Are Linner OTC Hearing Aids Worth Your Time?

Linner offers some of the most affordable over-the-counter (OTC) hearing aids. With prices starting as low as $85 per pair and modern features like Bluetooth streaming or rechargeable batteries, they will seem like a great deal. Unfortunately, our tests revealed that most Linner hearing aid models fail to offer sufficient amplification in noisy environments.

About Linner

Linner is an OTC hearing technology brand co-headquartered in Santa Clara, Calif, and Shenzhen, China (pictured below). Founded as an acoustic tech startup in 2016, Linner initially developed active noise-canceling (ANC) earbuds. In 2022, the company released its first hearing aid, the self-fitting Linner Nova, a model that was re-released as an OTC hearing aid in 2023.

You can find Linner’s products in the company’s own online store and at over 1,000 physical locations across the United States, including Best Buy and Walmart. But before you purchase a Linner OTC hearing aid, make sure it offers the performance you need to address your hearing loss.

Linner OTC Hearing Aids

Linner sells four different OTC hearing aid models. Our partners at HearAdvisor tested four of them in the lab to evaluate speech-in-noise performance, speech amplification, audio quality, feedback handling, and own voice perception. Here’s a summary of each model’s features and test results.

Linner Nova

The Linner Nova was the company’s first hearing aid in 2022, but it was re-released as OTC hearing aid in 2023. Its Apple AirPods-inspired shape pays tribute to Linner’s history in designing earbuds. Currently offered for $300, the upgraded Linner Nova model (temporarily known as Nova Deluxe) provides a maximum gain of 45 dB, making it suitable for mild to moderate hearing loss.

At first sight, the Nova is Linner’s best-performing OTC hearing aid. It offers adequate amplification in quiet, its feedback handling is excellent, and its speech-in-noise score is the best in the Linner lineup. That said, the speech-in-noise performance will leave you struggling in busy environments. The Nova also has Linner’s worst score for own-voice perception, though trying different ear tips could bring relief. What’s most concerning about the Linner Nova is its excessive gain for medium and loud speaking voices, especially in higher frequencies, which could be quite unpleasant.

The Nova features Bluetooth and can run up to 10 hours per charge. Although the Nova’s UV-C charging case adds up to 24 hours of battery life and automatically sterilizes the earbuds when placed inside, the battery life is on the low end for Linner products and OTC hearing aids in general.

Dr. Steve Taddei, AuD, HearAdvisor’s expert audiologist reviewer, couldn’t get Nova’s self-fitting test to apply to his devices and used the app’s tuning features instead. Frankly, this defeats the purpose of a self-fitting hearing aid. But if you must get a budget OTC hearing aid, the Nova is Linner’s best option for moderate hearing loss.

Linner Saturn

The Saturn is the most affordable OTC hearing aid in Linner’s lineup at $85. Surprisingly, it’s also the company’s best-performing model. The Saturn is an in-the-canal OTC hearing aid designed for mild hearing loss. Linner promotes this model as completely-in-canal (CIC), but it does remain visible.

In HearAdvisor’s lab, the Saturn’s speech-in-quiet performance was reasonably good and the best among all Linner hearing aids. The Saturn showed strong feedback handling, meaning you’ll only experience minimal squealing when something gets too close to your hearing aids. Although its own voice perception score is among Linner’s best, you’ll likely experience the dreaded occlusion effect where your voice sounds like you're speaking in a barrel; trying out different ear tip sizes might mitigate this.

Saturn’s speech-in-noise score, while second only to the Linner Nova within the brand, will make it difficult to follow conversations in noisy environments. On the bright side, its gain for speech amplification isn’t as drastic as that of the Nova, though it drops off way below the target curve in the frequency range after 4,000 Hz (a region more important for sound quality than speech understanding).

While Saturn doesn’t offer Bluetooth, it is rechargeable with up to 20 hours of battery life on a single charge and up to 80 hours total in combination with its portable charging case. Dr. Taddei of HearAdvisor said he liked the convenient charger, but noted that “getting Saturn to snap into their magnetic charging slots can be a challenge.” He also pointed out that Saturn’s “multi-function push buttons are small and feel somewhat flimsy.”

Overall, HearAdvisor gave the Linner Saturn a B SoundGrade. Note that criteria like the battery life, feedback handling, and value compensated for the hearing aid’s underwhelming speech-in-noise amplification. Nevertheless, Saturn is probably Linner’s best option for people with mild hearing loss.

Linner Mercury

Linner Mercury is a receiver-in-canal (RIC) OTC hearing aid offered for $300. To get a good fit with this style of hearing aid and to reduce your own-voice perception, we recommend trying out different ear tips. With up to 55 dB of gain, it’s Linner’s only model targeting mild to the higher levels of moderate hearing loss.

Like the Saturn, the Mercury offers up to 20 hours of battery life per charge and a total of 80 hours in combination with the charging case. Steve at HearAdvisor found that the case’s “deeper charging bays can make insertion and removal a bit tricky.” The Linner Mercury demonstrated average performance for speech in quiet and you may have serious trouble hearing speech in noisy environments. The Mercury lacks Bluetooth capabilities.

HearingAdvisor’s C rating puts the Linner Mercury in the bottom 25% in both its category and all devices tested so far.

Linner Mars

The Linner Mars is an earbud-style OTC hearing aid intended for mild to moderate hearing loss. This is Linner’s priciest model at $400, but its performance and C SoundGrade from HearAdvisor don’t reflect its flagship status. Regardless, we'll note that the Linner Mars won Hearing Health & Technology Matters 2024 Hearing Innovator Award in the OTC in-the-ear category and received a 5-star rating from Soundly.

