After the Apple event today, September 9th, Apple has brought new hearing protections to the AirPods Pro line-up with focuses on 3 key areas:
- Prevention – Ensuring that loud noises and other damaging experiences are mitigated.
- Awareness – Letting users know what can be done to protect their hearing and what can be learned about hearing from different datapoints.
- Assistance – Providing tools to protect hearing and share the information with healthcare providers.
Per Apple’s research, about 1 in 3 people expose themselves to overly loud audio which could damage their hearing. Apple has chosen to address this with hearing protection, on by default which limits the loudness of autio to prevent prolonged damage to a user’s hearing. There is already Passive noise protection with ear tips on the AirPods themselves, but then also adding Active noise cancellation, can further protect user’s hearing.
A short, 5 minute hearing test can be completed with an iPhone. The user should tap the screen when hearing frequencies to build a custom hearing profile which is stored within the Health app. On-system analysis will be done to provide users with greater control over their listening, but also with ways to protect hearing, hearing health controls to optimize audio for different types of media. All of this rich information will be stored securly within the Health app. This keeps information collated within the Health experience, but also keeps information secure without sharing data without giving consent. That being said, information can be nominated to share the information with healthcare providers in a secure way.
Later this year, pending FDA approval, Apple wants to make AirPods Pro a clinical grade, over the counter hearing aid to provide assistance to many AirPods users who may not realize they need a hearing aid. This also provides a personalized hearing aid experience for many users, which may not be the case with regular hearing aids. A hearing test can be taken within iOS which will have users tap the screen when hearing a range of frequencies; building a personalized profile for hearing and ensuring all audio is balanced to a user’s needs. Once completed, the information will be held within the Health app and also allow for the personalized hearing profiles to be available across multiple media types like music, movies and more – in addition to being synced across other Apple devices. These features are planned to come to users in the form of an over-the-air software update to iOS/iPadOS and AirPods later in the fall.
The Hearing Test and Aid features are expected to receive marketing authorization from global health authorities soon and will be supported with AirPods Pro 2 with the latest firmware when paired with a compatible iPhone or iPad, and will be available this fall in more than 100 countries and regions, including the U.S., Germany, and Japan. The Hearing Protection feature is expected to be available in fall 2024 and will work with AirPods Pro 2 with the latest firmware when paired with a compatible iPhone, iPad, or Mac running the latest operating system. The feature will be available in the U.S. and Canada.
