Apple gets FDA authorization to turn the AirPods Pro into hearing aids

Hearing Aids
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Apple gets FDA authorization to turn the AirPods Pro into hearing aids - The Verge

The FDA’s conclusion:

In a press release, the FDA describes Apple’s solution as “the first over-the-counter (OTC) hearing aid software device.”

The feature “was evaluated in a clinical study with 118 subjects with perceived mild to moderate hearing loss,” according to the FDA, and “the results demonstrated that subjects who used the HAF self-fitting strategy achieved similar perceived benefit as subjects who received professional fitting of the same device.”

See some pre-existing discussion about AirPod features in this and other threads (quite a few):

I’d say a main negative about these OTC HAs is the battery life per charge of an AirPod is terrible compared to most medical grade HAs, particularly if employing AirPod Active Noise Cancellation, which is exceptional but every bit the battery hog that Phonak Audeo Sphere noise reduction is. ANC effectively cuts AirPod battery life in half, and it’s only something like 8 hours per charge to begin with, but the case can carry something like 30 hours of charge.

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The battery life is a major concern. I was surprised to learn that the average hearing aid user only achieves 12 hours of use per day out of the expected 16 hours of awake time. Lots of compliance issues, I imagine. Regardless, these are not an all-day solution unless you are willing to pick up 2 sets of Airpod Pro 2.

Mind you. 2 Sets of AirPod Pro 2 on sale is still going to be less than most OTC hearing aids on the market. It’s a feasible option for people who can’t afford the Costco entry point to hearing aids.

As someone who has a top level hearing aid, I’m still going to toss my Pros in, now more than ever, in certain situations. Loud convention centers, the Renfaire, when exercising, any condition where I either don’t want to risk a $6,500 USD set of hardware, or I want the benefits of some passive and active noise canceling with the option to have a conversation.

I can tell you, at Gen Con in 2022? I didn’t bother wearing my hearing aids. The last thing I wanted was amplification on the merch floor. I used ANC until I wanted to talk to a vendor, to stay sane.

Adding more loud noise reduction baked in? Yes please.

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YOU SAID IT!!! I used to get just 11 hours a day of use from my Phonak Lumity Life aids. Luckily, right here at the Forum someone suggested I update the OS on my Android cell phone. So I did, and for several months got up to 17 hrs/day. However, the past year or so, I’m down to just 15 hrs use/day with only 2 hours of TV streaming at night.

THAT kind of reality roadblock is what prompted me to buy the Phonak 312-battery Lumity Life. Yep. I’m back to battery basics … AND. LOVING. IT.

As for being in loud places, I do have to say that my Phonak Lumity Lifes do a tolerable job via AutoSense of dampening the distracting noises down. And if that fails, I just put them into “Speech in Loud Noise.”

I applaud the creativity of Apple to try and wedge themselves into the market for HEARING devices (as opposed to AirPod listening doohickies), but I’m not confident they are in the GAME like the kingpins: Oticon, Phonak, Widex, a few others.

On top of which, I’d have some growing concerns about Apple controlling my universe: laptop, cell phone, hearing device, tracking me ALLLLLLL DAY LONG! Next thing you know, they’ll start transmitting ads to users without our permission. Everyone wants a piece of us nowadays.

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kiki: “The battery life [of Airpods as hearing aids] is a major concern… these are not an all-day solution unless you are willing to pick up 2 sets of Airpod Pro 2. Mind you. 2 Sets of AirPod Pro 2 on sale is still going to be less than most OTC hearing aids on the market. It’s a feasible option for people who can’t afford the Costco entry point to hearing aids.”

That’s a really good point. As both an Airpods Pro 2 owner and ReSound hearing aids owner, my first reaction to Apple’s announcement this week about using Airpods as hearing aids was that their battery life was not good enough compared to hearing aids, because the Airpods batteries don’t last all day in use.

But you’re absolutely right, kiki: these Airpods Pro 2 frequently go on sale for under $200. So get two pairs, if they otherwise get the job done. The charger (a little bigger than a dental floss dispenser) can be carried around in a pocket, charging the pair not being worn. Just rotate them in and out as needed.

The irony is I already have two pairs of Airpods Pro 2 and didn’t think of this solution. I had tried them before as a replacement for hearing aids, and they were not nearly as good for my moderate-to-severe losses as my ReSounds, but still for me, the Airpods would be better than nothing as backup aids, and maybe with the new advancements Apple is promoting, they’ll work better. I do think for someone with lower levels of hearing loss, they could well be good enough.

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I’m so pleased that finally the ability of the AirPods Pro 2 to aid the hard of hearing is being officially recognized. Despite having not-really-very-good-at-all high frequency hearing, I find them extremely helpful. The quality of sound is superior to my KS10s, both streaming, phone calls, conversation and own voice perception. My main problems with them are: won’t stay in my ears securely during random activities, despite Comply tips and/or ear hooks; occasional variations in volume during conversations… possibly my fault due to settings; and battery life. For streaming and phone calls I’ve known some people to use one at a time, then switch them out to extend use time, though for HA purposes that might not be practical. So if Apple could fix those issues…

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$200 hearing aids as good, or better, than the $6000 ones for most, but not all. You got a problem with that? Ok, they look a little goofy but they can fix that.

