And they can often be had for $200 here and there. Amazing.
I understand what you are saying but I don't think the industry is shaking, yet.enabling them as a hearing aid takes on a multibillion dollar industry
I understand what you are saying but I don't think the industry is shaking, yet.
Hearing aids are already available over the counter, in the U.S. Many decent ones for about $250.00 for a pair. But, I have tried them. They generally suck compared to my top of the line devices (provided at no charge by the VA). My devices are almost invisible (behind the ear with in-ear receiver). Many times people don't know I am wearing the devices.
And that is the kicker. Having something showing in my ear all the time is not something I want. My perception is that if someone is wearing Apple devices in their ears they are not paying attention to me. I wear my AirPods Pro 2 while at basketball games in adaptive mode. The noise gets cancelled and I can still hear people talking. But the people generally think I am not listening or ask "can you hear me?" An entire culture with things in their ears will take some adjusting, and time.
I can take calls with my devices. I can stream with my devices. The batteries last 18 hours, charge in about 4 hours. Highly configurable with frequency curves (which Apple will have). Part of the large cost of hearing aids is the support, multiple tests and configuration settings. The other part of the cost is greed.
I have no doubt there will be a change in the hearing aid community because of Apple. How much? Only time will tell.
I too have hearing aids (very small behind the ear) however I also use my AirPods as hearing aids in certain situations or when Im at home relaxing and take a break from my regular aids. The ability to load a customised audiogram into AirPod Pros has been there a long while it's just without the FDA approval Apple have never been able to promote them as hearing aids. I do agree though that it will take quite a while for the perception to disappear that someone wearing AirPods is not paying attention when in company. On the rare occasion im with other people wearing them I just explain why Im using them. There are also many people who for vanity reasons dont want to wear regular aids but would probably be happy wearing AirPods.Agree - I also wear standard, high-end hearing aids and wouldn't have interest in using my Pro 2's in lieu of them for the reasons you state. People see ear pods in your ears and assume you're not listening to them; battery life comparison falls apart for the Pods; and the hearing aids are configured for my hearing by a specialist.
Not really, if I understand it correctly they still don't have the plugs which keep them in place. And becasue of that I'd be interested to know what the ANC performance is going to be like, since you're not getting the same seal as the Pro.Difficult choice since the 4's have been redesign for improved fit too.
Yup tbh it's convinced me to buy the 2 even though I usually buy hardware when it's newly introduced. I get serious fomo.Yeah, you’ve got it. Even though there's no Pro 3, the new software features are pretty neat. I’ve played around with them a bit, and they definitely add some useful and fun options.