Can Apple’s AirPods Be a Hearing Aid?

This reviewer checks Apple’s claim that its latest AirPods headset can effectively gauge hearing loss.

Spencer Chin, Senior Editor

October 29, 2024

Users can test their hearing with Apple's newest AirPods.
Apple has designed its latest AirPods Pro 2 headset to be able to function partiallly as a hearing aid.Apple

When Apple introduced its newest AirPods Pro 2 headset in September, the company touted the products’ hearing protection features and ability to measure a user’s hearing loss, by using the new headsets in conjunction with an iPhone or iPad and Apple’s new hearing health software. CNET reviewer Bridget Carey, in a recent CNET video, got hold of Apple’s new hearing health software prior to release and put it through its paces.  

Carey used the software’s hearing test that measured her taps every time she would hear beeping tones. The tones at times were very faint. The software found she had slight hearing loss, which led her to turn on the software’s hearing aid feature. This feature would boost the tones she could not pick up during the hearing test, as well as adjust the phone’s sound’s volume, providing the features of a conventional hearing aid.

To gauge the accuracy of the results usings the software with the AirPods, Carey then took a conventional hearing test at a medical facility. Surprisingly, she found that the Apple’s hearing software delivered comparable results to the conventional hearing test. Carey then interviewed a doctor who discussed hearing loss and the overall viability of AirPods as a hearing aid.

What does the doctor think? See the video to get the answer and find out more about the AirPods’ hearing protection features.

Related:Interesting Tech Twists in New Apple Products

About the Author

Spencer Chin

Senior Editor, Design News

Spencer Chin is a Senior Editor for Design News, covering the electronics beat, which includes semiconductors, components, power, embedded systems, artificial intelligence, augmented and virtual reality, and other related subjects. He is always open to ideas for coverage. Spencer has spent many years covering electronics for brands including Electronic Products, Electronic Buyers News, EE Times, Power Electronics, and electronics360. You can reach him at [email protected] or follow him at @spencerchin.

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