Quick Answer: Horizon is the premium house brand of hear.com, sold as prescription, professionally fitted hearing aids — not OTC devices, and not on Amazon. The flagship Horizon Go IX is a rechargeable receiver-in-canal (RIC) aid that scored 4.6/5 at HearingTracker (top 15% of all aids reviewed) with an A-rated SoundGrade from the HearAdvisor lab, delivering up to 28 hours per charge and an IP68 dust/water rating. Expect to pay roughly $2,000–$6,000 a pair depending on the technology tier (1IX/5IX/7IX), backed by a 45-day risk-free trial. Horizon is worth it if you want a top-tier fitted device and value the professional support; if you’d rather buy a capable device online today for far less, OTC alternatives like the Jabra Enhance Select 500 deliver most of the everyday benefit without the clinic price.
Horizon is what hear.com sells when you go through its online hearing-test funnel: a rebadged premium hearing aid, built on Signia/WS Audiology hardware, fitted remotely or in person by one of hear.com’s partner audiologists. It is not an over-the-counter product — you can’t add it to a cart and check out. That distinction matters, because it puts Horizon in the same bracket as clinic brands like Phonak and Oticon rather than the self-fitting OTC devices most of this site covers. According to the NIDCD (National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders), roughly 28.8 million U.S. adults could benefit from hearing aids, yet fewer than one in three adults over 70 who need them has ever used a pair — and hear.com’s marketing engine is aimed squarely at converting that hesitant majority. Here’s what Horizon actually is, what it costs, and when a cheaper device makes more sense.
Horizon by the numbers
- 4.6 / 5 is the overall score HearingTracker gave the Horizon Go IX, placing it in the top 15% of all hearing aids the site has reviewed — backed by an A-rated “SoundGrade” for speech-in-noise from the independent HearAdvisor lab.
- Up to 28 hours of use per charge is what hear.com rates for the Horizon Go IX, and its quick-charge feature adds about 6 hours of use from a 30-minute charge.
- IP68 is the Go IX’s ingress-protection rating — the highest common rating for dust and water resistance on a hearing aid.
- ~$2,000–$6,000 per pair is the real-world price range for Horizon IX, per hear.com and third-party reviews; Forbes Health pegs the premium tier around $5,150, with financing quoted from about $139/month.
- 45-day risk-free trial plus a three-year warranty come with every hear.com Horizon purchase, per hear.com — one of the longer trial windows in the industry.
- ~$3,000 per pair is the average out-of-pocket cost of traditional prescription hearing aids, according to the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) — so Horizon’s mid and premium tiers sit above the clinic average, which is why the alternatives below matter.
Horizon models and tiers compared
hear.com sells Horizon in two body styles — the behind-the-ear Go IX and the invisible in-canal Mini IX — each offered in three technology tiers (1IX, 5IX, 7IX), where a higher number means more automatic programs and better noise handling.
| Model / tier | Style | Best for | Streaming | Battery | Price (pair) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Horizon Go IX 7IX | Receiver-in-canal (RIC) | Best overall Horizon | Bluetooth + hands-free calls | ~28 hrs rechargeable | ~$5,000–$6,000 |
| Horizon Go IX 5IX | Receiver-in-canal (RIC) | Mid-tier value | Bluetooth + hands-free calls | ~28 hrs rechargeable | ~$3,500–$4,700 |
| Horizon Go IX 1IX | Receiver-in-canal (RIC) | Entry Horizon | Bluetooth streaming | ~28 hrs rechargeable | ~$2,000–$3,300 |
| Horizon Mini IX | Completely-in-canal (CIC) | Invisible fit, mild loss | Limited | Smaller cell, shorter runtime | Tier-dependent |
| Jabra Enhance Select 500 (OTC alt.) | Receiver-in-canal (RIC) | Best online alternative | Bluetooth + app self-fit | Rechargeable | ~$1,195–$1,995 |
1. Horizon Go IX — the flagship most buyers get
Horizon Go IX (7IX / 5IX / 1IX)
- Rechargeable receiver-in-canal design with up to ~28 hours per charge and a 30-minute quick charge for ~6 more hours, per hear.com.
- Bluetooth streaming with hands-free calling for compatible iOS and Android phones.
- Speech Focus mode targets the voices in front of you and cuts background noise — hear.com's headline feature for busy restaurants.
- IP68 dust/water resistance; fitted and fine-tuned by a hear.com partner audiologist, remotely or in person.
Not sold on Amazon — Horizon is quoted individually through hear.com after a hearing consultation. For an OTC device you can order online today, see the alternatives below.
