Apple AirPods Max or Pro let you add your Audiogram…then correct for it

uburoibob · July 9, 2021, 10:53pm

When you have an iPhone and its Apple Health App, you can add HEADPHONE ACCOMMODATIONS under settings and choose to use your audiogram. If you don’t have one already in your HEALTH App (from Mimi or another app), you are given the opportunity to manually enter your audiogram when using it with AirPods Max or Pro. This is the ONLY way to enter that info manually. Once entered, whenever HEADPHONE ACCOMMODATIONS is active, and right now it’s only available to AirPods Max and Pro, the iPhone will adjust the curve of the headphones to your loss. In my opinion it works PERFECTLY.

NOTE: The Health App in iOS is ONLY AVAILABLE TO IPHONE USERS THAT CAN RUN IOS 14.6 or later. Meaning it won’t work with an iPad or Mac. Of course, on the Mac you can set a curve in EQ Apple Music. Doesn’t help with video, though. On the iPhone, it works across the everything.

JordanK · July 10, 2021, 1:18pm

How much of a hearing loss do you have? My hearing loss profile is mostly flat with about -45db sloping slightly down to -60 db. I’ve tried using earbuds and high end headphones but I have to turn the volume to almost full on my iPhone to hear the music properly. My guess is the equalizer on the iPhone only adjusts for about ±12 db which would only adjust for people with a mild hearing loss using the method you described within Apple Health. I would love for this to work because the sound via headphones is so much better for music vs my Resound Quattro’s.

Let me know if you can share more info about your loss profile and how high you need to turn up the volume via this method.

Jordan

uburoibob · July 10, 2021, 1:53pm

If you take a look at my profile, you’ll see my audiogram. I tend to have the volume situated between 60% and 90% depending upon the material. I have moderate hearing loss 30/45 on the low end, sloping, startling at 1.5K to 70/70 at 4K. The EQ on the iPhone is useless because it’s all presets, so I’ve not used it. I’d say, if you can get to an Apple store, demo them. You’ll be able to set the HEADPHONE ACCOMMODATIONS there in the store - using it’s in-app test, but you won’t be able to enter your audiogram there. The in-app test does a pretty good job of tailoring a curve that helps. But the real magic for me was when I was able to enter my audiogram. That made them perfect.

JordanK · July 10, 2021, 3:47pm

Just to confirm…does it apply the audiogram correction entered into the iPhone to music and video that you are listening to on your iPhone? Or does it just correct the audio when you are using the AirPod Pros as hearing aids? Dr Cliff’s video review seemed to say it only applies the correction when the AirPods are used as hearing aids.

Thanks for your help! Want to check before buying. I want this for listening to music.

Jordan

uburoibob · July 11, 2021, 2:37am

HEADPHONE ACCOMMODATIONS setting applies to my AirPods Max and all audio coming from the iPhone, as far as I know. I have not used the APMs as hearing aids - only to listen to music and watch videos. And I don’t have AirPad Pros, but I understand this applies to them, as well. Same with Spatial Audio, with phones beyond iPhone 7 or 8, I believe. Dolby Atmos with Spatial Audio is a fun treat. And in iOS 15, the ability to Spatialize stereo sources is also cool.

DaveL · July 11, 2021, 6:30pm

This is an interesting conversation for me.

My second set of Phonak HA are terrible. I constantly have to ask for interpretations for what’s been said.

The cause of the problem is my audiologist. In disgust I said recently that AirPods will be the hearing aids of the future. and that my hearing aids she set up didn’t work. I’ve just switched audiologists.

My explanation doesn’t matter; I feel that the public needs a simple way to improve hearing. I hope that this is part of it.

Dave

uburoibob · July 11, 2021, 7:12pm

I have the Costco KS-9s (Costco-branded Phonak M90s).Costco did a good job fitting them to me, but I wanted to tweak them. So I found the Phonak Target software and got a Noah Link wireless Bluetooth interface and had At them myself. I love them. I have them dialed in for music as a separate setting, due to the feedback rejection causing the odd oscillations, with the normal setting, And the Phonak app can be a huge help in a noisy restaurant or public place I love them and, hopefully, you will get yours dialed in as well.

merelyrampant · July 13, 2021, 3:45am

Where and how are you able to manually enter the audiogram? I’ve been trying to figure out a way to do that since I first heard about this feature.

uburoibob · July 13, 2021, 12:25pm

Delete any Audiogram you may have stored in the Health app from a third party app.
Make sure your AirPods Max are paired and Go to Settings>Accessibility>Audio and Visual>Headphone Accommodations>Custom Audio Setup
Choose “Use Audiogram,”.

