There is the Food and Drug Administration has been approved Apple’s over-the-counter Hearing Aid feature. Designed for people with mild to moderate hearing loss, it replaces hearing second generation AirPods Pro to OTC hearing aids. This follows the FDA’s decision to allow adults with fewer disabilities in 2022. use corrective consumer hearing aids without professional testing, prescription or fitting.
says the FDA Apple’s software-based Hearing Test The feature for AirPods Pro showed similar advantages to those who bought a professional adaptation of wireless headphones. “Results also showed comparable performance for tests measuring amplification levels in the ear canal as well as a measure of speech intelligibility in noise,” the FDA said in its announcement. The agency adds that it has not observed any “adverse events” from using the device as an OTC hearing aid.
Apple’s Hearing Aid feature in iOS 18 starts with a hearing test on a paired device. iPhone or iPad. As you can see from the image above, the test starts with making sure your earbuds are well sealed. After that it is activated active noise cancellation (ANC) and asks you to touch the screen when you hear tones in the left and right ears.
Once you’re done, your results will stay there iOS Health apphere you can see how your results have changed (or not) over time. You can download your results and give them to the audiologist whenever you want. (If the test detects severe hearing loss, it will recommend that you get a professional evaluation, as the AirPods feature is only approved for those with mild to moderate hearing loss.)
Billy Steele of Engadget got a preview of the feature after Apple’s big iPhone 16 event earlier this week. “It looks as fast and easy as Apple describes it,” wrote our audio expert. Although the demo was a simulation, it covered every step of the process and added up to a total of five minutes.
Apple developed this feature using 150,000 real audiograms and millions of simulations. The company’s FDA application was reviewed at the agency’s request De Novo premarket waythis provides a runway for new devices that do not carry significant risk.
Apple’s Hearing Aid and Hearing Test features won’t arrive until iOS 18 It is presented to the public on September 16. The AirPods Pro (second generation) required to use the feature.
