AirPods Pro can soon double as hearing aids

AirPods Pro 2 will soon go beyond providing music and podcasts as the wireless earbuds become genuine medical-grade hearing aids.

“We’re adding this groundbreaking capability to help more than 1 billion people living with mild to moderate hearing loss,” said Sumbul Desai, MD, Vice President of Health at Apple.

AirPods become real hearing aids

Many people wear AirPods to close out the world. But soon these truly wireless earbuds can help wearers better communicate with the people around them.

“We are really excited to announce that this fall, AirPods Pro will have a clinical-grade over-the-counter hearing aid feature,” said Desai during Monday’s “It’s Glowtime” event.

This is possible after a 2022 FDA change allowed companies to sell hearing aids over the counter and online, without a doctor’s intervention.  The additional audio function in AirPods benefits those with slight hearing loss who aren’t ready for more serious hearing assistance.

Setup includes taking a clinically validated hearing test with Airpods Pro and iPhone. This enables AirPods Pro to boost the specific sounds the wearer needs. Even better, “your hearing profile is automatically applied to music, movies and phone calls across all your devices without needing to adjust any settings at all,” promised the Apple VP.

Coming this fall to AirPods Pro 2

“We expect to receive clearance from the FDA and other regulators soon, with availability of the hearing test and hearing aid features this fall in over 100 countries and regions, including the US, Germany and Japan,” said Desai.

Although Apple unveiled more advanced AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation during Monday’s event, hearing aid functionality is coming only to AirPods Pro 2, and surely the third-generation version when it launches in 2025.

Better than Live Listen and Conversation Boost

The upcoming hearing aid feature for AirPods Pro improve on Conversation Boost, a feature that’s been in the earbuds since 2022. It uses software to amplify the voice of the person the wearer is speaking with.

And several Apple headphones models also support Live Listen, which turns an iPhone or iPad into a microphone that sends sound to any of several AirPods models. This is useful than sitting in a noisy environment like a restaurant.

Via: Apple