iPhone 16 may have been the focal point of Monday's Apple event, but Apple had another announcement to pair with it new smartphone $799 — a free update to the $250 AirPods Pro 2, which Apple refreshed last yearto make the headphones double as hearing aids.
“We're really excited to announce that this fall, AirPods Pro will have a clinical-grade, over-the-counter hearing aid feature.” Dr. Sumbul Desaivice president of health at Apple, said at this eventspecifying that the feature addresses mild to moderate hearing loss.
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After a software update this fall, anyone with a pair of AirPods Pro 2 and an updated iPhone will be able to use a five-minute, at-home, clinically validated hearing test. All they have to do is touch the iPhone screen in response to auditory cues. Based on hearing test results, Apple the promises that AirPods will become personalized hearing aids sensitive to their needs.
Apple also added an “on by default” mode for all hearing protection, which actively filters out loud background noise, like the sound of a lawnmower, for hearing health.
About 20% of the world's population, or about 1.5 billion people, experience hearing loss, according to World Health Organization. In the USAabout 36 million people have mild to moderate hearing loss, while 1.8 million people experience severe hearing loss.
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Hearing aids can be expensive, priced all over the place $2,000 to $7,000 per pair, although some over-the-counter devices may cost more as little as $30. Price variation was raised in 2022 after the FDA passed a rule allowing over-the-counter and lower-cost hearing aids. Although quality and fit over-the-counter options may be less satisfying than prescription options,”very littleInsurance policies cover the cost of prescription devices. So over the counter can be an affordable alternative.
Apple AirPods Pro 2. Photo: Nic Coury/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Apple is not the first to offer affordable hearing aids. Sony has multiple self-mounting, FDA-cleared hearing aids ranging from $799 to $1,099, with the first two options released in the year 2022. Sennheiser introduced its own over-the-counter hearing aids August 2023 and their price was $999.
Apple touts AirPods Pro 2 by saying the device's hearing updates form “the world's first end-to-end hearing health experience.” About 100 million people around the world use AirPods, highlighting the wide range of hearing updates that Apple could roll out in the coming years.
AirPods Pro 2 has been available since 2022 but the company refreshed the product last year with USB-C charging and adaptive noise control. The headphones didn't undergo any hardware changes this year; Instead, Apple announced this free software update.
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