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AirPods Pro 2 as a 'hearing aid'
- Thread starter xenoako
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I am sitting in front of the computer wearing them now. I have the rain background sound running quite low to mask my tinnitus. I find it very soothing.
I have ben wearing them for about a months as hearing aids and I originally used Mimi app to do my hearing test. I was surprised that Costco who did my original hearing test were happy to email the test to me that they did three months ago. Took a photo and input the data into the Health app. They work really well for me. Especially in noisy environments.
FYI, I have mild to moderate hearing loss in the mid and high frequencies.
How bad are your ears? The Airpods work well for mild to moderate.
I have ben wearing them for about a months as hearing aids and I originally used Mimi app to do my hearing test. I was surprised that Costco who did my original hearing test were happy to email the test to me that they did three months ago. Took a photo and input the data into the Health app. They work really well for me. Especially in noisy environments.
FYI, I have mild to moderate hearing loss in the mid and high frequencies.
How bad are your ears? The Airpods work well for mild to moderate.
My perception is that my hearing loss is mild to moderate.
I plan to pick up a pair at BB tomorrow and if it does not work as advertised then they can be returned.
Here's my latest updated cheat sheet for setting them up.
If you bought Airpod Pro 2s, they work as hearing aids NOW.
Set them up to play music and then with the Airpods in your ears and the Airpods connected, go to Settings. Above the switch for Airplane Mode you will see your Airpods. Click on it and scroll all the way to the bottom to do an Ear Tip Fit Test to make sure you have a good seal.
If you already have a copy of your Audiogram from your Audiologist you need to apply it to your AirPods but there are a few ways of doing it. I used the camera to take a photo but settings were missing and I had to input them manually.
If you don’t have an Audiogram to apply, download the Mimi app to do your hearing aid test. When Apple make the update available Apple will have their own test. To activate the Airpods as hearing aids you need to go to Settings/Accessibility/Audio & visual/ and switch Headphone accommodations to ON.
Click on Audiogram and apply the Audiogram test you just created to the Airpods.
Click on custom audio setup. Click continue. Click on Use audiogram that you just created.
Click on Use Audiogram. Music will start playing with your Audiogram applied. Click on Standard and listen to the music WITHOUT your audiogram applied to the music.
You can flick between the two to hear the difference. If you are happy with the difference click on Use Audiogram.
The next window is Switch Transparency Mode on.
The next window is customise Transparency Mode and you can set the volume you like.
Tone and other settings in this menu to tinker with after you are up and running.
Move down the menu to Ambient Noise Reduction and set the volume. I find that 50% is fine for me.
Switch Conversation Boost ON.
You also need to switch Conversational Awareness on in the menu you went to in Step 1.
You are good to go apart from any tweaks you want to make to volume, tone, left/right etc.
In the Control Centre you will find a new "Ear" symbol has appeared and there are more settings in there.
You will find as you use them, if you are listening to music and start talking, or somebody starts talking to you, the music will fade away while you continue your conversation. When you have finished the music will slowly fade back up.
Your Audiogram will be applied to music/podcasts and phone calls and also, of course, to your hearing.
If you are in a noisy restaurant and struggling to hear properly go to the Ear symbol in Control Centre and switch Live Listen ON. Place your phone in the middle of the restaurant table and the microphones in your iPhone will augment the microphones in the Airpods to help you hear even better.
If you leave your iPhone on the table and go to the bathroom if it's less than 40 feet way from the iPhone you will hear what the people at the table are saying about you…
An update - I started using Adaptive Mode a week ago and I find it to be better. It uses a mixture of Noise cancelling and Transparency. You can still adjust the individual volumes. You access the button via Settings, go to Settings. Above the switch for Airplane Mode you will see your Airpods. Under Noise Control click on the Adaptive button.
If you bought Airpod Pro 2s, they work as hearing aids NOW.
Set them up to play music and then with the Airpods in your ears and the Airpods connected, go to Settings. Above the switch for Airplane Mode you will see your Airpods. Click on it and scroll all the way to the bottom to do an Ear Tip Fit Test to make sure you have a good seal.
If you already have a copy of your Audiogram from your Audiologist you need to apply it to your AirPods but there are a few ways of doing it. I used the camera to take a photo but settings were missing and I had to input them manually.
If you don’t have an Audiogram to apply, download the Mimi app to do your hearing aid test. When Apple make the update available Apple will have their own test. To activate the Airpods as hearing aids you need to go to Settings/Accessibility/Audio & visual/ and switch Headphone accommodations to ON.
Click on Audiogram and apply the Audiogram test you just created to the Airpods.
Click on custom audio setup. Click continue. Click on Use audiogram that you just created.
Click on Use Audiogram. Music will start playing with your Audiogram applied. Click on Standard and listen to the music WITHOUT your audiogram applied to the music.
You can flick between the two to hear the difference. If you are happy with the difference click on Use Audiogram.
The next window is Switch Transparency Mode on.
