Can the world sound better with headphones on? Apple appears to think so, and preparing to upgrade its AirPods Pro 2 with a new hearing aid feature later in October.
This brings the iPhone makers into a new market with long-established players, where better hearing with specialized technology can easily cost as much as a holiday.
Apple's hardware chief John Ternus has set the bar high, promising "the best hearing aid on the market."
The audiometry test for individual adjustment to your own hearing ability can be done with the AirPods and an iPhone. The hearing aid is then automatically configured to amplify sounds in the frequencies in which deficits are detected.
Nevertheless, there is one limitation: the feature is intended for mild to moderate hearing loss. With mild hearing loss, you can no longer hear the ticking of a clock or the sound of leaves rustling; with moderate hearing loss, you can no longer perceive background noise in residential areas.
For more severe hearing loss, you still need to resort to traditional hearing aids and an expert in a shop. So Apple's hearing aid is not a quick fix for every case of hearing loss.
A billion potential customers
With the hearing aid feature, Apple believes it has identified a market that has been drastically underserved. "We’re excited to enable incredible new health capabilities for serious conditions that affect billions of people around the world," says Sumbul Desai, who heads Apple's health programmes. And what's more, she says, three-quarters of the people diagnosed with hearing loss do not get the help they need.
"Hearing loss is so gradual that many people don't even realise they have it," US hearing specialist Andy Sabin recently told the New York Times.
Another problem, according to experts, is that some people shy away from traditional hearing aids. With more commonplace and commercially available earphones, this hurdle is eliminated.
In the US, over-the-counter hearing aids were only approved in 2022 after years of preparation, which ultimately opened the door to the AirPods function. In parts of Europe, the market has been around for a little longer.
An at-home hearing test
And how do you now adjust the earbuds for music and podcasts so that they also make unheard sounds audible again? The hearing test takes less than five minutes and is best done in a quiet environment. The feature checks this before starting – and also briefly interrupts the test if it gets too loud around you.
First, you have to answer three questions: are you 18 years old or older, do you currently have a cold or allergy, and if you've been in a noisy environment such as a concert or construction site in the past 24 hours.
The AirPods then play a series of three tones at different frequencies, starting at 1,000 Hz, first in the left ear and then in the right. When you hear the tones, you have to tap the screen.
The tones gradually become quieter, and are barely audible at first – and then no longer at all. The software then switches between different frequencies, with the volume often close to the user's threshold of audibility.
Similar to traditional audiometry tests at the doctor's office, the result is given in terms of the deviation from the common standard hearing value. A deviation of up to 25 decibels is considered normal hearing. This does not require the AirPods to amplify the sounds.
A loss of 26 to 40 decibels is a mild hearing loss, and 41 to 60 decibels is a moderate hearing loss.
Up to six hours of battery life
The corresponding values are displayed in the test result on your iPhone. Unless you change the settings, the AirPods automatically start to amplify the frequencies that the ear could not perceive in the test.
In a study with around 200 participants, the results of the iPhone test were compared with traditional audiometry tests – the correlation was 86.4%.
Similar to classic hearing aids, Apple points out that it may take a few weeks to get used to it. The amplification can be heard quickly. In noisy environments such as restaurants, the AirPods Pro were already able to help emphasize the voice of a conversation partner.
The new hearing functions are ultimately also based on the original ability of the AirPods Pro to suppress ambient noise. To do all this, the earbuds calculate sounds and how to react to them 48,000 times per second.
According to Apple, using the hearing aid function has virtually no impact on battery life. They should be able to run for up to six hours at a time – and up to 30 hours with intermittent recharging in the case.
As such the AirPods are not a hearing aid designed for continuous use. This eliminates the need to change tiny button cells.
Protection against loud noises
Incidentally, Apple reverses the function for people without hearing loss: the AirPods can also be used to suppress loud noises in your environment.
To do this, the company has further developed the transparency setting, which mixes ambient noise with the content you're listening to, so that an ambulance siren can be heard through the music.
"Subways, buses, construction work" - people are constantly exposed to loud noises in their everyday lives, says Sumbul Desai. That's why the reduction of loud noises is activated by default.
The AirPods can thus also be used as hearing protection - for example at concerts. According to hardware boss John Ternus, the music sounds just as good, but you leave the hall without ringing in your ears. He himself uses the function all the time when his children's bands perform.
AirPods as a hearing aid: coming soon
The hearing aid function is to be activated internationally with a software update to iOS 18.1 on October 28. To set this up, you need an iPhone or iPad with the latest version of iOS or iPadOS.
And they have to be the AirPods Pro 2 because they run on the H2 chip developed in-house by Apple. There are a large number of over-the-counter hearing aids from various brands that compete with them – from well-known and expensive manufacturers to cheaper rivals from China.
However, Apple has the advantage of a self-test at home that automatically adjusts the hearing aid. And ultimately, with AirPods you still get earphones that are compatible with all Apple devices.
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