I’ve had hearing aids since my late 70s a few years ago. I rarely wear them, and in the last couple of years, COVID masks tended to dislodge them, making me even less likely to use them. I’ve had a minor lust for the AirPod Pro since I saw it being used as for a hearing assist. And today, over-the-counter hearing aids are legally for sale.
Has there been any speculation that Apple will market a future version of the AirPod specifically for a hearing aid? It seems logical to me.
For quite a few years Apple has been heavily focused on health oriented products and services, which have proved to be very successful for them. The market potential for Apple hearing aids is huge. Apple has already incorporated features into Air Pods Pro that allow users to use them like hearing aids:
I’ll bet Apple has already got hearing aids in development. And my guess is that a plus could be the ability to have Geniuses, or even better, Audiologists in Apple Stores to answer questions and help users get the devices set up, and help with tech support.
I don’t see Apple having audiologists on staff in Apple Stores. That would subject the stores to medical regulations, including HIPAA privacy regulations in the US—and privacy cannot be guaranteed in the current open-air Genius Bar setup. And setting up the soundproof booths needed for proper hearing evaluations isn’t cheap either, especially in a noise-prone environment like a busy retail store.
Apple has been putting its toes in the water for a while:
“On Wednesday December 18, 9:00 am, at the Apple store in the Freehold mall, the Creative Pro team will be working with us, and offering a special class. This class is directed toward our patients with ‘Made for iPhone’ (Mfi) hearing aids.”
And Apple has been working with hearing aid companies for years:
I don’t see Apple having audiologists on staff in Apple Stores. That would subject the stores to medical regulations, including HIPAA privacy regulations in the US—and privacy cannot be guaranteed in the current open-air Genius Bar setup. And setting up the soundproof booths needed for proper hearing evaluations isn’t cheap either, especially in a noise-prone environment like a busy retail store.
I wonder how the FDA’s recent decision to allow OTC hearing aids would factor into this. The new rule would allow sale of a new class of hearing aids by retailers or online vendors without a medical exam, prescription or fitting adjustment by an audiologist. There would be no need have a sound controlled fitting room or extra staff.
There might not be a HIPAA issue either, because there is no medical record that Apple would have to keep.
Perhaps, but the battery life of the AirPods Pro 2G is 6 hours, which is probably less than you’d want for a hearing aid. It seems more likely to me that, as others note, they’d develop a dedicated device.
I absolutely could see Apple marketing some version of AirPods as OTC hearing aids. What I don’t see happening is MMTalker’s suggestion of audiologists in Apple Stores. It’s unnecessary for OTC hearing aids, and a major headache that Apple doesn’t need or want.
I was just discussing this with my audiologist earlier today, and she agrees that there’s little to no chance of Apple actually putting audiologists in their stores.
There’s a key issue of selling complex medical devices over the counter: They’re not configured for a patient’s specific needs.
You can obviously buy corrective glasses OTC, and they will typically make you see more clearly than no glasses at all. But they will never be nearly as effective as getting a custom prescription from an optometrist, including testing the finished product while you use it.
The same applies to hearing aids: Buying one of those cheap devices advertised for a few bucks will also make you hear a bit better. The result, however, will come nowhere near what you can achieve if an experienced audiologist examines your hearing and customizes the device’s processing algorithm with just the right frequency response, voice compression, background noise cancellation, etc.
Further, advanced hearing aids also offer different user-selectable programs for, say, face-to-face conversations, listening to music, etc. Buy a device OTC, and you might never even learn about these possibilities.
Finally, the medical specialist will also always check the overall health of your eyes or ears, respectively, which you will never get with an OTC product.
Considering the sheer complexity of doing hearing aids, and their fitting, well, I have my doubts that Apple will find a way of offering AirPods for that purpose. What’s more, modern hearing aids already offer connectivity for mobile phones, so I wonder what the actual market would be for and Apple-based OTC offering.
FULL DISCLOSURE: I’ve co-owned a store for hearing aids in Germany for a few years, so I’m obviously biased onin favor of specialists ;). But I’ve also seen the power that’s packaged into these tiny devices, as well as the complexity of selecting the right device, configuring it for best fit for a given patient, and training the patient on how to use it effectively.
The OTC hearing aids recently made legal in the US are somewhere between those two things you describe. They don’t come with audiological services, but they generally do offer app-based features and custom configurations. They’re not the $10 amplifiers that have been available from ads in the back of the weekly coupon circulars—they’re full-fledged, professional devices, minus the audiologist.
I don’t personally recommend them for anyone. I just hope that their existence as competition to medical hearing aids leads to better pricing on the audiologist-provided devices. The pricing of hearing aids has long been way higher than warranted, at least in the US, as is the case for most medical devices and services in the US.
The pricing of hearing aids has long been way higher than warranted
True…but you don’t pay for the audiologist at all…and I’ve been back at least annually and usually more for hearing tests and adjustment of my amplification curves in the 5+ years I’ve had mine. I’ve often wondered at the business model in the industry…a lot of the price goes back to the audiologist anyway…so I’ve wondered why the devices themselves aren’t cheaper and you pay the audiologist for the visits.
Which is really as it should be. That’s how it is with vision care. While I can buy my glasses/contacts from the optometrist, I can just as easily take the prescription he writes and fill it elsewhere.
Which I’ve done for many years now, because the optometrist’s store is far too expensive for me. I get my exam (which is mostly paid for by insurance) and then have Costco’s optical department make my glasses.
My wife just bought a pair of Airpods Pro 2nd Gen. One feature we want to try out is Conversation Boost. However when we follow the Apple instructions (Settings/Accessibility/Audio-Visual (or Airpods) / Headphone Accommodations ) the options to turn on Custom Transparency Mode then turn on Conversation Boost do not appear.
Have I missed something? I am hoping that the Airpod firmware will be automatically updated overnight and we can try again tomorrow.
Her iPhone 8 is running iOS 16.1.
Another issue (that may be best in another thread) is that there doesn’t seem to be a way to have Apple TV audio output to Homepods and Airpods at the same time. The only option is to share audio to a second pair of Airpods.
I can understand that the audio might not be in sync between Homepods and Airpods but the noise-cancelling function on the Airpods might overcome this. Anyway, I guess I need to submit feedback to Apple…
I needed to power cycle (turn off then on) the iPhone then the transparency and boost options appeared for the Airpod settings.