Now that available to the masses, Apple’s new hearing aid feature is ready to go. The tool is one of three the company announced along with the iPhone 16 . Another one of them It’s an important part of being able to use AirPods Pro 2 as a hearing aid. With a state-of-the-art iPhone and these headphones, you can use hearing aids without going to the doctor or buying ill-fitting hearing aids. Just take the five-minute test, and if the app determines you have mild or moderate hearing loss, Apple will immediately . Here is a step-by-step guide on how to use it.
Update your iPhone and AirPods Pro 2
Before accessing Apple’s hearing aid, you need to make sure that your iPhone is updated to iOS 18.1 and that your AirPods Pro 2 have the latest firmware (7B19). If you don’t have both of these updates, none of the new hearing health features will appear in AirPods settings or the Apple Health app. Additionally, you won’t be able to take a hearing test or use the hearing aid feature on the first-generation AirPods Pro.
You can check your current iOS version from the iPhone Settings menu. Scroll down to General and tap on Software Update. From here, you can see what version of iOS you’re running and whether there’s a pending update ready to download and install. Once again, you’re looking at iOS 18.1 here, as this is the software version that introduces a suite of hearing health features.
To check the firmware on AirPods Pro 2, connect the headphones to your iPhone and go to the Settings menu. Here, AirPods Pro 2 should appear at the top of the list, and tapping on that option will take you to settings. You can also access AirPods Pro 2 details from the Bluetooth menu by tapping the “i” icon next to the device name.
Once you’re in the AirPods settings menu, swipe down to the bottom of the home screen. One of the last things you’ll see is a bunch of firmware information for the AirPods Pro 2, including the current version. If you see 7B19, you’re good to go. If not, your headphones haven’t updated yet, but you can try to force them to do so instead of waiting for the over-the-air process to happen on its own.
To do this, connect AirPods Pro 2 to iPhone for at least 30 seconds and play music to confirm that the connection is stable. Then put the earbuds back into the charging case and close the lid, keeping the AirPods Pro 2 within range of the iPhone. Now check the Bluetooth settings and if you see the AirPods Pro 2 stay connected in the closed charging case for more than 10 seconds, this should indicate that the update is in progress.
Take Apple’s hearing test
After confirming that you have the necessary updates for your phone and headphones, you will need to accept. before hearing aid features appear. The only way to do this is to download an audiogram from your doctor in the Apple Health app. In any case, you must demonstrate a mild to moderate hearing loss (26-60 dBHL) for the Hearing Aids section of the AirPods Pro 2 menu to be available to you.
Apple gives you two places to access the hearing test, and they’re both easy to find. The first is in the AirPods menu, which you can access from the main Settings menu or the Bluetooth menu. The Hearing Health section is clearly displayed under the Noise Control options on the main screen. Take a Hearing Test in Hearing Health will be the third item after Hearing Protection and Hearing Aid and will appear in blue.
The fastest way to access the hearing test in the health app is to tap Browse in the menu on the main Summary screen. From there, select Hearing with the blue ear icon and scroll down to More than Health. Here you will see the option to take a hearing test with AirPods Pro 2.
Using the hearing aid function
After taking an Apple hearing test or downloading your doctor’s results in the Health app, you’ll be able to access the Hearing Aids section of the Hearing Health features in the AirPods settings. The hearing aid function is located here, you can turn it on or off as needed. It’s worth noting that if your hearing test results meet the criteria for mild to moderate hearing loss, Apple will immediately ask if you want to set up Hearing Aids.
On the main Hearing Aid screen, you’ll see options to enable/disable the hearing aid and Media Assistant. There are options to adjust hearing aid functionality and choose how the system applies Media Assist. The next tool uses your hearing profile to improve sound for music, video and calls. You can choose to have it apply the customization only to music and videos, or to calls and FaceTime. By default, it will retune the sound for all of them.
In the Settings section below the hearing aid toggle, you’ll have the ability to adjust gain, balance, tone, and ambient noise reduction via individual sliders. You can also enable/disable a swipe gesture that adjusts the gain when the hearing aid mode is on on the AirPods Pro 2 (versus the volume control for normal use). At the bottom of this menu, you can enable/disable Apple’s Conversation Boost tool, which specifically targets human voices. . When the hearing aid is turned on, you’ll see a second slider with an ear icon where you can adjust the gain in Control Center, and you can also adjust this setting on your Apple Watch.
The hearing aid will only be activated when Noise Control is set to transparent, but Media Assist will still work in Adaptive, ANC and mute modes. Moreover, the hearing aid and hearing protection functions can be used simultaneously in transparency mode, the latter being enabled by default. And once again, you can turn off the hearing aid tool completely at any time in the Hearing Aids menu from the AirPods settings.
It may take a few days or even a few weeks for you to get used to hearing aid function. You can use the AirPods Pro 2 as a hearing aid for up to six hours, and for that purpose, you’ll want to wear them as much as possible when you first start using them. Once your hearing profile is activated on AirPods Pro 2, you should not share the earbuds with anyone. This involves making adjustments to compensate for the specific frequencies you have hearing problems with. This customization would lead to weird rooting for someone else.
