Apple Joins The Hearing Party

At last week’s at Apple’s glow time event, Apple announced a few long-awaited hearing improvements. As usual, the event focused on the newest iPhone with camera and chip improvements, but tucked in between the usual announcements was a series of enhancements to address hearing loss. While it may not be the Apple hearing aid that many of us have been waiting for, it is a definitive step into the hearing improvement space.

Hearing Loss

I am 61 years old and have moderate to severe high frequency hearing loss. I can get by without hearing aids, but people around me get annoyed as I often ask them to repeat themselves. I’ve written about hearing aids in detail in a few posts here here, here and here.

OTC

OTC stands for Over-The-Counter. Not too long ago, the FDA approved the sale of over-the-counter hearing aids in the US. Whereas in the past, we needed to get a referral to a specialist, get examined and receive a full hearing test, and get referred to an audiologist to fit and adjust hearing aids for us, we can now go online and order them ourselves. The options available provide a range of support options, from very hands on video support to full do-it-yourself. And they are now significantly less expensive. Read details here.

Big Players

Some of the big players in headphones and speakers like Jabra, Bose and Sennheiser have all entered the hearing market partnering with existing hearing aid makers to deliver an improved (in my opinion) sounding hearing aid. I find the new entries sound much more natural.

One name that has been disappointingly missing is Apple. Here’s a company with deep pockets, ubiquitous technology, and an array of speakers and headphones – either Apple branded or through its acquired Beats brand. Why aren’t they jumping in on this?

They’re here…

I was excited to read about the Apple glow time event and the surprise announcement that Apple has finally joined the party. While not a full-blown hearing aid roll-out, there are 3 software features being delivered to the Apple AirPods Pro 2 that will address hearing challenges. No new hardware is required. The software enhancements will be available later in the fall 2024.

Enhancements

First up is a hearing protection. This feature ensures that your AirPods 2 audio isn’t so loud that it could impact your hearing. Nice feature, but I feel like this is already somewhat there. I see an ear icon in my control panel that flashes green yellow or red based on the volume. We’ll see how this is enhanced and I’ll update the post when the new software arrives.

Next up is a hearing test. We’ll be able to take a hearing test directly on any iPhone running IOS 18 and store the results in the health app. I imagine this works very much like the hearing test on the Lexie by Bose hearing aids, and other phone or web based tests.

The third enhancement is the biggee. This will allow us to use our AirPods Pro 2 earbuds as a hearing aid. Because the software update hasn’t been released yet, it is due sometime in the fall of 2024, there is a lot of speculation, but few details on how effective our AirPods Pro 2 will be as hearing aids.

AirPods Pro 2

I have spend a considerable (OK maybe 20 minutes) amount of time trying to determine if my AirPods Pro earbuds are compatible. From what I’ve read, the original AirPods Pro earbuds have an H1 chip. The Pro 2 have an H2 chip and the H2 is what will be required to utilize the new hearing features.

Sounds pretty straightforward. I went to Apple’s website to verify.

I tried the comparison tool to look at the difference between the original AirPods Pro and the AirPods Pro 2. Apple only shows 1 version of the AirPods Pro and they are called AirPods Pro 2. If there is only 1, mine must be the Pro 2. Right?

Are You Sure?

Let’s keep hunting to get a definitive answer.

I started with my model # (go to settings, bluetooth and click on the i in a circle next to the AirPods – which by the way are labeled Brian’s AirPods Pro, not Pro 2.)

On Apple’s site, I can see the details for my model.

A2698 is the model # for the AirPods Pro (2nd Generation). Is this the same a s AirPods 2? Probably, since AirPods 1 or just plain AirPods are not even listed here.

Seems Fishy

I’m sure I have AirPods Pro (2nd generation) earbuds, and I’m pretty confident that they are the AirPods 2 that will support hearing enhancements in fall of 2024. I can find nothing that is labeled AirPods 2 anywhere. I’m a little uneasy about my settings app telling me they are AirPods Pro, but we’ll see.

Amazon to the Rescue

As a final test, I checked the Amazon listing for the AirPods Pro (2nd Generation) that I bought in 2022.

Richer audio with the H2 chip. God bless Amazon. This seems to be definitive evidence that the AirPods Pro (2nd Generation) are the same AirPods Pro 2 described at the Glow time event.

Wrap-Up

The good news is that Apple has joined the party. I don’t expect the first round of these AirPods Pro 2 enhancements to allow me to ditch my Jabra Elite 500 hearing aids, but I think it is a step in the right direction. Apple has a history of dipping its toe in the market and next thing you know, it is everywhere. Expect more to come, hopefully including an invisible stand-alone hearing aid.

And if, like me, you’ve been searching fruitlessly for hours (or 20 minutes) to verify if your current AirPods Pro (2nd Generation), which Apple calls AirPods Pro in its settings app, will work with the new features, I’ve provided a roadmap of my journey. Hope this helps.

And finally, please take a hearing test. Whether it is through an audiologist, online or through an app, check to see if you have hearing loss. If someone told me I had hearing loss 8 years ago, I’d have said they were crazy. I got a hearing test and sat in the booth for 5 minutes and asked when the test would start. It had been underway for those 5 minutes, I just couldn’t hear.

You may be a nuisance to others who need to repeat themselves, but hearing loss is linked to cognitive decline. My mom suffers from Alzheimers. She’s in great shape physically, but can no longer remember. It’s heart-breaking to see. We’re all living longer so we need to take care of our mental health as well as our physical.

Happy hearing.

Update 9/18/24

Apple has added some additional info about AirPods Pro 2 hearing capabilities on their website. Click here.

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