Jabra’s Tiny Hearing Aids Rank Among the Best in Our Tests

Jabra Enhance Select 300: A Compact and Advanced OTC Hearing Aid

As a tech journalist covering hearing aids for WIRED, I’ve had numerous conversations with users and potential buyers about various brands. One name that consistently comes up is Jabra, a Danish company known for its diverse range of audio products. While Jabra has a long history in the audio industry, including the popular Bluetooth headsets of the early 2000s, they have recently made significant strides in the over-the-counter (OTC) hearing aid market.

Introducing the Jabra Enhance Select 300

The Jabra Enhance Select 300 is the company’s latest and most advanced OTC hearing aid. Despite its small size (just 2.64 grams each), these behind-the-ear models don’t offer any obvious surprises in terms of design. The understated gray chassis sits snugly behind the ear, with a silver cable leading to the ear canal. Each aid features a single button on the back for easy control.

Personalized Setup and Configuration

Jabra takes a proactive approach to ensure your hearing aids arrive preconfigured to your specific needs. You can either take an online hearing test or upload a professional audiogram, allowing Jabra’s audiologists to fine-tune the product before shipping. Additionally, the company requires a comprehensive medical questionnaire to identify any hearing-related health concerns before sending out the product.

While the digital communication during the purchase process can be overwhelming at times, with numerous introductory emails and invitations to schedule an orientation with an audiologist, some of these steps, such as the Zoom orientation, prove to be quite helpful.

Customizable Ear Tips and Easy Controls

Upon receiving your hearing aids, you’ll find an impressive array of ear tips to experiment with, ensuring a comfortable and secure fit. Jabra provides seven different bags of tips, including open, closed, and tulip-style options in various sizes, totaling 70 different tips. If you need more, the company is happy to send additional tips upon request.

Once you’ve found the perfect fit (I typically test with open tips), the aids are easy to put on, thanks to a pinging sound called “Smart Start” that plays while you guide the receivers into your ear canal. The controls are straightforward: the right aid’s button increases volume for both aids, the left button decreases volume, and holding either button for a couple of seconds cycles through the four available programs.

Companion Apps and Customization Options

To get the most out of your Jabra Enhance Select 300 hearing aids, connecting them to a mobile app is essential. Jabra offers two apps: Enhance Pro and Enhance Select, with the latter being the newer option. Both apps function similarly, allowing you to switch between four modes: All Around, Restaurant, Music, and Outdoor.

Each mode comes with additional options, such as a “noise filter” to mute ambient sounds or “speech clarity” to boost conversational volume. You can further customize these settings using three equalizer sliders for bass, middle, and treble frequencies. The app also allows you to adjust volume globally or individually for each ear. It’s important to note that any customizations made to programs other than the All Around mode will reset to defaults when the hearing aids are placed back in the charging case.

Jabra front-loads a lot of the purchase process to ensure your aids arrive preconfigured.