can hear Zeal with your own ears. All right, let's get  started. Oticon Zeal launched in the US in 2026 with a slightly earlier release in other parts  of the world in late 2025. And at least on paper, it addresses a lot of the long-standing trade-offs  people have had to make with size, battery life, and wireless features. As you can see, it's  much smaller than a typical receiver in canal hearing aid. But beyond discreetness, there's one  other potential big advantage of this design. Our ears are actually incredibly sophisticated  acoustic systems. The outer ear, or pinna, acts like a satellite dish and this helps  collect and shape sound before it enters our ear canals. That natural shaping helps with  things like resonance or you can think of it as speech clarity and localization. So, when you  place microphones inside the ear instead of above it like we have with Zeal, you're capturing  sound more naturally, which helps preserve some of those benefits. What's more, Oticon is one of  the early adopters with integrating AI into their hearing aid processing. So, if you put all of that  together, AI processing, natural hearing benefits, you potentially have a very powerful combination.  We'll see how all of that plays out in our lab in just a bit. And before we get into the box, here  are some product specs for Zeal. We'll touch on some of these more in just a moment, but it's  worth noting that Zeal do not feature a telecoil.

[00:01:58]Rather, they focus on other wireless features  like Bluetooth LE audio and Auracast. All right, with that out of the way, here's our scorecard  for Zeal summarizing all of our testing.

[00:02:12]Overall, Zeal earned a hearing tracker score  of 4.33 out of five, which is excellent, and it puts it right there with many other  prescription devices, including other Oticon products. Let's take a quick look at Zeal. Your  provider will walk you through all of this, make sure you have the right ear tips, and go  over cleaning and maintenance. So, we'll keep this brief. The charging case feels well built, though  it is on a slightly larger size. It's not exactly pocket-sized, but it will easily fit in your  backpack or purse. You've got LED indicators, and the case itself provides up to three additional  full charges. Placing Zeal into the charger isn't difficult, but there are designated left and right  slots, so there's a small learning curve at first.

[00:02:56]Charging takes about 2 hours using the included  USBC cable and wall adapter. Now, one of the main talking points with Seal are their size. They are  impressively small and yet feel well built with an IP68 rating. And this means they offer excellent  protection against moisture and debris. We'll talk more about that later, but this is actually  critical given that these hearing aids basically live inside your ear. Another feature that might  be jumping out to you is this tailike extension.

[00:03:27]This is the antenna that makes all of the wireless  communication and connection possible. Here's what they look like in my ear. Zeal sit almost  completely in the ear and as the antenna is mostly transparent that is also very difficult to notice.  Odicon has also included some nice tap controls which I found to work reasonably well. They're  not overly sensitive and I would sometimes have to double tap again to get them to work. But compared  to physical buttons, tap controls make a lot more sense here. With buttons, you are essentially  pushing the hearing aid deeper into your ear every time when you press them, which isn't exactly  comfortable. With tap controls, you avoid that entirely. All right, let's talk about wireless  features and the Oticon Companion app. Honestly, a few years ago, we wouldn't even be having this  conversation. Small in the-ear devices like Zeal didn't typically offer wireless features, or if  they did, they were fairly limited. With Seal, you get essentially the same Apple and Android  app experience you'd expect with a traditional prescription hearing aid. You've got your standard  volume control and program changes. There's also a 3-band EQ for deeper sound customization.  And I like that Oticon includes a separate EQ for streamed audio as well. These three little  dots are helpful as they give you quick access to additional features like remote microphone  functionality and enabling Auracast. Now, something else. If you navigate to the hearing  aids tab, you'll also find basics like battery status and find my hearing aids, which is nothing  new, but always helpful. Overall, I found the app solid. It's not flashy and it may feel a bit  minimal compared to some platforms with advanced health tracking, but it works reliably and in my  testing and for most people, that's probably what matters most. If more advanced health features  pique your interest, you may just want to look elsewhere. Okay, this is a good point to go back  to something that we mentioned earlier. Because Zeal places the microphones inside your ears,  they gain access to the natural acoustic benefits of your pinna. In theory, that should help them  with things like speech understanding and spatial awareness. So, let's see how all that translates  into actual performance. Now, we tested Zeal with our partner lab, HearAdvisor, using standardized  objective tests designed to predict real-world performance for a common age related hearing loss.  Now, while that's a mouthful to say, it allows us to make more fair apples to apples comparisons  across all devices. So, here are Zeal's results across HearAdvisor's five sound quality metrics.  Overall, Zeal earned an A SoundGrade, placing it among the top performing devices we've tested,  and that's great, but it's also not entirely surprising given Oticon has a strong track  record, especially when it comes to speech and noise performance. So, the big takeaway is this.  Zeal isn't just impressive for its size. It also holds its own from a performance standpoint,  too. And if you want to dig deeper into the testing and all of the data, you can check  out hearadvisor.com. Now, let's listen to some sound samples recorded in the HearAdvisor lab.  You'll hear a typical cafe environment. First, without hearing aids, then with zeal at an initial  fit, and finally a professionally tuned setting.

