Apple’s AirPods Pro hearing health features are as good as they sound

Apple announced a trio of major new hearing health features for the AirPods Pro 2 in September, including clinical-grade hearing aid functionality, a hearing test and more robust hearing protection. All three are rolling out next week with the release of iOS 18.1, and they could mark a turning point for hearing health awareness. Apple is about to immediately turn the world’s most popular earbuds into an over-the-counter hearing aid.

That also means we’re about to enter an era where we always have to be comfortable with people wearing earbuds. There is a perception that it is rude to leave your earbuds in while talking to other people. The transparency mode in many of today’s earbuds sounds completely natural and lifelike, yet I find myself constantly removing my earbuds to show someone that they have my undivided attention. That way of thinking needs to change when popular earbuds start to do double duty as hearing aids. It’s a powerful way to reduce the stigma that is all too common with hearing aids, but this change will take time.

Over the past few days, I’ve been able to get a sneak peek at Apple’s hearing health features. At times the experience was emotionally intense. As someone who grew up with a Discman and an iPod basically strapped to my hip, I’ve been to countless concerts over the decades. I also haven’t seen an audiologist since 2018. That is anything but unusual; Apple says 80 percent of US adults haven’t had their hearing checked in at least five years. Placing a test directly on your iPhone is a surefire way to improve that trend.

Did you know that there are people who replace earplugs with AirPods Pro during concerts? Until this fall, Apple had never approved such use and earbuds have never been advertised as hearing protection. The company knew people were doing it, but was silent on the subject.

That has now changed. With iOS 18.1 and the soon-to-be released AirPods firmware update, the AirPods Pro 2 offer hearing protection at all times in terms of noise cancellation, transparency and adaptive audio modes. There is no “concert mode” or specific setting to switch. You can think of this as an extension of the loud noise reduction option that already existed. Hearing protection is enabled by default, and Apple says “an all-new multi-band algorithm with high dynamic range” helps preserve the natural sound of concerts and other live events.

Which listening mode you use at concerts depends on your personal preference. I’ve found adaptive audio to work well because it allows you to adjust whether you prefer more noise cancellation or more throughput. But even in full transparency mode, some level of hearing protection is active. The more noise cancellation is applied, the longer you can stay in relatively loud environments.

There are limits to what the AirPods Pro 2 can handle; Apple hearing protection is not suitable for extremely loud, sudden sounds such as gunfire, fireworks or a jackhammer. Sustained sounds above 110 dBa are also too much for the earbuds. Some clubs and concerts can certainly exceed that threshold, so keep it in mind.

If you take the Apple hearing test, you will need a quiet room. Before you get started, your iPhone will do a quick analysis of the earbud fit and ambient noise to make sure you’re good to go. All of these hearing health features are calibrated for Apple’s standard silicone tips, so if you use third-party aftermarket tips (including foam) there’s no guarantee you’ll get the optimal experience. Once the test starts, simply tap the screen when you hear one of the three beeps.

There are a few important things to know about Apple’s hearing test. First, it’s designed so you can’t predict or game it. The test can play any frequency at any time, so no two are the same. Apple tests your left ear first, and here’s something I wish I’d known: It is completely normal hearing nothing at all for seconds. It was in those moments when five, six or even ten seconds passed without a clear sequence of notes that I started to feel quite anxious.

My best advice is not to wonder if you do should hear something at some point and instead focus only on the notes as they come. Some can be incredibly weak. There are visual signals that let you know that the test is still going, even when it is quiet. The most obvious is a large circle that moves on the screen throughout the process. (You’ll also see a progress button for each ear that fills as you take it.)

I took the test twice, a few days apart, and my results for both ears fall under ‘little to no hearing loss’. Since I recently turned 40, I’ll assume so. The ranges are as follows:

• Little to no loss: up to 25 dBHL
• Mild loss: 26 – 40 dBHL
• Moderate loss: 41 – 60 dBHL
• Severe loss: 61 – 80 dBHL
• Deep loss: above 80 dBHL

I’ve also learned that my left ear has definitely lost a little more than my right over the years, something I’ve never noticed in everyday life. The small difference between my two tests is exactly the margin Apple expects for people who do it multiple times. Results are saved to the Health app, where you can export individual tests (or all of them) as a PDF. Here’s what one of mine looks like:

You can also import graphs from tests you have taken with a hearing care professional. This data is used to configure the hearing aid function.

Apple’s hearing test only takes about five minutes, but it felt like one long five minutes for me and everyone else I let try. Again, that’s probably because it’s been too long since many of us have done this. The second time wasn’t nearly as stressful. I can definitely see the hearing test having a viral moment on TikTok and other social media, which seems great for awareness everywhere. Hearing loss is incredibly common: according to the World Health Organization, 1.5 billion people around the world suffer from it to some degree.

For people 18 years and older with mild to moderate hearing loss, the AirPods Pro 2 can now serve as a clinical-grade hearing aid. Once enabled, you can also enable a “Media Assist” setting that uses your hearing test results to optimize the sound of music, phone calls and video content.

In the settings menu you can use sliders to fine-tune the gain, tone and balance of the hearing aid. These options can also be accessed from Control Center on an iPhone, iPad, or Mac. Just as you can slide a finger on the AirPods Pro 2 stem to adjust the volume, you can use the same gesture to control the gain when hearing aid mode is active. You can only use the hearing aid function in transparency mode. Apple’s instructions for the hearing aid feature indicate that it will take some time (in some cases weeks) for customers to fully adjust to the sound.

Being able to use Apple’s $250 earbuds as hearing aids is a huge deal for those who can take advantage of this opportunity. But they won’t suit everyone. People with more severe hearing loss will still have to look for other solutions. And the main compromise with the AirPods Pro 2 is battery life: they can last about six hours with the hearing aid turned on, which doesn’t match what you get from many OTC and prescription hearing aids.

But this is a big milestone – and it seems inevitable that Samsung, Google and other tech heavyweights will follow Apple’s lead quite quickly. I’m all for that, even though it feels strange that hearing aid functionality has become the latest aspect of ecosystem lock-in. We’ve long complained about the loss of the headphone jack. With developments like this and earbuds helping to improve the quality of life for so many people, we are finally starting to see a valuable reward.

Photography by Chris Welch / The Verge