Apple Hearing

Yesterday morning was like Christmas. I was soooo excited.

A few month’s back, Apple announced that it was bringing hearing support to the Health App and to AirPods 2. I’ve written quite a bit about hearing aids here, here, here and here. I also wrote about Apple’s entrance to the hearing party here.

I have had hearing loss for quite some time. Mt first hearing aids were outlandishly expensive and to me, sounded tinny and unnatural. Earlier this year, when over-the-counter hearing aids started to make their appearance, I tested a few and wrote my first post on hearing aids. I kept the Jabra Elite 500 because it had the best sound for me and it was reasonably priced. I started wearing them in April. It’s almost November and I remain quite happy with them.

Why Would I Care About Apple?

Good question. I have hearing aids that I’m quite happy with.

Everyone is different, but let’s talk about me for a minute.

I need hearing aids for conversation and for watching TV, otherwise I miss a lot. I’m also a music lover. I am always listening to music through earbuds while working around the house and walking the dog. So, much of the day, I’m wearing earbuds.

When I wear earbuds, I need to take my hearing aids out of my ear. I put my hearing aids away, so then if I start a conversation, I have trouble hearing.

While many hearing aids allow for bluetooth streaming, the quality is not great.

When I saw that Apple was releasing hearing support in the AirPods Pro 2, I was intrigued. Maybe I wouldn’t have to switch back and forth throughout the day.

Hearing Aid Streaming

I made the comment that bluetooth streaming on hearing aids wasn’t great. Here’s why.

The better earbuds come with multiple sizes of solid tips to ensure each owner gets a good fit. The tips should be comfortable and they should block out outside noise so that your inner ear becomes a concert hall with no outside interference, just the sound coming from the earbuds.

For many of us, depending on our level of hearing loss, our hearing aids have a vented tip. For me, I have very little hearing loss at low frequencies so my hearing aids don’t amplify these frequencies, Instead, low-frequency sound passes directly to my ear through the vented tips. This creates a more natural sound.

However, if I’m streaming music or a podcast, the sound from the hearing aid (music or podcast) streams into my ear and flows back out through the vent. This makes for a weak, low-volume sound with very little bass. There is no concert hall sensation. Also, all of the outside sounds (traffic, lawnmowers, people) stream into my ear through the vents.

So for me, the hearing aids are not an effective music streaming solution, so I’m taking them out and putting in my AirPods several times a day.

AirPods Pro 2

I’ve had many earbuds over the years. The AirPods Pro 2 are by far the best. Let’s talk a little about why.

The AirPods Pro 2 is a computer in your ear. It has 2 computer chips working to optimize sound.

They also have microphones both in the ear and outside the ear that are assessing the sound they pick up.

The inside-the-ear microphone is used to ensure you have a snug fit. It samples for sound loss and recommends different tips or an adjustment if sound is leaking or outside noise is coming in.

The outside-the-ear microphones help with the noise control settings.

Noise Control

There are 3 noise control modes on the AirPods Pro 2. I can change modes using the device I’m attached to (e.g. iPhone), or by long-squeezing the stalk of the AirPods Pro 2.

Transparency mode – passes outside sounds, picked up by the outside-the-ear microphones, into the ear canal. Unlike vented tips that pass the sound directly, this sound is being picked up by the microphone and is being replayed on the in-ear speaker of the AirPods Pro 2. This means that it can keep the ear canal sealed to create the concert hall sound and inject outside sounds electronically.

I use transparency mode while biking. The music sounds great, but I can hear cars and trucks approaching and can hear if someone were to shout at me.

Noise Cancellation – creates sounds to counteract the outside noise. This sounds like crap, but it is amazing how well it works. I had the AirPods Pro 2 earbuds in and was listening to music. My neighbor decided it was a good time to cut the grass so he fired up his ride-on mower which is about as load as a 747 at take-off. I long-squeezed the stalk and the mower sound faded away to almost nothing.

Adaptive – strives to be a cross between the 2. It adjusts loud sounds to a reasonable volume while letting most sounds pass.

So even before the AirPods Pro 2 became hearing aids, they were doing some pretty impressive computing to optimize the sound experience.

AirPods Pro 2 as Hearing Aids

With IOS 18.1 that was released on 10/28/24, the AirPods Pro 2 gained 3 new features.

First up is a hearing protection. This feature ensures that your AirPods Pro 2 audio isn’t so loud that it could impact your hearing.

Next up is a hearing test. I was able to take a hearing test directly on my iPhone running IOS 18.1 and store the results in the health app. The test walks me through adjusting the fit to ensure it is tight, and then plays a series of tones. I tap the phone when I hear the tone. It creates this.

The third enhancement is the biggee. This will allow us to use our AirPods Pro 2 earbuds as a hearing aid.

I put the AirPods Pro 2 in my ear, and turn on hearing aid mode. When I’m in transparency mode, the sound that comes in – remember my ear is fully blocked by the earbud tips – is altered to emphasize the high frequencies and pass the low frequencies unaltered. This is a bit of a simplification. It’s using the results of the hearing test to customize the sound enhancement so that I can hear across all ranges.

Does it Work?

My audiologist will sell me hearing aids for $5,000. My OTC Jabras cost $2,000. Can a $250 earbud that was built for playing music and podcasts really act as a hearing aid? That’s crazy talk.