The next window is customise Transparency Mode and you can set the volume you like.
Tone and other settings in this menu to tinker with after you are up and running.
Move down the menu to Ambient Noise Reduction and set the volume. I find that 50% is fine for me.
Switch Conversation Boost ON.
You also need to switch Conversational Awareness on in the menu you went to in Step 1.
You are good to go apart from any tweaks you want to make to volume, tone, left/right etc.
In the Control Centre you will find a new "Ear" symbol has appeared and there are more settings in there.
You will find as you use them, if you are listening to music and start talking, or somebody starts talking to you, the music will fade away while you continue your conversation. When you have finished the music will slowly fade back up.
Your Audiogram will be applied to music/podcasts and phone calls and also, of course, to your hearing.
If you are in a noisy restaurant and struggling to hear properly go to the Ear symbol in Control Centre and switch Live Listen ON. Place your phone in the middle of the restaurant table and the microphones in your iPhone will augment the microphones in the Airpods to help you hear even better.
If you leave your iPhone on the table and go to the bathroom if it's less than 40 feet way from the iPhone you will hear what the people at the table are saying about you…
An update - I started using Adaptive Mode a week ago and I find it to be better. It uses a mixture of Noise cancelling and Transparency. You can still adjust the individual volumes. You access the button via Settings, go to Settings. Above the switch for Airplane Mode you will see your Airpods. Under Noise Control click on the Adaptive button.
I use professional hearing aids ($4.5K) and have tried out the capabilities with the APP2's, using a recent audiogram from my audiologist. I also had them tested with my audiologist who is really interested in them. From her tests, the APP2's didn't do as well as the "pro" hearing aids, but they did quite well - she was impressed. Her results matched my own impressions from using them. As for the battery issue, you can easily buy a couple pair of APPs'2 for a lot less than pro or even good OTC hearing aids.
I know your approach is vastly superior, but with 18.1, I just went through the Apple menu to test then applied their results for the 'hearing assistance' adjustments settings. AirPods Pro 2 came up with mild/moderate while AirPods Pro (2022) got both as mild.
With the AirPods Pro 2, there is a tinny sound when I use transparency mode (unlike adaptive) that is distracting. Am I to rework the slides to resolve this or did I miss something obvious?
If you have mild/moderate hearing loss and most of your loss is in the upper frequencies then it's supposed to sound 'tinny' in Hearing Aid mode. The AirPods are compensating by boosting the high-frequency sounds you are missing. It can take a little while to get used to the sound of corrected hearing. Over time your brain will adjust and you'll begin to appreciate the new sounds you haven't heard up to this point.
I understand your point, but the high pitched sounds are excessive. It's like putting a microphone on every little inconsequential sound like one might see in a movie which exaggerates weird noises.
Until I can put this in a more reasonable mode, I will elect to use adaptive rather than transparency mode.
You should be able to adjust the amplification. Settings -> AirPods -> Hearing Assistance -> Adjustments -> Amplification. Or adjust the Tone.
I would recommend listening to the sounds it's wants to give you at least a while. When your brain "can't take it anymore", then turn down the gain for a while. But be sure to turn it back up again later until you get used to it.
As someone who has worn hearing aids my whole life I understand it can be jarring at first to listen to sounds you aren't used to. It happens whenever I get new aids or an adjustment is made to my existing aids. The primary goal is to allow you to understand speech better. So hopefully it's doing that.
If you really have mild/moderate loss then you are likely a good candidate for real hearing aids fitted by an audiologist. I would strongly recommend getting your hearing tested by a professional and try real aids. As much as the AirPods are doing their best, they pale in comparison to real hearing aids. Trust me.
I'm not sure about that!
I can't really help as I will lose the use of my Airpods as hearing aids if I upgrade to 18.1. I am in he UK and we don't have OTC (over the counter) hearing aids here and it is likely to take a while before they are allowed here.
From what I have seen so far, almost all of the menus and options have changed in 18.1 and until they are allowed here in the UK I won't be upgrading. I rarely upgrade anything until version 3 or 4 or even 5 before I do. I am happy to let the early adopters deal with the glitches and bugs and wait until everything works properly
I suggest that you take a look at both audiograms and see how different they are. You may find that one ear is just bordering on moderate on one of the tests.
No tinny sound on my Pro 2s using Adaptive or Transparency.
