Bone conduction headsets are getting more popular, as its major advantage is the ability to listen to audio from the smartphone while being aware of the environment. This is very useful especially for cycling, jogging along roads, practicing yoga, online calls, or simply be at home. They also prevent ear damage caused by long hours of usage and discomfort due to prolong insertion of the earbuds into your ear canals. They allow you to keep wearing the headset even when there are no calls or audio and be ready to take calls without fumbling for the earbuds.
WeHear is a hearing care company from India and instead of inventing fanciful (but expensive) ear apparatus, they make use of this existing audio technology to develop hearing solutions to improve the lives of people with hearing impairments, plus it can translate more than 70 languages via the app. The WeHear OX retails in Singapore at S$249 and available from Carousell, Shopee, Lazada, available in 2 colours and 2 sizes. It is exclusively distributed by Comm360, a regional IT solutions provider specialising in push-to-talk telecommunications and rugged devices certified to be used at hazardous industrial environments. Comm360 also offers business solutions like workforce safety and cyber security, including military-grade encryption technology for your smartphones (used by regional government security services) and gas detection wearable devices.
Design and Operations
The package comes with the headset, USB-C charger, carrying bag, ear plugs, and manual. If you are wondering the purpose of the ear plugs, it is to seal off the ear canals to block ambient noise. Then how could you hear the audio from WeHear OX? Well, that is exactly what it’s designed for. Bone conduction headsets deliver audio not through the ear canals but by vibrating the bones to conduct sound waves into the ear drums. If you use your fingers to seal off your ear canals, you can actually hear the audio from the WeHear OX much louder and much clearer.
On the right of the WeHear OX, there are three buttons. One is power button and the other two is volume control. On the left of the headsets behind the bone conducting driver is the large multi-purpose button to play-pause and to initiate translation.
The entire structure of the WeHear OX is made or rigid material other than the rear flexible band. There are two sizes available – regular and large. The one I reviewed is “regular” and feels just nice, though I would prefer a larger size. The WeHear OX feels very secure to wear it on my ears, and I can wear them for long periods on my head while still going on with my daily chores. This was not possible with other headphones or earphones except perhaps Sony LinkBuds and Mu6 Ring.
Smartphone App Features
When the power is on, the headset goes into pairing mode automatically, which is very convenient. Install the smartphone app for both Android and iOS to access many audio controls, update firmware, adjust EQ. The app is also where you use use the translator feature, learn a language and enable hearing aid mode. The other features like Document Translate and WeConverse are not available for Singapore. Hearing Test brings you to a website where you can sign up and take the test.
Live Translator
From the WeHear app, you can select the language that you want to translate live. Once you select, the language you choose on the first dropdown will be played in the WeHear OX, while the other persona’s language will be played on the smartphone speaker. When the mic button is tapped from the smartphone, the other person speaks into the smartphone mic and then it will show their language as well as the translated text and play it into the headset. When you click the large button at the left earpiece, you can start speaking your language through the headset mic, and then the translated text will appear on the smartphone screen and play out the speech on the smartphone speaker. You can do this to and fro to communicate.
If you do not download the language before hand, it will take longer for the app to translate, so it’s recommended to download those languages that you will commonly use. Based on my trial, the translation works rather accurate, but it would definitely be more reliable if you speak slowly and articulate your speech. I’m not a fan of such translation tool, but I agree the WeHear OX implementation is fuss-free because you do not need to pass around the phone to get the message: the translation will playback into the headset. The person using the smartphone app can also see the translation and therefore can check whether the original language is translated correctly.
Learn A Language
The smartphone app can also help you learn a new language. Just pick the two languages and then start reading your own language and the second language will be translated on screen with the speech read out. You can change the speech speed and then try to test your pronunciation. I recommend starting with short phrases because it is more challenging to read a long phrase. The app does not support breaking the phrase word for word, and there are certainly more apps in the market that does a better job, like Duolingo.
Hearing Aid Mode
This feature turns on the mic on the smartphone to allow the other party to speak into it and let the headset wearer hear better. You can adjust the L-R balance as some wearers may have impairment on only one of the ears. There is an obvious lag to transmit the mic audio to the headset, so it can be slightly disorienting. While some earbuds like the Creative Sensemore Air amplifies the mic from the earbuds itself, the WeHear OX offers a better controlled conversation as it only amplifies the person who is speaking into the mic, so you would not hear excessive ambient audio.
Audio Quality
Bone conduction headphones lack the dynamic range and frequency response, so consumers who wear bone conduction headphones compromise the audio quality. Overall, the WeHear OX sounds clear with warm midrange, and lacks treble sparkle or bass extension. But if you seal off the ear canals, you can actually hear the audio much better with improved treble brightness. When adjusting the EQ, the overall volume drops to compensate for the increase in specific frequency range. So, if you want to hear better with bone conduction headphones, do not try to press the driver against your ear. Instead, press to seal your ear canals and then you can hear better through bone conduction.
Verdict
The WeHear OX is more than just bone conduction headset. It offers several more features which I feel is worth the extra price if you are looking for language translation and hearing aid capabilities. As an audio product, it works reliably with IPX6 water protection. Bone conduction headphones are safer to use for long periods of time and does not cut you off from surrounding audio.
The WeHear OX retails in Singapore at S$249 and available from Carousell, Shopee, Lazada, available in 2 colours and 2 sizes.