[00:06:58]Use headphones and keep your volume consistent  across all of these samples for the best results.

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[00:07:26]Well, that too. The lawn isn't going to cut  itself, and the bushes have gotten a little crazy. I guess that's true. I mean, I've been  putting off staining my deck, but this year may be the year. Trees, bushes, deck... we'll just have  to dream about the grill and the ice cold cooler.

[00:07:44]Now, let's listen to the streamed quality.

[00:07:46]Starting with the original  unprocessed music track.

[00:08:06][music] So what's the bottom line? Well, Oticon Zeal  are genuinely impressive and honestly this is a good reminder of how far hearing aid  technology has come. Again, a few years ago, getting this combination of size, battery life,  and wireless features just wasn't realistic. So, who are these devices for? Well, if you're  looking for a nearly invisible hearing aid with strong sound performance and modern features,  Zeal make a lot of sense. But there are some important limitations to understand. First, these  are best suited for a mild to moderate or in some cases moderately severe hearing loss. At the  extremes of those ranges and beyond, you may run into issues like limited amplification, meaning  reduced high frequency clarity and or feedback.

[00:09:16]You can push performance a bit further with custom  molds, but that's an added cost and something you will need to discuss with your provider. In my  experience, when someone is right on that edge, you often end up making considerable tradeoffs  for discreetness. And in many cases, another style like a receiver and canal hearing aid may simply  be the better option in the long run. Here are some other key pros and cons to Oticon. First up,  audio performance here is excellent. Both in real world use and in lab testing, Oticon's processing  is strong, and I had no issues programming these for a typical mild to moderate hearing loss. That  said, I did notice some high frequency hiss and occasional distortion with louder sounds. Both  can be addressed to some extent in the fitting, but it starts to highlight the amplification  limitations I mentioned a moment ago. Next up, these are about as close to invisible as you  can get while still offering wireless features and all day battery life. Now, one tradeoff to  this pro is that they can be harder to handle, especially if you have limited dexterity and  or low vision. I did struggle at times to get these in and out of my ears due to their smaller  size. Next up is comfort. I found Zeal comfortable for extended wear compared to many instant fit  devices, especially those you'll find in the OTC space. And these devices tend to cause pressure  points and offer poor retention. And none of these were issues with Zeal. Now, let's talk about  some potential downsides. Because they sit deeper in your ear, they're more susceptible to wax and  debris, which impacts microphone performance and charging reliability. This is manageable, but  it requires consistent cleaning, which your provider should go over with you. Additionally,  as I mentioned, there are some feedback and gain limitations, and I'm honestly not trying to be  overly critical, as Zeal are very impressive given their size. Regardless, they will be more prone to  feedback compared to other hearing aid styles, and depending on your hearing loss, you may run into  limits with high frequency amplification. Last up, streaming is reliable without dropouts, but the  sound quality is, let's say, just okay. It tends to sound thin and lacking in bass, which you may  have noticed with those sound files a moment ago.

[00:11:35]You can improve it slightly with EQ and or  ear tip changes like custom molds, but don't expect high fidelity audio here. But that's it  for today's video. If you want to learn more, you can check out our full written review  at hearingtracker.com. And if you have tried these out, I'd be curious to know if you've had  any unique experiences linked with the pros and cons that we just discussed. But thank you for  watching and I hope to see you in the next one.