I actually have been waiting for this for a long time. I have moderate hearing loss in my left ear (due to having three operations on the left eardrum and now ruptured eardrum again}. but normal in my right ear. I actually was somewhat surprised as the hearing test was really close to the audiogram I had taken 6 months ago. I declined getting hearing aide then because the cost was covered mostly by insurance but very limited selection and a rather high co-pay. I now have something that does boost the hearing in the left ear I also noticed that the tinnitus is not so much now with the air pods or it could be something else
I set up the hearing aid function today. As is true of hearing aids, the high frequency sounds feel exaggererated and intrusive until you get used to it. I have moderate hearing loss according to my audiologist and Apple's hearing evaluation, and I have a pair of $4500 Unitrons. I found the AirPod Pro 2's worked great, probably as well as the hearing aids, BUT....it sounded lop-sided. I found that my right AirPod's microphone was offline while the speaker function was fine. Works OK for phone calls, and listenging to music etc, but not for hearing aids. I reset them, did all the diagnostic stuff, but no go. So...I took them into the Geek Squad. There was a lot of thrashing and hand-wringing but in the end, they couldn't figure it out, called Apple, still couldn't figure it out, and they finally decided that is was a software problem and their advice was..."wait for the next software or firmware update". No...I wasn't surprised 
.
Anyway...it appears to be very promising. I'll watch these forums for a bit and give Apple Support a call in a few days.
.Anyway...it appears to be very promising. I'll watch these forums for a bit and give Apple Support a call in a few days.
I did finally get around to adjusting the 'tone' setting. This was not a fair test as I just moved around in my metal chair, but going 'dark' on transparency seems at first blush very much like adaptive.
A professional audiologist has tried to sell me on professional hearing aids. However, when my brother-in-law has to remove his hearing aids I am not sure he could hear his house burn down.
For me, I travel too much to want to worry about dealing with hearing aids in and out of airports, hotels, conference venues, etc. I must admit that the cost is not an insignificant barrier for now.
@Hmac Please update any resolution that you achieve on your search.
I also still have a pair of AirPods Pro (2 gen, 2022). Am I right to perceive that the 'hearing aid' function on the previous generation of AirPods is not quite as effective as AirPods Pro 2?
A professional audiologist has tried to sell me on professional hearing aids. However, when my brother-in-law has to remove his hearing aids I am not sure he could hear his house burn down.
For me, I travel too much to want to worry about dealing with hearing aids in and out of airports, hotels, conference venues, etc. I must admit that the cost is not an insignificant barrier for now.
@Hmac Please update any resolution that you achieve on your search.
I also still have a pair of AirPods Pro (2 gen, 2022). Am I right to perceive that the 'hearing aid' function on the previous generation of AirPods is not quite as effective as AirPods Pro 2?
Excellent. Have you tried Background Sounds yet? I use the Rain sound on a low volume that helps my tinnitus and I find it very relaxing. Not many sounds to choose from yet but worth playing with.
Adaptive is just a mixture or Transparency and Noise cancelling but it sets itself automatically according to your sound environment.
You have more control over Transparency and Noise Cancelling where you can set each independently on the sliders. Please note I am not using 18.1 as the Hearing Aid feature is not available in the UK yet..
I have experimented some with the sliders like my note about 'tone'/darkness setting.
In the transparency mode configured by Apple after the initial hearing test, striking keys on my iPad sounded like clashing cymbals.
Tone and darkness settings don't affect volume and I have always had mine set to default.
It's not the first time I've heard the clashing cymbals description of the noise in Transparency Mode in the last 24 hours since 18.1 dropped. It's the reason why I am never an early adopter.
I am sitting here typing away using 17.7.1 in Transparency Mode and everything sounds as natural as it when I first set them up over a month ago.
It's not the first time I've heard the clashing cymbals description of the noise in Transparency Mode in the last 24 hours since 18.1 dropped. It's the reason why I am never an early adopter.
I am sitting here typing away using 17.7.1 in Transparency Mode and everything sounds as natural as it when I first set them up over a month ago.
I have already experimented with leaving my phone in my home and taking a walk and the hearing aid function worked fine. You will still need either your iPad, iPhone or Mac to do adjustments but yes they can work separate to the devices
Incredibly helpful thread with informative comments!
A family member has hearing aids, but certified audiologists are vanishing in our area. AirPods Pro 2 could, eventually, be an option.
Wonder if the Unitrons company or other developers will come up with software, like Apple's, that will work with BT-equipped professional hearing aids….
Or, is that a pipe dream? It'd sure be nice — and convenient — to make adjustments at home when needed or desired rather than having to get a months-away appointment with an audiologist to make the adjustments!
A family member has hearing aids, but certified audiologists are vanishing in our area. AirPods Pro 2 could, eventually, be an option.
Wonder if the Unitrons company or other developers will come up with software, like Apple's, that will work with BT-equipped professional hearing aids….
Or, is that a pipe dream? It'd sure be nice — and convenient — to make adjustments at home when needed or desired rather than having to get a months-away appointment with an audiologist to make the adjustments!
I also have a moderate hearing loss in my left ear. on some frequencies Could you please confirm that the amplification is done individually on the right and left ear? Like for example the Even headphones do? https://www.weareeven.com/
I remember I tried some kind of accessibility feature with my AirPods Pro 1, but they amplified the frequencies equally on both sides, no matter that my hearing is quite different on my ears. I found that quite annoying.
I just took the test and scored 38/34 (L/R) while a professional audiologist test taken within the last month was 36/35.
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