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If you didn’t hear the big news at Apple’s “It’s Glowtime” event on Monday, well, the company has plans to help with that. Imminent upgrades to Apple’s second-generation AirPods Pro wireless earbuds will soon outfit the ubiquitous headphones with hearing aid features, further disrupting a market well in the throes of a disruption already.
Functionally, Apple is taking the same approach as many low-cost, over-the-counter hearing aid manufacturers by providing a product that does double duty as both Bluetooth earbuds and a hearing aid. The catch is that it isn’t introducing a new product but rather adding hearing aid technology to an existing headphone product—a novel approach to the category.
The operational details of how this new feature will work line up with most consumer-grade OTC hearing aids. Users can take an on-demand hearing test on their iPhone—the earbuds ping each ear with different frequencies at varying volumes. Users will be prompted to tap the screen if they hear the sound. After a few minutes, the app will generate an audiogram that graphs your hearing deficits, and this audiogram can then be used to program the AirPods Pro as hearing aids.
Apple touts that “personalized dynamic adjustments [let] users have the sounds around them boosted in real time,” and its hearing aid algorithm uses an audiogram with a maximum of eight thresholds for frequency tuning. (A true hearing aid will adjust levels at six frequency bands or more, but some are limited to merely boosting bass or treble.) Apple will also let you upload an existing audiogram if you’ve had one generated by a professional audiologist, which adds even more flexibility.
One of the most impressive features is something no one else has provided: these hearing settings are applied to the streaming experience too. So if you have trouble hearing highs, those settings will also be applied to phone calls, music, movies, and games—all automatically. Most (if not all) other OTC hearing aids shut their hearing aid features off altogether whenever you are streaming media, so this could represent a real, game-changing improvement for people with hearing loss.
Apple bills all of these features as a “first-of-its-kind software-based hearing aid feature,” which is related to the company's rollout of the feature through a software update, not the use of software while providing hearing assistance.
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All of this is good news for the millions of people with undiagnosed hearing loss. Ruth Reisman, an audiologist who works with WIRED to medically vet the hearing aids we review, says, “It'll be a great way to get people interested about their hearing health care." It provides a more accessible way for people who need hearing assistance to get help sooner.
Naturally, the real test of the product will be when the update comes to the earbuds, which Apple says will be sometime this fall. Reisman says she’s curious about the platform but cautions that the product may not be “as sophisticated as prescription hearing aids." It's worth noting that, like all OTC hearing aids, Apple’s technology is marketed for users with mild to moderate hearing loss. The product is still pending formal US Food and Drug Administration approval, but that is likely just a formality.
At $249—frequently on sale for $190—Apple’s second-gen AirPods Pro are expensive for wireless earbuds. As hearing aids, the company suddenly finds itself in a paradoxical and unique position as one of the least expensive options. Today, even basic hearing aids tend to hover around $300 to $400, and few offer much in the way of sophisticated audio processing chops.
Apple also has legions of customers who own these AirPods, and they'll suddenly find themselves with hearing aids too. That’s one way to remove the stigma of wearing them.
