I have a friend who is an audiologist, so when I recently saw an advertisement for using the Apple AirPod Pro 2 as a hearing aid, I decided to ask her if she knew anything about its performance, since it seems to be a cost-effective option ($259 at the time of this writing). She tested the product, wrote the following summary of her experience, and gave me permission to share it.
I’ve fooled around with my AirPods to test this out. I programmed a mild high-frequency hearing loss in, and then evaluated the sound that the AirPods were outputting, and they actually did a pretty good job! I was surprised. There are some downsides:
- You’ll get the best results by having an actual hearing evaluation so you know that the numbers you are giving the AirPods are correct (they ask for input from a hearing test). If someone hasn’t had their hearing tested, there are free apps that Apple recommends, but I think the jury is out on how accurate those “over the phone” tests actually are.
- Comfort. You have to have a good fit with the earbuds, or it just won’t work.
- You have to be technically savvy enough to figure it out. I am technically savvy, and I had to do a lot of messing around to figure out how to make it work.
- Your ears are completely plugged up by the AirPods. There’s no air-flow in or out of the canal. They do a pretty good job about not making your voice sound like it’s bottled up in your head, but other body sounds are magnified. When I’m walking with my AirPods in, I hear the loud thump, thump, thump of my feet hitting the ground. It’s a little weird, but I’m sure you’d get used to it.
- The battery life is not great. You get maybe 4 hours out of them. So they are really only good for situational use. Like… I’m going out to dinner and I won’t be able to hear. Definitely not putting them on in the morning and having corrected hearing all day long.
- You will look to the rest of the world like you don’t want to interface with them because you have your AirPods in.
All that being said, they seemed to do a good job, and for someone who is looking for situational help with mild hearing loss, I think they are by far the best option on the market, and the price is right!
Review by Dr. Sarah Moore, AUD
