Widex SmartRIC 440
Review of local unpaid product tester on behalf of the Hearing Practice Group, Jan 2025
“I was looking forward to testing the Widex SmartRIC hearing aids. I got on well with my Widex Beyond aids from a few years ago. I liked the way that they sounded, especially when listening to music. They were the aids that made me realise what useful devices modern hearing aids are. I wore them daily for two years and continued to wear them for listening to music after I moved on to Phonak Paradise P30 aids.
Appearance
SmartRICs are a different shape from other hearing aids. Rob thinks that they look cute.
The shape is partly styling and partly functional. I applaud the way that Widex have designed aids that are a bit more stylish than the norm.
The functional bit is the way that the top section of the aids, the part with the front microphones, is angled towards the front of wearer. The idea of this is to give more directionality to the sounds that the microphones pick up, enabling better 3D hearing.
The aids have no control buttons.
What are they like to wear?
The top part of the aids doesn’t protrude over the top of my ears. They sit just behind. The receiver wires follow the shape of my ears and head closely. They can hardly be seen from the front of my face. The body of the aids don’t follow the contours of the back of my ears like most hearing aids. The angled part stands proud, making them a bit more visible from the back. If I bought a pair of these, I would probably go for black ones to stand out. My trial pair were the usual silver grey.
The receivers are quite long and at first, I had difficulty inserting them in my ears. Adding sports locks helped.
I thought that they might be uncomfortable. I was more conscious of their presence than with other hearing aids and I had to take a bit more care than usual to position them carefully alongside the arms of my spectacles to avoid rubbing noises, but they weren’t particularly uncomfortable.
Because the aids didn’t follow the contours of the back of my ears, they didn’t sit quite as securely as other brands. They could become a bit tickly after wearing them for several hours. To minimise rubbing noises I frequently needed to adjust their position in relation to the arms of my spectacles.
What is the charger case like?
The case is an attractively styled compact travel charger with a USB C socket and a lid. It has an internal battery holding sufficient power to charge the aids for up to a week. Widex say five days but mine lasted longer than that. The three lights on the bottom edge of the case indicate the state of charge of the battery. The two lights on the front of the case indicate that the aids are charging. They are charged by induction. No lights are visible when the lid is closed, and the aids are charging. The case can be left on a bedside table, charging the aids with no lights showing.
Inserting the aids in the case is a bit different from some other brands. I found it a bit fiddly at first, but soon got used to doing it.
The case does not stand up like other brands’ cases. It lies flat on its side.
Are they easy to use?
The SmartRICs have no buttons. Full control of the aids is only possible using the Moment app on a smartphone. The only way that the SmartRICs can be turned off is to put them in their charger. Program and volume change can be made using an optional extra cost Widex remote.
My trial aids would not pair with the Moment app on my Pixel 8 Android 15 phone following the Widex instructions. A Google search suggested the workaround of pairing the aids using the phone settings first and then installing the app. It worked.
The app is easy to use and has a comprehensive set of functions, including program and volume change, a graphic equaliser, mute, Directional focus and battery level. There is an Improve Your Sound feature that I didn’t investigate. Modern hearing aids should be capable of adjusting their sound to my different environments without any input from me.
What different programs are available?
The Universal program worked well enough. I used it most of the time. I also used the Music program. Other programs are available including Quiet, Transport, Urban, Social, Party and Music. I am not really interested in lots of different programs. I want to be able to put my aids in my ears and let them get on with their job of improving my ability to hear.
What do they sound like?
Widex SmartRICs sound different from other aids that I have worn, but I can’t say that they are any better at assisting my hearing than other brands. I don’t think that they are as good at their job as my Phonak Lumities. They seemed to emphasize mid to lower frequency sounds such as a door closing, my own voice, or my footsteps on the stairs, but they lack upper frequency clarity. I felt that I had to concentrate more to follow TV dialogue. Female voices in particular didn’t have the clarity that they have with my Phonak Lumities. My wife commented on a robin singing in our garden, but I had to concentrate to hear it.
I checked my in-situ audiogram settings several times in the Widex Compass software. They were as good as I could get them.
What are they like for listening to music?
The only time that I changed program on the SmartRICs was when was listening to music (not streaming). The sound of music with the aids set to Universal is bland, lacking in treble clarity.
The treble is improved with the aids set to the Music program, giving more clarity, but feedback became an issue.
The aids have no buttons, so the only way that I could switch to the Music program was by using the Moment app on my phone. I don’t always carry my phone with me, particularly not in the evening when I want to listen to music or play my instruments. My evenings are phone free. Because of this I often found myself going upstairs to use my phone to switch the aids to the Music program and then going downstairs to listen to music. Then I might want to watch some TV, so I have to go back upstairs to switch programs, and so on. It would have been much better if Widex had put control buttons on the body of the aids.
Is streaming possible with the aids?
Widex hearing aids support the ASHA (Audio Streaming for Hearing Aids) protocol. ASHA is a basic minimum streaming protocol. The aids will pair with, and stream from, Android smartphones as well as iPhones. I was unable to pair the SmartRICs in the Moment app, so I paired them with my Android phone using the phone’s settings.
Phone calls
Incoming call sounds play in the aids as well as the phone, but the double-tap ear to answer feature of some brands is not available on Widex aids. Calls must be answered using the phone. Hands-free calls are not possible. The caller’s voice is passed to the aids, but the phone’s microphone must be used for speaking. The sound of the caller’s voice in the aids is clear.
Music streaming
I listened to several high-resolution tracks. The sound of streamed music was poor. The treble was harsh and what little bass that was there lacked body and soul.
There is a setting in the app to change the streamed sound from Voice to Music. The default setting seems to be Voice. The aids don’t switch automatically. When switched from Voice to Music the quality of the streamed sound is improved. The bass is fuller and there is more clarity in the treble. I still wouldn’t call the sound of streamed music good though. Phonak aids sound much better.
The top brands of hearing aids except Phonak include LE Audio in their specification. LE Audio gives a better quality of streamed sound than the ASHA protocol. Widex aids do not have LE Audio.
Conclusion
I was starting to think that the performance of all brands of hearing aids was similar, but I was wrong. Widex SmartRICs are different. They look different and they sound different.
It’s good that Widex have designed the SmartRICs to look different from other hearing aids, but after a while I didn’t find them to be as comfortable to wear as others. I would have preferred a shape that follows the contours of my head behind my ears.
Widex say that their hearing aids don’t sound like hearing aids. I agree with them. The SmartRICs have a sound that is close to that of natural hearing. For that reason, they would be a good choice for first-time hearing aid users.
I don’t think that they were as good for speech clarity in some situations as my Phonak Lumities or the Oticon Intents that I tested a few months ago. Experienced users would probably want to consider those brands instead.
Pros:
- The styling is different from other brands
- The charging case has a built in power-bank battery
- The charger does not emit light when charging the aids at night
Cons:
- Speech clarity not as good as the best
- Not as comfortable to wear over long periods as other brands
- No tap control for answering phone calls
- Hands-free phone calls not possible
- The sound of streamed music is poor quality
- No LE Audio
- No control buttons on the body of the aids
Widex don’t change their hearing aid models as often as other leading brands. SmartRIC aids are basically the previous model, Moments, in a different shaped case.
For comparison I wore my six-year-old Widex Beyond aids for a few days. The SmartRICs are re-chargeable, and they will stream from my Android phone, but performance wise are similar to my Beyonds. They haven’t really moved on at all. A retrograde step for me is that the SmartRICs don’t have control buttons. The only way to control them fully is to use the phone app. Widex seem to imagine that all hearing aid users are wedded to their phones. I, for one, am not.”
