I have found the conversation boost feature is a game changer for me. As soon as I check the feature, background noise is substantially reduced and conversation is much more clear. I cannot hear in a noisy restaraunt with my hearing aids so they stay in the charger at home. I am probably at the limit of the AirPods in terms of volume gain however.
I am very hopeful reading your post. If you check my audiogram, I have hearing that’s a little bit worse than yours.
I haven’t got Apple Airpods. I’ve read a bit here about them.
I like that they are over the counter hearing aids.
I like that they can be programmed using the readings from my audiogram.
I wish my hearing aids would allow me to do a hearing test, and I wish that I could set them up myself.
I wish that Apple made real hearing aids. They’re almost there.
I’m in Mississauga. Your review gives me hope.
I also hope that Apple gets into the hearing aid business. With their technology expertise they would likely be very good. Honestly, even if they changed the AirPods Pro to function and fit like hearing aids with more volume, I would be their first customer, regardless of cost. To me, hearing conversation in a noisy environment is the “holy grail” of hearing aids.
On another note, I spend the winters in the south. As soon as I crossed the border, the “hearing aid” option appeared on my Canadian AirPods Pro 2. I set them up. After coming back to Canada at the end of April, the hearing aid function remained and is still there mid July. Hopefully, that does not change. Canada need to legalize over the counter hearing aids but I am sure the hearing aid industry would push back.
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Helpful. I didn’t know they couldn’t be. Set up as HA in Canada.
Dave
They can be, but takes some fiddling. I set mine up while in Canada last year by playing with the sound settings. You do need an iPhone to make the settings. Health Canada has approved OTC hearing aids but the provinces have not. Again, I am sure due to pushback from hearing aid dispensers. You and I are on the edge of the AirPod capability but just being able to hear in a noisy restaurant was worth buying a pair. You can always try a pair since Apple provides a 30 day return. If you have Amazon Prime returns are free.
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I bought mine (AirPods pro 2) last year at Costco. Came with AppleCare included and lowest price I could find, advertised brick & mortar or online.
WH
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Thanks! Good advice.
I’ve predicted Apple-Real HAs will be a game changer.
1 Widex then3 pair of Phonak with 3 Audis. That’s over more than 20 years.
DaveL
It is a complete mystery to me why Airpod HA functionality is subject to special legislation. The maximum volume of these things is not higher than other earbuds (there are actually earbuds that are quite a bit louder, in fact, like One Plus Buds Pro 2 that also come with a hearing test). Where is the potential harm for buyers?
Medical assistance law. Snake oil type fake solution rejection. Current ha marketing makes me think of old patent medicine shows from 150 years ago.
WH
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The harm is when the client, with no knowledge, would try the AirPods 2 “because they’re hearing aids, aren’t they?” Then, they experience bad performance and finally abandon any ideas about hearing aids (even prescription ones) because “they tried ones and they were awful,” and finally be left with untreated hearing loss.
We on the forum are a bit strange weirdos with our knowledge of hearing loss and hearing aids. Many people don’t have any, and maybe they even not necessarily want to be educated about that issues.
“It must simply works!”
Doesn’t that argument apply to all HAs on the market? If the state wants to protect us from “bad purchasing experiences” it has a Sisyphean job ahead of them.
Even if that argument applied to OTC aids only, it’s still still a very doubtful reason to deny someone access to technology that might improve their long-term health outcomes.
Okay, you, @RobHooft and @d_Wooluf are right. However I am a bit skeptical about big corporations like Apple.
@d_Wooluf I doesn’t mean “denying”. Airpods can be quite useful for milder losses. I have said about keeping people in the belief that all treatment options have been exhausted.
State control over OTC HA It aims to give a signal to manufacturers that they are to meet certain standards.
I’m very skeptical about big corporations like Apple. I do wonder, though, how much of a part hearing industry lobbyists play in this sort of market regulation.
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There are minimum standards that all companies should provide. This is very important regarding the asymmetry of information between companies and the average user, who has little to no knowledge of what he/she should expect from purchased devices.
I agree and I’m usually the person in the room most in favour of government regulation, but if government regulation means that instead of people getting the best available prosthesis to help them live with their hearing loss they get no prosthesis at all, the system needs to be tuned. Anyway, this is heading towards another ‘cost of hearing aids’ thread and they never end well.
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Exactly. It’s always about a reasonable balance.
Looking online, premium hearing aids are the same price when you compare disposable to batteries across the same technology level for the brand/model.