New AirPods Pro hearing health features launching next week, here’s a first look

1 month ago 12

In September, Apple announced major new hearing health features for AirPods Pro 2 focused on providing an end-to-end experience for prevention, awareness, and assistance.

The new hearing test, hearing aid, and upgraded hearing protection features are all set to launch next week with iOS 18.1. Here’s a closer look at what to expect.

Hearing protection

The first aspect is a new active Hearing Protection feature. According to Apple, this feature is designed to help users avoid exposure to loud environmental noise while still “preserving the sound signature of what they’re listening to.”

The Verge’s Chris Welch spent some time with the new AirPods Pro hearing features, including the hearing protection options:

With iOS 18.1 and the soon-to-be-released AirPods firmware update, the AirPods Pro 2 will offer hearing protection at all times across noise cancellation, transparency, and adaptive audio modes. There’s no “concert mode” or a specific setting to toggle. You can think of this as an expansion of the loud sound reduction option that was already in place.

Hearing protection is on by default, and Apple says “an all-new multiband high dynamic range algorithm” helps to preserve the natural sound of concerts and other live events.

Which listening mode you’ll use for concerts comes down to personal preference. I’ve found adaptive audio works well since it lets you customize whether you prefer more noise cancellation or more passthrough. But even in full transparency mode, some level of hearing protection is active. The more noise cancellation that’s applied, the longer you can remain in relatively loud environments.

Hearing test

Next is the hearing test feature. This will let users quickly test their hearing using just their AirPods Pro and an iPhone or iPad. The experience “utilizes a standard clinical approach called pure-tone audiometry,” Apple says. After the user completes the test, they will see an easy-to-understand summary of their results and can choose to share the results with their healthcare provider.

Nicole Nguyen of The Wall Street Journal had the chance to try the AirPods Pro 2’s new hearing test features early with 74-year-old Beth Yauman, who has mild hearing loss:

The software played several tones at different volumes and frequencies. Yauman tapped the screen when she heard the tones.

After about five minutes, Yauman got her results: mild hearing loss. The software offered the option to set up the AirPods as hearing aids, and warned her that it can take a few weeks to get used to the new sound. (You can also upload an audiogram from your doctor to tune the Hearing Aid feature.)

The iPhone’s results were similar to Yauman’s assessment from her doctor. Payal Anand, director of audiology at the University of California, San Francisco Medical Center, said both charts showed “mild sloping to severe hearing loss,” especially for higher frequencies.

Hearing aid

And finally, AirPods Pro 2 are also adding a new hearing aid feature next week “for users with mild to moderate hearing loss.” This feature will use the results from the Hearing Test feature to provide users with a “clinical-grade hearing aid.” Once enabled, the feature “enables personalized dynamic adjustments so users have the sounds around them boosted in real time.”

Christopher Null at Wired has some first impressions of the feature:

I tested the hearing aids in various settings, from one-on-one conversations and bingeing media to standing in the thick of a Chappell Roan concert. Overall, I experienced very good results. Conversation was easy and clear, even at low volumes, and I had less trouble with TV dialog and other often indistinct sounds. My initial settings generated a fair amount of hiss, akin to a distant, droning air conditioner. After updating the tuning with my professional audiogram settings and continuing to tweak settings, that hiss became less pronounced, though it was still noticeable.