Despite being an award-winning OTC hearing aid, the Linner Mars failed in two domains critical to people with hearing loss—speech in quiet and speech in noise—offering almost no benefit compared to not wearing hearing aids. Its own voice perception disappointed as well. Although it features excellent feedback handling and great music-streaming capabilities, the Linner Mars scored in the bottom 5% in its category overall. However, it did significantly better when tested in the "tuned" condition, when an audiologist reprogrammed the aid using best practices.

HearAdvisor's Dr. Taddei says the Mars app is impressive with plenty of room to customize sound. However, some features didn't work as expected.

With up to 8 hours per charge, Mars' battery life falls far behind the 20 to 24 hours achieved by the Saturn, Mercury, or Venus. Given that rechargeable hearing aid batteries, like your cell phone, lose about 15% of their power capacity per year, it means you'll likely be getting about 6 hours of battery life per charge from this device after about 2 years of ownership. However, like the other Linner models, the Mars comes with a portable charging case that brings the total battery life up to 32 hours. The Mars does support wireless audio streaming and hands-free calling through Bluetooth 5.0.

The Mars has the weakest water resistance of all Linner hearing aids. Due to its low ingress rating of IP25, Dr. Taddei recommends “regular cleaning and avoiding moisture to keep them working well long term.”

This, combined with underwhelming battery life and poor speech processing in quiet and noisy environments, suggests that Linner Mars is not a good pick unless you have it reprogrammed by a professional (which will cost you more money and defeat the purpose of OTC).

Linner Venus

The Linner Venus is a $140 in-the-canal OTC hearing aid designed for mild to moderate hearing loss.

It’s the only Linner model HearAdvisor hasn’t reviewed, so we can’t comment on its performance. Given its earbud design and 12 channels, it may fall somewhere between Nova (18 channels), Mars (18 channels), and Saturn (6 channels).

With a total runtime of up to 24 hours, the Venus promises the best battery life in Linner’s lineup. However, it’s unclear whether the charging case contributes to that number or how many charges it holds.

What does Linner offer?

With prices ranging from $85 to $400 per pair, Linner’s OTC hearing aids are incredibly affordable, and all models are eligible for coverage through your HSA (Health Savings Account) or FSA (Flexible Spending Account).

Shipping, Warranty, and Support

Linner offers free worldwide shipping. U.S. customers should receive their orders within 3 to 7 days, though Linner doesn’t guarantee processing or shipping times.

During your 45-day trial period, you can try out the product and return it for a refund if it doesn’t work out. However, you will have to cover return shipping costs. Furthermore, Linner’s return policy may only grant a partial refund for “items returned more than 30 days after delivery.” The item also needs to be in its original condition and packaging.

Should you require help with your product, Linner’s customer support is available 24/7. You can reach them by phone, email, or through the app or browse Linner’s online support center for user manuals, troubleshooting guides, and video tutorials for each product. Our HearAdvisor colleague noted that Linner doesn’t offer remote help from hearing experts.

Linner HA App

The Linner HA app is reasonably easy to use and rich in features. Depending on the hearing aid model you choose, the app includes options like a hearing test, noise reduction, manual left and right ear tone adjustments, different listening modes, media EQ presets, and a sound therapy option. It may look a bit outdated and not all features may work as expected, including the self-fitting. For hearing aid models without Bluetooth, you can only use the app for contacting Linner’s remote support.

Should you buy Linner hearing aids?

Linner offers ultra-affordable OTC hearing aids intended for people with perceived mild to severe hearing loss. If you suffer from severe hearing loss, however, we strongly recommend that you look into prescription hearing aids.

HearAdvisor’s test results suggest that only the Linner Saturn offers good speech in quiet and speech in noise amplification for mild hearing loss—the two factors sought by most people looking for hearing aids. The Nova scored slightly better than the Saturn for speech in noise, but its excessive gain could make it uncomfortably loud in certain situations.

By definition, OTC hearing aids are do-it-yourself, and Linner's support is limited chiefly to online/phone, app, and email support. Since you’ll primarily use Linner’s mobile app to navigate through the fitting process, you should be relatively tech-savvy and comfortable with technology. Linner does offer a video and document center for orientation and troubleshooting.

The Bluetooth and app performance of budget hearing aids can be hit or miss. For example, our expert reviewer couldn’t get the Linner Nova’s self-fitting to work and had to apply settings manually. The Linner Mars suffered from intermittent Bluetooth pairing. If you have the time and patience to deal with issues like that, the savings might be worth it to you.

What are alternatives to Linner hearing aids?

To address mild to moderate hearing loss in the same price category as the Linner Saturn, consider the JLab Hear OTC. While it didn't score better than the Linner Nova for speech in quiet and speech in noise, it's comfortable, streaming audio to iOS and Android works like a charm, and you can customize its sound through the JLab Hearing Health app. Note that the JLab Hear OTC is considered an "instant-fit" device that relies on present Sound Modes; it hasn't gone through the FDA's "self-fitting" OTC hearing aid approval process.

If you can stretch your budget a little more, go with the Lucid Hearing Engage or Elehear Beyond. These are behind-the-ear and receiver-in-canal rechargeable OTC hearing aids, respectively, with good hearing in quiet and noise performance. They also feature Bluetooth with streaming to Android or iPhone devices with good battery life.

For the most satisfying experience with an OTC hearing aid, we recommend the Sony CRE-E10. As one of HearAdvisor’s top-performing OTC hearing aids, it does an excellent job of amplifying speech in quiet and noisy environments. The Sony’s batteries will last up to 26 hours per charge, and you’ll get Bluetooth audio streaming (iOS only) and hands-free calling. With a price tag exceeding $1,000, it is one of the costlier OTC hearing aids.