In November 2022, the FDA passed a resolution allowing Americans to purchase hearing aids over-the-counter. The move launched a mini-industry, with companies rushing to make available technology that was previously mired in healthcare restrictions.
Consumer electronics firms saw opportunity, as well. In September, Apple announced that it would be bringing hearing aid features to the AirPods Pro 2, as part of an upcoming iOS update.
I had the opportunity to test a demo version of the feature at the iPhone 16 event. The offering was designed to provide insight into how users can test their hearing at home, though those results were incomplete. More recently, however, Apple gave TechCrunch access to the upcoming feature in its final form.
I confess to being a bit anxious. I’ve had tinnitus my entire life, and while I’m pretty good about packing earplugs, I was fairly convinced that decades of rock shows had taken their toll on my overall hearing health.
As these processes go, however, Apple’s new Hearing Test feature is painless. It’s been far too long since I’ve had any manner of formal testing, but the feature immediately transported me back to elementary school tests. Wait to hear a tone and hold up the corresponding hand. You get the drift.
The feature is immediately accessible from the Settings menu when you have a pair of AirPods Pro 2 connected and in your ears. At the moment, the feature is only available on that specific model. This is because they’re the only member of the AirPods family with both the new chip and a silicone tip for passive noise canceling. Absolute silence is the key, after all. The tones are faint, easily masked by the slightest bit of ambient noise.
After a few basic questions — Are you over 18? Did you attend a loud concert in the past 24 hours? — the system will play a generic piece of music to ensure that the AirPods fit is correct. If the seal is out of place, the system will prompt you to fix it before testing again.
In November 2022, the FDA passed a resolution allowing Americans to purchase hearing aids over-the-counter. The move launched a mini-industry, with companies rushing to make available technology that was previously mired in healthcare restrictions.
Consumer electronics firms saw opportunity, as well. In September, Apple announced that it would be bringing hearing aid features to the AirPods Pro 2, as part of an upcoming iOS update.
I had the opportunity to test a demo version of the feature at the iPhone 16 event. The offering was designed to provide insight into how users can test their hearing at home, though those results were incomplete. More recently, however, Apple gave TechCrunch access to the upcoming feature in its final form.
I confess to being a bit anxious. I’ve had tinnitus my entire life, and while I’m pretty good about packing earplugs, I was fairly convinced that decades of rock shows had taken their toll on my overall hearing health.
As these processes go, however, Apple’s new Hearing Test feature is painless. It’s been far too long since I’ve had any manner of formal testing, but the feature immediately transported me back to elementary school tests. Wait to hear a tone and hold up the corresponding hand. You get the drift.
The feature is immediately accessible from the Settings menu when you have a pair of AirPods Pro 2 connected and in your ears. At the moment, the feature is only available on that specific model. This is because they’re the only member of the AirPods family with both the new chip and a silicone tip for passive noise canceling. Absolute silence is the key, after all. The tones are faint, easily masked by the slightest bit of ambient noise.
After a few basic questions — Are you over 18? Did you attend a loud concert in the past 24 hours? — the system will play a generic piece of music to ensure that the AirPods fit is correct. If the seal is out of place, the system will prompt you to fix it before testing again.
