Sennheiser Conversation Clear Plus – For optimal speech intelligibility

The new Sennheiser Conversation Clear Plus features advanced technology to optimise speech intelligibility, ensuring that conversations with fellow human beings always take centre stage – no matter what the environment. This is the promise of Sonova Consumer Hearing GmbH for the latest product of the Sennheiser brand. It is a solution that can be assigned to the category of so-called voice assistant wearables. In principle, the most modern technology for optimising speech intelligibility is hidden in an elegant in-ear headphone based on Bluetooth.

Strengths of Sennheiser and Sonova combined

As is well known, the company Sonova Holding AG took over the consumer division of the German company Sennheiser electronic GmbH & Co. KG, and subsequently announced a realignment of the Sennheiser Consumer division.

The product range of Sennheiser Consumer, or now Sonova Consumer Hearing GmbH, was to be divided into four product areas in future, namely Premium Headphones, Audiophiles, Enhanced Hearing and Soundbars, as the company announced in March last year.

Now, for the first time, they are presenting a solution that falls into the Enhanced Hearing area, a segment that is supposed to combine the strengths of the Swiss company Sonova Holding AG as well as the Sennheiser brand, namely said Sennheiser Conversation Clear Plus.

Sennheiser Conversation Clear Plus – Crystal clear communication meets modern design

According to Sonova Consumer Hearing GmbH, many people find it difficult to understand conversations clearly in noisy environments such as a busy restaurant, near busy roads or similar surroundings.

The new Sennheiser Conversation Clear Plus features speech intelligibility technologies that ensure that conversation with fellow human beings always takes centre stage, regardless of the environment.

The company is confident that the intelligent and intuitive features of what will ultimately be a true wireless in-ear headset will set a new standard in voice-assisted wearables.

Optimal speech intelligibility in all situations

Thanks to advanced chip technology from Sonova, speech intelligibility during calls and conversations is said to be significantly improved. A crucial role is played by the automatic environment recognition, which analyses the noise level of the respective environment and adjusts the speech amplification accordingly.

The automatic environment detection integrated in the compact earphones ensures clear speech reproduction in noisy environments, whether in a personal conversation or on the phone. Meanwhile, Active Noise Cancelling or ANC minimises distracting background noise, which is said to further improve call quality.

With the Sennheiser Conversation Clear Plus, users can decide for themselves at any time how much of their surroundings they want to hear. Active Noise Cancellation reduces distracting background noise to a minimum, while the Ambient Awareness option allows certain sounds to continue to pass through. The Sennheiser Conversation Clear Plus thus has a so-called Ambient Aware Mode.

Easy set-up and operation via separate app

At the heart of the setup and operation of the new Sennheiser Conversation Clear Plus is, of course, a matching app, namely the Sennheiser Conversation Clear Plus App. This is intended to allow the solution to be optimally adapted to personal requirements and preferences.

For example, three different listening modes are available, namely a Relax Mode, a Communication Mode and a Streaming Mode.

Connection via Bluetooth 4.2

It is somewhat surprising that Bluetooth 4.2, a rather old standard for wireless signal transmission, is still used, so that only the profiles A2DP, HFP, AVRCP and DID are supported, but above all only the codec SBC.

A driver with a diameter of 12 mm is used here, whereby a frequency range between 20 Hz and 20 kHz can be reproduced.

With the integrated 70 mAh lithium-ion battery, the new Sennheiser Conversation Clear Plus is said to offer a playing time of up to nine hours, whereby the scope of delivery includes a transport case that has another 500 mAh battery and thus allows two complete charges and a total playing time of up to 27 hours away from the power socket. The transport box itself is charged via USB-C.

“The Sennheiser Conversation Clear Plus supports our users’ dynamic lifestyles by enabling them to easily follow conversations even in noisy environments. An independent study has shown that 95 percent of all users perceive a significant improvement in speech quality when using the product.”

Daniel Holenstein, Sennheiser Senior Product Manager

Prices and availability

The new Sennheiser Conversation Clear Plus is scheduled to be available from the end of January 2023, although it can already be pre-ordered directly from the manufacturer with immediate effect. The recommended retail price is listed at € 849,-.

Getting to the point

It is a completely new product category that Sonova Consumer Hearing GmbH is now launching on the market with the new Sennheiser brand Conversation Clear Plus. It is a solution that presents itself as true wireless in-ear headphones, but is primarily designed to guarantee crystal-clear communication in any environment, i.e. even in noisy surroundings. The manufacturer refers to this as the new Enhanced Hearing product group and promises further products in this new category in the coming years.