Ever needed a wearable loudspeaker that comes in a different form factor than a headphone? BeHear built a neck speaker that you wear on your shoulders and plays back audio from any Bluetooth media source nearby. It’s called BeHear Proxy, and while it might have seniors as a key target group due to the built-in personal sound amplification, but others might also benefit from its special features.
Some people easily get irritated skin or other sorts of pain when wearing headsets on their ears. This is especially true if the product is worn for prolonged times and even more so if someone is wearing glasses. Especially for those people who can’t or don’t want to use a headphone because of this, the BeHear Proxy might be an interesting solution to look at due to its neck-pillow-style design.
Pros and cons
BeHear was kind enough to provide us with a test unit for review, and that’s why we could try the product out in various ways. Here are the pros and cons we identified during the test scenarios.
Pros
- Useful when you want to listen to something as you walk about, like doing chores or something similar, and you don’t want to wear an in-ear or other sort of headphone.
- Due to the proximity, you can hear people talking on the TV or on your phone with clear audio. This might be interesting, especially for people who normally can’t hear that well over distance.
- Listening to audiobooks is a really good experience even if you are doing something that would usually create other noises, like washing the dishes.
- It’s safer to use outside than using a headphone that cancels out any other noises in the environment.
- It fits well around the neck and doesn’t drop even if you look down.
- You can tweak and finetune the acoustics with the companion app.
- The built-in Bluetooth system is modern enough to allow for some distance between the BeHear Proxy and a paired media device. This way, you can move freely without needing to carry your phone all the time. If you move between rooms, even close the door, the connection will still be fine.
- The retractable in-ear plugs let you switch from public address on the loudspeaker to privacy mode on the in-ears quickly and easily.
Cons:
- The device could be a little smaller, thinner, and generally lighter. As far as comfort goes, there is a little room for improvement.
- Sometimes there have been problems when trying to pair a device. Eventually, it will work, but maybe you’ll take a few attempts in some cases.
- The audio quality of the device is fine for speech but did not impress for music or movies. The product helps you understand people talking as a focus.
Tech specs
Bluetooth – wireless capacities
- Bluetooth compliance: Bluetooth v.4.2 + EDR + Low Energy
- Supported Bluetooth profiles: HFP v1.6, HSP v1.2, A2DP v1.2
- Bluetooth transmission power: Class II, +4dBm
- Operating range: 10m (~33 ft)
- Paired devices: Supports two simultaneous connections (multi-point)
Related article: New Wearable Voice Recognition Sensor Cuts out Ambient Noise Interference
Audio specifications
- Loudspeakers – Frequency range: 20Hz – 20kHz
- Loudspeakers – Sensitivity:102dB ± 3dB @ 1mW
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Earphones – Frequency range: 20Hz – 20kHz
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Earphones – Sensitivity: 102dB ± 3dB @ 1mW
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Microphone – Low noise, omnidirectional MEMS
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Microphone – Frequency range: 50Hz – 10kHz
Battery specifications
- Battery capacity: 1050mAh
- Operation Time
- Personal sound amplification: up to 50 hours
- Calls using earphones: up to 45 hours
- Media play using earphones: up to 40 hours
- Media play using loudspeakers: up to 10 hours
- Standby time ≥ 1300 hours
- Charging time ~3 hours
- Charging interface micro-USB
Summary
The BeHear Proxy neck speaker is an interesting solution for various user groups. This product is not only aimed at people with hearing problems but even could be used by home-office professionals who want to do conferencing in a novel way. Unlike some hearing amplification solutions at a high price point, the BeHear Proxy is currently available on Amazon for $189.
"Now, finally, I can #enjoy my #music at a volume that is loud enough for me to hear it, without bothering anyone. Life is good. You’ve really hit a home run with BeHear PROXY." Read Jan Wagner's from AutoMatters & More full review on our blog!https://t.co/EFYJ4QHtFK
— BeHear | hearables to enhance your life (@BeHearSolutions) April 21, 2021
This is a great price to quality ratio, given that most headphones, even without any hearing enhancement features, cost something north of $200. I see a lot of use-cases and usage scenarios for this product, and if any of the mentioned features sound interesting to you, you should check this one out.
YouTube: BeHear PROXY Neck Speaker with Enhanced Sound
Photo credit: All images used are owned by BeHear and were used with permission.
