Yeasound RIC800 Hearing Aids Review: Good Audio, Glitchy App
The Yeasound RIC800 hearing aids offer solid audio quality and effective noise reduction at a lower price than many competitors, but their companion app suffers from glitches, poor design, and requires constant Bluetooth reconnection, detracting from an otherwise good hardware experience.
Background
- The Yeasound RIC800 is an over-the-counter (OTC) hearing aid, meaning it can be bought directly by consumers without a prescription or fitting by an audiologist. This is a relatively new category in the U.S., created by an FDA rule change in 2022 to make hearing aids more affordable and accessible.
- "RIC" stands for "Receiver-in-Canal," a common design where the speaker sits inside the ear canal, connected by a thin wire to a device worn behind the ear.
- The review's criticism of a "glitchy app" matters because modern OTC hearing aids rely heavily on smartphone apps for setup, tuning, and volume control — if the app is unreliable, the device is much harder to use day-to-day.
- Yeasound is a lesser-known brand competing in a crowded OTC market that includes established names like Sony, Jabra, and Apple (whose AirPods Pro 2 now have a hearing-aid mode).