With iOS 18.1, Apple is adding a new set of hearing health features to the AirPods Pro 2. The release candidate for iOS 18.1 for developers and public beta testers includes full hearing aid functionality, so we thought we’d give it a try just to see how it works.
To use the new hearing health features, you’ll need to connect your AirPods Pro 2 to an iPhone running iOS 18.1 or an iPad running iPadOS 18.1. From there, if you use the “AirPods Pro” section, you’ll see an option to take a hearing test, which should be your first stop.
Apple’s Hearing Test mimics the hearing tests you may have had with a doctor or audiologist and is designed to determine if you have hearing loss. If you do have hearing loss, the test determines which frequencies bother you.
With the AirPods in your ears, tap ‘Get Started’ to take the hearing test. The test takes about five minutes and starts first with the left ear and then continues with the right ear. You hear a series of tones at different frequencies and sound levels, and the idea is to tap the iPhone screen when you hear a sound. The tones you hear are tested at four frequencies, including 500 Hz, 1 kHz, 2 kHz and 4 kHz.
Apple puts your iPhone on Do Not Disturb mode for the test, and also uses your AirPods to make sure it’s quiet enough to run the test. The test is intended for adults 18 years of age or older and should not be performed if you have allergies, a cold, an ear infection, or sinusitis, which could affect the results. Apple also recommends waiting at least 24 hours before taking the test after being exposed to loud noise, such as a concert or construction, as this can also affect the hearing test.
After going through the steps of the hearing test, you will receive your hearing test results, which will detect separate decibel levels for each ear. For example, if you receive a reading of 5 dBHL in each ear, you have little to no hearing loss and do not need to adjust your AirPods.
Apple says results up to 25 dBHL indicate little to no hearing loss. 26 to 40 dBHL is a sign of mild hearing loss, while results of 41 to 60 dBHL indicate moderate hearing loss. 61 to 80 dBHL is severe hearing loss, and a result above 80 dBHL is considered severe hearing loss.
For context, a whisper is about 20 decibels, while a person breathing is somewhere around 10 decibels. Precipitation is 50 decibels and a standard conversation is 60 decibels. Without hearing loss you can hear a whisper, and with mild loss you can still hear and repeat words spoken in a normal voice from three feet away. With moderate loss, you can hear and repeat words spoken in a raised voice from several feet away.
If your test shows mild to moderate hearing loss, you have the option to enable the hearing aid function of the AirPods Pro. When enabled, the AirPods Pro can use the data from your test to boost the frequencies you have difficulty hearing, making it easier to hear voices and other sounds around you.
There’s also a Media Assist feature that goes along with the Hearing Aid feature, and it adjusts music, videos and calls so you can hear them better. You can also enable the Hearing Aid feature using an audiogram from an audiologist if you do not want to take the test on the iPhone.
Please note that if your test shows no hearing loss, Apple will not recommend any changes to the tuning of your AirPods and there will be no option to enable the Hearing Aid feature.
If you’d like to see even more information about your hearing test, you can go to the Hearing section of the Health app and tap the test to see a graph of the frequencies you had the most trouble with.
In addition to hearing support, the AirPods Pro 2 also offer hearing protection as part of the Apple Hearing Health feature set. This includes a loud noise reduction option that turns on automatically. Loud Noise Reduction listens to loud sounds around you in Transparency and Adjustment modes, and reduces the noise level to prevent hearing loss.
For example, if you are at a concert, Loud Sound Reduction reduces the sound to a healthier level so that it does not affect your hearing. The same goes for other loud noises, such as construction work nearby.
Apple says that in Transparency mode you will see a noise reduction of 11-15 decibels in an environment where the noise level is 100 decibels, while in Adaptive mode the noise reduction will range from 25 to 29 decibels. With Active Noise Cancellation, the noise reduction is 25 to 30 decibels.
The amount of noise cancellation may vary depending on the fit of the AirPods Pro 2 and the environment you are in. The AirPods Pro 2 don’t provide enough noise reduction for “extremely loud impulse noises” like gunshots, jackhammers, or fireworks, nor do they work well enough for sustained noise levels above 110 decibels.
In the Health app under the Ambient Noise Reduction section, you can see hour by hour how much noise reduction your AirPods Pro has received.
If you have the iOS 18.1 developer or public beta and AirPods Pro 2, you can try out the new hearing test and hearing aid feature right now. Otherwise, this functionality will become available to the public when iOS 18.1 launches next week.
What do you think of the new Hearing Health features for the AirPods Pro 2? Let us know in the comments below.