Because there was none stored, there was an option to enter my own manually.

I will do this with my wife’s phone today and document the process to make sure I’ve got what happens after number three correct.

JordanK · July 13, 2021, 12:40pm

I don’t think that works. I believe the only way to enter your audiogram into the phone is by using an app like Mimi which is integrated with Apple Health. Apparently iOS15 will allow you to import a .PDF version from your audiologist but not sure.

Let us know if you are successful. After reading your post I ran out and bought some AirPod Pro’s and I’m so excited that I can listen to music again.

Jordan

uburoibob · July 13, 2021, 1:26pm

Well, damn. I just tried it on my wife’s phone using 14.6 and could not get the screen that lets you input manually to pop up. On my phone, it came up as an option when choosing Custom Audio Setup. Perhaps there needs to be an audiogram stored, already, which I’d done in Mimi. I wish I’d paid more attention to the exact mechanism the first time I did this.

JordanK · July 13, 2021, 1:30pm

I will mess around with it again today and see if I can get it to work. If you did it the first time, there is definitely a way to get it done.

Jordan

uburoibob · July 13, 2021, 1:30pm

Here is what I input manually and here’s a shot of my audiogram.

uburoibob · July 13, 2021, 1:54pm

Just so nobody thinks I am crazy…here are some screen captures of the results I am talking about.

Notable, is that when entering manually, I could enter settings for 8K. Mimi goes only to 4K. So SOMEHOW this is possible and I surely wish I’d paid more attention to what I did when pairing the AirPods Max with my reset iPhone.

These four images from the HEALTH App show that the Audiogram was introduced in SETTINGS:

And these four are what it looks like when you use Mimi:

merelyrampant · July 13, 2021, 4:15pm

I tried it on a different phone and wasn’t able to get anything to show up, but I found another solution in this app:

It allows you to manually enter an audiogram and save it to Apple Health. The sliders are overly sensitive but I was able to get mine close enough.

There’s a small but noticeable difference on my AirPods Max with Headphone Accommodations enabled, although my hearing loss is mild. I tried it with wired headphones and it makes no difference there. I think the audio processing is happening on the headphones, not on the phone.

uburoibob · July 13, 2021, 4:22pm

WOW! Thanks for this. I will spend the $3.99 to give it a try and see how it works.

JordanK · July 13, 2021, 6:00pm

THANK YOU @merelyrampant!!! This app worked perfectly. The sliders are a bit sensitive but I was able to successfully enter the latest audiogram from my audiologist and it wrote it to Apple Healthkit.

You are awesome!

Jordan

uburoibob · July 13, 2021, 6:42pm

OK! That does it. The only criticism I have is that using the sliders to get the number entry just right is very cumbersome. It needs the ability to enter numbers by typing. But aside from that, it’s the only way to get your audiogram in.

Thanks again!

DaveL · July 27, 2021, 8:05pm

I’m fascinated with this thread!

I’ve used HA’s for over 15 years…I have Phonak hearing aids fitted about 3 years ago. They are terrible. I’ve just fired the audiologist that sold them to me, and have found a new audiologist that is much more helpful. I don’t have results yet…

I told the audiologist that I fired that the future is in ear-buds and apps that I can use to adjust hearing aids myself. I see no reason for the poor performance of my Phonak hearing aids, except for the incompetence of the audiologist that sold them and set them up. I see no reason for the cost of hearing aids! After all they are just receivers, and have cost me much more than an apple phone!

Dave

uburoibob · July 27, 2021, 8:18pm

I had good luck with the initial fitting on my Costco KS9 (Phonak Marvel 90s). But for music, I had to take matters into my own hands. So, I got a NoahLink Wireless Bluetooth Interface and ‘found’ the Target software. Once I had that, I was able to really dial in my aids for everyday use and came up with a killer music setting. As you said, I don’t think it’s the aids that are a problem. In the past, it was more the audiologists.

And I just noticed I typed pretty much the same thing as this up the page a bit. Oh well, I am pleading old age…