Walker's Game Ear Raptor Bone Conducting Hearing Enhancer

Ok, I know this was an "off-label" use, but I swear the Raptor saved my marriage, if not my life. So, I've been deaf in my left ear my whole life, and about 2 months ago an ear infection in the right ear left me temporarily (thank God) without hearing, and at the time, without hope. I knew intellectually it would only be a few months till I regained (limited by being deaf on the left) hearing, but it was my worst fear come true. I was scared, depressed, and isolated. My wife of 38 years was sympathetic, but I was increasingly frustrated by not being able to have a conversation with her, so we were arguing a lot (more than normal, LOL). Genius that she is, she suggested I look for a hearing aid that uses bone conductivity. I found the Raptor. It was delivered 2 days later, and it changed my life immediately. It brought back my ability to have a conversation, attend meetings, hear my grandson's laughter. I could hear the car approaching in time to get out of the way. My limited hearing is coming back, but I still wear the Raptor every day. I can hear music in stereo for the first time in my life from my bluetooth connected phone, and don't have to have the TV volume on highest settings. Battery lasts all day. It's slim, comfortable fit is barely noticable when I'm wearing it.Thank you, Walker's. I understand that my use was not what your product was intended for, but sincerely, thank you.BTW, I'm not connected with the company in any way. I'm not being solicited to write this. I don't even own stock in the company (yet.). I don't write reviews very often, but was moved to tell you this Raptor works!

***7/21 UPDATE***I ended up returning my set. The battery life died to the point where they wouldn't last more than a couple of hours.********** I have been range shooting and working in loud environments for a while. Until these Raptors, I hadn't found exactly "that" solution. I hate losing situational awareness when I use foamies or in-ear music buds, and walking around with over-head electronic earmuffs is apparently a social "faux pas". Each solution worked, but they all had critical [at least IMO] problems.Intro: Raptors.The setup was fairly long & boring. The Raptors required a long charge time [2+ hours?] before I could set them up on my phone's BlueTooth.The Walker's app [Android & iOS] is really basic. The app and Raptors didn't really sync last night - but they did today. Sometimes patience is rewarded, I guess.Today I got things completely set up: - EarSoft 33db earplugs. IMO, these work great shooting outdoors - and indoors too, for the most part. Clinical testing has shown no hearing loss from irregular trips to the range over 5+ years, and I use them almost exclusively when I don't use my electronic over-ear muffs. - Raptors connected to the Walker app - Raptors connected to my Apple phone BTWith this setup powered down, I couldn't hear much with the foamies inserted in my ears. [Which is kind of the point.] Music played over my lame Logitech PC speakers was at mid- to high-50db [as measured on my phone by the NIOSH app I installed]; background noise was in the low 30db range. Again, by virtue of the EarSoft 33db foamies, I could barely hear the music; no background noise registered; I can faintly hear my typing these words [I apparently pound on my keyboard @ 62db].Music sounds OK/decent on the Raptors: both via BT and via the sound pass-through. The bone-conduction won't compare to high-end ear speakers, but it's OK. Just don't have high expectations - music is OK, but no better. I think bone-conduction is inherently limited in frequency and fidelity....but if I want to listen only to music, I have headphones for that.But here's where the Walker app "genius" kicks in. After getting the Raptors connected to BT and the app, I could listen to music [Eagles] over the BT *and* carry on a normal conversation with my spouse. When she muttered something about "idiot geeks with no common sense" I turned up the Walker app volume and heard her just fine; music levels remained the same throughout the conversation. And if someone had thrown a firecracker into our livingroom [or shot a gun, I suppose] I don't think my hearing would have been damaged.So, if you are looking for something that will permit you to hear [and amplify] natural/normal sounds & maintain situational awareness *while* listening to music or a phone call *and* protecting your hearing from loud environmental/range noise, the solution seems to have arrived.Note about the Walker app: it is *not* fully baked. The playback modes are useless; I couldn't detect any difference when they were selected, and they didn't make the music sound better. As mentioned above, the setup was problematic and resolved itself magically. The volume slider works, but with a delay. I have no idea if the sleep feature works.I received nothing for this review, nor did I ask for/receive anything before this review.

I very successfully use the Raptor as hearing aids. At $200, they work incredibly better than "in ear" solutions I've tried due to hearing loss. The manual is frequently too brief or wrong (there is no double beep at the high end of volume), but the hearing aid benefit is so strong I'll easily forgive product startup issues.Issues are that there are 15 sound levels, and the preset is at the bottom (none). Volume must be clicked up from none to about 13 for me, to be stunningly effective for home/ gathering use. After recharging, the sound level will be at 0 (and this may make sense) and must be reset. iPhone/ iPad apps give the modifiable sound level, and battery power level. So training focus and learning use is necessary, but is better than Costco, Lyric, or other hearing aids I've tried.The wind noise problem one other reviewer noted, I disagree with. Other reviewers have noted that the wind sounds the same as very costly alternatives, and I add that when the volume is up, the wind noise will be up. I'm not at all sure I want that ambient cancelled!In ear solutions are about 10 times more costly, do not provide extreme noise protection (machinery, hearing range fire, loud nearby), and the in ear solutions actually can complicate wax and auditory canal cleaning issues (look up "ear wax" on Wikipedia).Now at home and for family and getting out, I use the Raptor. The Raptor is smaller profile, and less obtrusive. I use Walker ear muffs at the shooting range, and actually was using the range muffs at home because I not only could hear conversations and problems at the range better (I'm a range officer sometimes), but also family conversations better; and now I have the same system done for bone conduction. Cha- ching!So if you want Aftershokz with the mics used as hearing aids, the Raptor is your solution.