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I just recently bought some AirPod Pro 2s with the intent on trying them as hearing aids in addition to my current Jabra EP 10. Even though Apple has not released the FDA approved “hearing aid” firmware that will be out in October. I have an iPhone 14 Pro Max running IOS beta 18.1. It is a bit clunky to make the settings. I set to “Transparency” mode, the “amplification” to 100, “ambient noise reduction” to 100 and enabled “conversation boost”. Then yesterday I walked into a very noisy restaurant with my wife and her companion. I sat there and I thought WOW, I could actually hear my friends clearly; something I have struggled with using all of my past hearing aids. I have been using hearing aids for 15 years. I was amazed…and delighted. And this is before the actual “hearing aid” firmware is installed. I know the AirPods look a bit “goofy” but if Apple can do it, one would think the hearing aid makers could. And I can also hear the TV without streaming. I am totally blown away. YMMV

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And the music I play with my iPhone sounds amazing with the AirPods. Way better than streaming through my Jabra. Also I found I have to take my Jabra hearing aids out of the charger and turn them off. They seem to have priority and will connect to the iPhone and prevent the Airpods from connecting. A minor annoyance, something I hope Apple can fix. There may already be a setting that does this but have not found it yet.

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I believe Bluetooth priorities are made in the order in which their original setup is remembered. So what you can try is make them “forgotten” then reconnect both in different order.

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What worried me is that, this is only for the US. Canada will not be included in this since OTC hearing aids are not a thing here. ref: AirPods Pro 2 Hearing Aid Feature Skips Canada For Now. Would there be a workaround for that? I hope so.

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Would these work as a TV listening device?
I live alone, wear hearing aids all day, am out and about, volunteer, visit with friends, listen to stuff online. Because I don’t want to mess with a TV-listener hookup, in evening I switch to using my Bose Hearphones for the TV; they are already paired.
Would AirPods do this job for me?

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I suppose it might only work if you have an Apple TV device. Whether the new hearing aid feature will function outside of Apple’s ecosystem is still unclear, but there’s a chance it could remain limited to their devices. We’ll have to wait and see how it unfolds.

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It so happens I have Apple TV, so maybe they would work! I’ll keep it in mind! Thanks!

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Based on how these pods are set up I suspect that whenever you connect them to a non-Apple source you simply lose all personalized audio settings.

Unlike, eg, Soundcore Liberty Air2 earbuds, which take a hearing test and produce amplified, adapted audio from any Bluetooth source. For half the price…

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This from Apple:

“With the incredible audio quality of AirPods Pro, the user’s personalized hearing profile is automatically applied to music, movies, games, and phone calls across their devices without needing to adjust any settings.”

Not sure, but I suspect this means that once you place the pods in hearing ‘mode’, they stay in that mode until one changes something.

As far as connecting to a TV (does not have to be an Apple TV; mine’s a cheap TCL), or any other device, they are like any other Bluetooth device. My TV doesn’t have Bluetooth, so I have a gadget (audio to Bluetooth transmitter) that plugs into the audio jack of the TV, then transmits via Bluetooth to the AirPods. As one would expect, there is some minor latency that doesn’t bother me.

Another great use: When out walking, I can listen to the news, weather, podcasts, or music. Don’t even need to take the iPhone out of my pocket, just ask Siri, “what’s the news?” Siri can also adjust the volume.

Also, in noise cancellation, they are better than my ear defenders when using a chain saw or vacuum cleaner for example. Just make sure you are using the proper tip by doing the Ear Tip Fit test.

AirPods Pro 2 aren’t magic, especially for one with my profound hearing loss, but they are a big help, especially for phone calls, streaming TV, and the audio quality of music is superb.
The AirPods have been much more useful than I expected when I bought them.

Note that they are on sale at Amazon for $190 bucks. Caution: There are several models of AirPods; only the AirPods PRO 2 have the hearing aid function.

This article is worth a read:

https://9to5mac.com/2024/09/12/airpods-pro-2-hearing-aid-vs-otc-device/

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Do the Airpods also in this case apply an audio correction based on your audiogram?

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I think so but have been unable to find a definitive answer to this.

I think they stay in whatever mode you put them in until you re-pair them to the iPhone and then change something. I know this is the case with, say, Transparency Mode so would think it applies to all. (Transparency or Noise Cancellation can also be switched by squeezing the stem, without the iPhone.)

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They work extremely well with the Apple TV. I gave them a try a couple of nights ago. I have an M2 Mac Mini, an iPhone 15 Pro Max and an Apple TV and with all three the audio correction is applied. They also switch seamlessly from one device to another. I don’t know if your Bluetooth “gadget” will work. An Apple TV is pretty cheap to buy. Around £150 in the UK. I bought my Airpods through the Apple Store on Amazon so that I get a 30 day trial. If you get the same 30 day trial where you live, you can at least, send anything back if it doesn’t work well for you.

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I didn’t make myself clear. The gadget is an audio to Bluetooth transmitter and it works fine on my cheap TCL TV and should work on any TV or device with a 3.5 mm audio jack. There are dozens of these things on Amazon for all sorts of prices. The link below I simply picked at random for illustrative purposes.

https://www.amazon.com/Nulaxy-Bluetooth-Transmitter-Headphones-Airplanes/dp/B0D5QGGTD8/ref=mp_s_a_1_106?crid=3L5ZYD553IZI3&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.Doe6QHPrkOGmMzcBPvH2Kn0ho8_vr3tx2WjqzfC6FX-CWQFBvLmlM0UaHS06x0YQFH9jFCUQghboEMwwJRp5VNBT4cb2L3P63FKR3OMrCs-QO_xvHSlBZp86_3kwhWv8Iz4cykr4l4_R-yVFt6aPNTl5CLeCAEItK2zPs9MgC1Q.NLO5F5AttmuzD6yxjIdMbqyZLkmin2cO0yKUO0iDfVo&dib_tag=se&keywords=tv+bluetooth+transmitter&qid=1727631559&sprefix=%2Caps%2C137&sr=8-106

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Airpods Pro 2 does work on Apple TV. Verified that last night.

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