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AirPod Pro 2 as hearing device

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Has anyone seen a review of how the Apple AirPod Pro 2nd generation work as hearing devices? I have profound high frequency hearing loss and didn’t really notice any benefit to loading up my individual for use with the AirPod Pro 1st gen. Wondering if it’s worth trying 2nd gen.

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The airpod are only good for mild to moderate hearing loss. They aren’t going to help the ones of us with severe and profound hearing loss

That’s what I figured. But if it was an improvement over the 1st gen I’d still be game to give it a try since my current hearing aids have such lousy bluetooth performance I can’t really use them for exercise or phone calls.

Most of your high frequency is in the severe range rather then the profound range. Your right 8K is in the profound range.

Even with a severe high frequency loss, Air Pods aren’t going to give you enough for your highs.

What Aids do you have?

Edited

Thanks! I think my hearing has diminished in recent years but 2015 was the most recent test I could access.

Current aids are Phonak P70-R.

I think it is wishful thinking on my part that I would benefit from AirPod Pros - but the allure of stable connection and better phone performance is so strong!

Edited: I don’t have the RT model, I have the R (no - very few places use those anyway!)

I have the M70 Aids and the connection is super stable.

People who seem to have issues with Bluetooth connections seem to have the smaller Audeo range where mine are Aids so are much larger.

I wonder if the Bluetooth antenna in the Audeo is smaller and that is why people are having issues? It could mean that the Bluetooth antenna is larger in BTE Aids.

I’m guessing tho.

I own a pair of first generation AirPods Pro. They are not very different from the second generation when it comes to hearing support. The AirPods are good backup devices. I don’t think they are quite there yet compared to proper hearing aids.

In reply to @Zebras

I have version as well. I always get confused by the lines and models - it sounds like we both have the Audeo line, but I have the newer Paradise and you have the previous Marvel?

When I got mine 2 years ago, my audiologist was excited because Paradise was brand new and was supposed to have a more reliable connection. I had tried Starkey but my word comprehension wasn’t as good with them so wanted to stick with Phonak. Within two months I got an updated version of replacement Paradise aids. Reportedly Phonak had tried to reposition the antennae for better connectivity.

It may have had a marginal effect, but poor microphone on phone calls (“you sound like you’re in a tunnel, far away”) and connectivity (dropped audio stream if I put my phone in my pocket or swing my arms while holding it) persist for me.

In reply to @a13z

@a13z said:

it sounds like we both have the Audeo line

Actually Audeo is not a Aid. It’s a Aid.

My Aids are a BTE Aid. They are much much larger.

Not the same colour but this is exactly my Aid.

image

What is the Difference Between a RIC and a BTE Hearing Aid?28

Find out more about the 2 most popular styles of hearing aids; RIC (Receiver-in-the-Canal) & BTE (Behind-the-Ear) & how to choose the best hearing aid for you

I’ve had a set of Airpod Pro 2s for a few hours now and so far I love this thing. I’m planning on using at as a supplement to my hearing aid, not a replacement. Does it aid your hearing? Yes, it really does. I found a bit of an occlusion effect, but not a deal breaker for me. I used the same that’s on my profile here. Not a moderate loss by any means. So far it’s been music (great!), podcasts (understandable), a couple of phone calls (I’d prefer my aids, but much better than unaided- got the job done), and transparency mode (family environment- communication with the wife and kids wasn’t any worse than with my real hearing aids).

Note: I really need to get my hearing aids seen to. That probably affects the comparison.

In reply to @d_Wooluf

That’s great to hear. I actually just got a pair yesterday as well! They have exceeded my expectations. Adding my is a little finicky and I think I discovered a bug: make sure you don’t have 0 in any dBl entries. It seems to treat a 0 as infinite and boosts sound in that frequency to unlistenable levels. I also found it helpful to turn off all safety auto limits for headphones.

They don’t reproduce the high frequencies as well as my hearing aids, but the lows and mids sound amazing and have allowed me to hear parts of songs I couldn’t hear before. I will likely keep playing with adjusting my loaded audiogram to try to get voices and high frequencies clearer (where my hearing is most impaired).

The stability and microphone quality while on phone calls is also much better than my hearing aids. So while I wouldn’t recommend them as hearing aid replacements by any stretch, I think I will enjoy having them as a complement for steaming music and movies (the bass is so fun!), phone calls (microphone allows the listener can hear me better), and exercise (because of their more stable connection). I can still hear phone calls better if I call through my hearing aids, but the better microphone gives me more confidence when talking to people, knowing I am coming through clearer.

the active noice canceling of the AirPods Pro 2nd gen has exceeded my expectations. Pretty amazing for these little in-ear buds.

I have my Airpods Pro 2 on order from Costco (Black Friday deal $40 off from $240 down to $200) to arrive on Wednesday. I’ll post a report later after I’ve played with it enough. I don’t plan to use it as a replacement for my , but I plan to use it as a supplement, especially when listening to music when I want to enjoy the bass and I’m willing to give up some of the highs (that my HAs can supposedly do better) for it.

If I find it compensating some of my mid and high loss adequately enough, I may use it for more streaming situations like watching TV or videos if, again, I’d rather give up some of the highs to get back the lows.

I hear that beside the 2x improvement over noise cancelation compared to gen 1, there is also better spatial separation of the surrounding sounds in the transparency mode, on top of the adaptive transparency where loud sounds get compressed for better comfort. Can’t wait to test that out as well.

I have a pair of Airpods Pro (first gen.) I’ve never tried to program an into them. Can we only program the audiograms into the 2nd gen? Has anyone done a comparison between the first and second gen? The first gen is pretty good.

In reply to @a13z

@a13z said:

I discovered a bug:

We discovered the same bug!

I think we were also on the same page when we bought them. I’m looking forward to being able to flip into transparency mode when my boy comes complaining that his sister’s broken a kitchen chair over his head without having to take them off and find my aids to deal with the situation.

I had two surreal moments. First was turning on noise cancellation for the first time and hearing my surroundings with my ears blocked. That was a bit of a wow moment. Second was when my kids started mouthing words at me. I was bemused because I thought they were mocking my hearing and they’d never done that before. Turns out I had noise cancellation as well as some low-volume music. Whoops.

I think I kind of would recommend them as aids in certain limited situations. If I lost my aids, I’d use them that way until I got new aids. They’d get me by I think.

In reply to @whatdidtheysay

You definitely can program AirPods Pro 1st gen with an (you even can with AirPods non-pro). I didn’t have a good experience with doing it but now I’m left wondering if it’s because of this bug I discovered (make sure you change any zeroes in your audiogram to something else - I did “-1” and the results were night and day).

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