Well it does. Watching TV last night and talking with my wife, I was able to hear conversation as clearly as I can with the Jabras.

Is it a Hearing Aid Replacement?

This is a personal question that we each need to decide on our own but I’ll give you my thoughts and observations.

I find the closed tips disorienting. All sound is blocked out and only electronically enhanced sound comes through the earbud. The sound quality is good, but this feels strange to me. I prefer the vented tips for conversation and TV.

I’m not sure I’d be comfortable wearing them all day. I wear my Jabras all day and often forget they’re in. I often wear the AirPods Pro 2 for hours at a time and find them comfortable, but I know they are there.

I read a review on these and the writer said it was tough explaining to people he was talking with that he was not listening to music and that his AirPods Pro 2 were acting as hearing aids so he could understand the conversation.

I do however find the AirPods Pro more comfortable if I’m wearing glasses, especially if I’m putting them on and taking them off frequently. I wear reading glasses and getting the glasses tips and the behind-the-ear piece of my Jabras seated comfortably can be a pain.

The Big Unexpected Win

I spent a few hours yesterday taking the hearing test, playing with the features, and adjusting the settings. After a while, I got tired and decided to listen to some music. I put on an iTunes playlist and sat back. Holy Cow!!!!

My iPhone adjusted the music sound to accommodate my hearing loss. I heard music like I hadn’t heard in years. The vocals were clearer, the drums were more pronounced and the sound was positively amazing.

I love music. I tinker with the equalizer settings in my car and I spend a lot of time comparing different hearing aids to get the ones that had the most natural music sound. But no tweaks produced anything close to this.

There is a Seinfeld episode where Kramer is describing the Macinaw peaches. He says “it’s like having a circus in your mouth.”

Having the AirPods Pro 2 adjust the audio to fit my hearing loss is like having a circus in my ear. You have to try it.

Wrap-Up

Apple has produced a very capable hearing aid on its first shot. I was able to carry on a conversation and listen to TV at a reasonable volume.

And I love that I can wear my AirPods Pro 2 in the yard and on dog walks and still be able to get the hearing benefits so that I don’t have to ask people to repeat themselves.

The not so ideal items for me are the non-vented tips, and the comfort. The AirPods Pro 2 are earbuds first so I think the closed tips are a must, though I’m confident Apple will improve the overall feel in subsequent releases. Same for the comfort. They are comfortable to wear for hours, but they are not as comfortable as a traditional behind-the-ear hearing aid to me.

And the sound of music, movies, podcasts – anything that is played through the AirPods Pro 2 is amazing.

Oh yeah, and this was all free. I already had the AirPods Pro 2 earbuds that I’ve loved for years and the software update that enabled all this was free.

I’ll provide updates as I discover more. Please share any thoughts or experiences.

Update 11/1/24:

I watched a video from our friends at Soundly.com this morning that describes hearing with the AirPods Pro 2. This is a much more coherent and comprehensive review. Check it out here.

While I agree with all points, I think he undersold the feature that allows us to apply hearing correction to music, media and phone calls played on your device. For me, this is a dramatic improvement – the circus in your ear.

Update 11/3/2024:

I love the hearing capability on the AirPods Pro 2. Since I wear them to listen to music much of the day, it is a huge benefit to be able to turn off the music and hear conversation rather than running to the house, and swapping in my hearing aids so I can hear.

And I’m still amazed at how much clearer movies and music sound when I listen on my AirPods Pro 2. For me, this alone is a reason to buy the AirPods Pro 2. As good as any other earbud may sound, none that I know of can perform a hearing test and adjust the audio output to compensate for your hearing loss. This truly is amazing.

Now, the downside. In comparison to my Receiver-In-Canal hearing aids, the AirPods pro are much less comfortable. I could not wear them for a full day.

Then there is battery life. I’ve read that they’ll last 5-6 hours, which means they’ll need a recharge during the day. That’s not convenient. But your ears will probably need a break from wearing them anyway.

Sound quality is not as natural and my ability to understand speech is not as good as my Jabras. That’s not surprising as I’m comparing the $1,999 Jabra which is primarily a hearing aid with a $249 device that is mainly an earbud with some new hearing functionality.

Final nit with the AirPods Pro 2. The earbuds play a tone when they connect/disconnect from their bluetooth source. One of the things I love about them is they switch seamlessly between my iPhone, iPad, iMac and MacBook Air. I can walk into the room, listening to music on my iPhone and sit down at my iMac to watch a YouTube video. As soon as the sound comes up on the video, my AirPods Pro 2 pause the music on my iPhone and begin playing the sound from the YouTube video. Amazing.

Anyway, today, I was running around the house with the AirPods Pro 2 in my ears for hearing. I did not have any of my devices with me. I kept hearing the tone as it came within range of one of my devices and connected automatically, or when I walked out of range and it disconnected.

So for me, as someone who already owned AirPods Pro 2s, this is a free upgrade and is very useful. I would not recommend them as a primary hearing aid. There are other dedicated hearing aids at similar prices that will likely perform better. Check out soundly for some alternatives in the under $400 range.

That said, I’m excited about what’s next from Apple in upcoming software releases as well as possible new hearing devices.