The Go IX is the model behind almost every “Horizon” ad you’ve seen. On performance it earns the hype: its 4.6/5 HearingTracker score and A-rated HearAdvisor SoundGrade put it among the better premium RIC aids on speech-in-noise, and the 28-hour battery, IP68 rating, and hands-free calling are genuinely flagship-grade. The catch is money. As reviewers at HearAdvisor and Forbes note, its music-streaming and media sound quality are only average for the price, and rival devices match or beat its lab scores for less — so you’re partly paying for hear.com’s service and marketing, not just the hardware.
2. Horizon Mini IX — the invisible option
Horizon Mini IX
- Completely-in-canal (CIC) shell that sits hidden inside the ear canal — hear.com's answer to buyers who won't wear anything visible.
- Aimed at mild hearing loss where a small device still has enough power to help.
- Same 1IX/5IX/7IX technology tiers as the Go IX, so processing scales with what you pay.
- Trades battery life and full streaming for size — there's simply less room deep in the canal.
Like the Go IX, the Mini IX is fitted and sold only through hear.com. If invisibility is your goal and you'd rather self-fit, compare OTC in-canal models in our alternatives section.
The Mini IX exists for one reason: people who avoid hearing aids purely because of how they look. It disappears into the ear better than the behind-the-ear Go IX, but you give up runtime and streaming to get there, and you still pay premium hear.com prices. If discretion is the whole point for you, it’s worth weighing against self-fitting OTC in-canal devices that cost a fraction as much — see our roundup of the best invisible hearing aids.
How you actually buy Horizon (and what to watch for)
You can’t just order a Horizon aid. hear.com’s process is: take the online hearing quiz, book a phone consultation, get matched with a partner provider for a hearing test, then receive Horizon devices programmed to your audiogram — with a 45-day risk-free trial and three-year warranty. That professional support is a real advantage over pure self-fit OTC devices, especially for first-time wearers or trickier hearing losses. The thing to watch is total cost: because prices are quoted individually and bundled with service, ask for the full out-the-door figure — device plus fitting and follow-up fees — and compare it against the alternatives before your trial window closes. For a wider view of what fitted devices run, see our hearing aid prices guide.
The best alternatives to Horizon you can buy online today
Horizon is a strong device, but you’re paying clinic prices for it. If you have perceived mild-to-moderate hearing loss and would rather order a capable device online — often for a third of the cost — these OTC picks are the ones to compare. All are available on Amazon.
Jabra Enhance Select 500 — best online alternative
- Receiver-in-canal design much like the Horizon Go IX, with Bluetooth streaming and app-based self-fitting.
- Optional remote support from Jabra Enhance audiologists — closer to the hear.com service model than most OTC brands.
- Rechargeable, with a 100-day return window that beats Horizon's 45 days.
Buying online means the device usually arrives in a day or two rather than after a clinic visit. Get your hearing devices and accessories in two days — try Amazon Prime free for 30 days.
- Sony CRE-E10 (~$1,099/pair): an earbud-style OTC aid that streams music and calls — a lower-cost way to get Bluetooth like the Go IX. See our best Bluetooth hearing aids guide.
- Sony CRE-C10 (~$999/pair): the invisible-for-the-money answer to the Horizon Mini IX — a tiny in-canal, self-fitting device at a fraction of the price.
- Eargo 8 (~$2,699/pair): the premium OTC pick if you want near-total invisibility plus rechargeable convenience — see our Eargo hearing aids review.
For the fuller picture, compare our roundups of the best RIC hearing aids, the best rechargeable hearing aids, and the best OTC hearing aids overall — or see how the leading online brand stacks up in our Jabra hearing aids review.
Before you buy: prescription vs OTC
Horizon is a prescription hearing aid — professionally fitted for any degree of loss, which is exactly what you want if your loss is more than mild-to-moderate, sudden, or in one ear only. The OTC alternatives above are FDA-regulated for adults with perceived mild-to-moderate loss and are self-fitting. See a hearing professional first if your hearing loss came on suddenly, affects one ear only, or comes with pain, drainage, or one-sided or pulsing tinnitus. Whichever route you choose, use the return window to confirm real-world benefit before the trial ends.
The bottom line
Horizon hearing aids by hear.com are a legitimately good premium product — the Horizon Go IX scores in the top 15% at HearingTracker and comes with strong professional support and a 45-day trial. But you pay clinic prices (roughly $2,000–$6,000 a pair) for a rebadged device, and it’s only sold through hear.com’s funnel, not on Amazon. If you want that level of fitted support, Horizon is a defensible choice. If you have mild-to-moderate loss and would rather order online and save, the Jabra Enhance Select 500 delivers most of the everyday benefit for far less — start with our best RIC hearing aids and best OTC hearing aids guides, or browse Jabra Enhance hearing aids on Amazon.