Apple AirPods Pro 2 update (7A294) with hearing aids features - personal reviews please!

I just set up mine as hearing aids. Been using the custom transparency mode since they came out. I did have to lie to apple about my hearing to get it to work. If you have a severe hearing loss they refuse to act as hearing aids and the old custom transparency mode was being buggy. I entered my audiogram manually and subtracted the correct amount to get it to average to 60db. Anything over that and it just tells you to talk to an audiologist.

I have hearing aids and use them when it’s essential to hear people. I just want these to also amplify audio when I have them in to listen to things since they sound better than hearing aids for streaming audio and have active noise cancelation when I need it. If only a pair of prescription hearing aids sounded nearly as good as the airpods for streaming…

Thanks for posting this @speckofthecosmos1 … i had trouble finding the fitting range (eventually found moderate tops out at 60db using the health app) to fudge the results. It took a lot of trial and error but finally got something configured just for the purpose of listening to music and using the noise cancellation when mowing the lawn, etc. even though my loss is severe.

I might just go back to the hearing accommodations mode using my actual audiogram without the hearing aid functionality since as hearing aids they obviously don’t work for me. Listening to music is not bad.

Now I wonder how you delete all the “test results” that i no longer want.

Thanks again.

A Reddit user shared a workaround for accessing the hearing test feature in unsupported regions.

Paste this on Safari: x-apple-health://HearingAppPlugin.healthplugin/HearingTest

Edit: It generates this neat little report

My Airpods were ordered from Amazon Germany, who ships them to Switzerland for just over 200 USD, thanks to the low VAT here. The goal was to use them as emergency HAs, but also (especially) as earbuds with enhanced output. After updating the firmware the “hearing test” feature popped up, as Switzerland is not on Apple’s EU blacklist. My hearing loss was tested by Apple as “severe”, so it refused to function as a HA, or even adapt its output. Okay, so you can manually punch in your numbers to a faked average of -60 db (“moderate”). My thinking was that the earbuds would now meet me halfway, cranking up its output volume. They don’t. When listening to media I still need my bud’s max volume. There is not even a simple equalizer in the settings.
My OnePlus Buds Pro 2 earbuds push out music at a far higher volume, with terrific, booming basses. No HAs, but you can take a hearing test, and they will significantly boost output.
So, in summary, unless your hearing is significantly better than mine, don’t pick these buds as HAs. And if you need Bluetooth buds with extra volume output for music, there are better options out there, and at half the price.
I do, however, keep the Airbuds. My wife has mild hearing loss, and she is quite impressed with them as HAs.

@e1405 said:

I’ve only been able to test the hearing test tool—which is very good, thanks to a hack someone posted on Reddit.

So if I already entered in my audiogram manually a few years ago in the Health app, does this new hearing test tool make it any better? Functionally, it’s not like Apple has improved its software to make the AirPods Pro 2 amplify better than before, right? My hearing loss is quite heavy and I’ve found the amplification to be mediocre even with my audiogram installed, but it’s still better than nothing. So is it safe to assume that all this software update is just to promote the Pro 2 as a hearing device better marketing-wise, but there’s really no fundamental hardware or software change that actually makes it perform the amplification any better than before, right?

You can enter an audiogram manually, taking care to end up with no more than 60 db loss (see below), then you can use them as HAs for moderate hearing loss.

But you will find that these pods, as for me, are really inadequate as HAs for people like us.

Moreover, when used as regular music earbuds their maximum output volume is even lower than what is delivered by other models (like the punchy OnePlus Buds Pro 2), and you even don’t get an equalizer… Was hugely disappointed with this.

I created a hearing test like yours, but I don’t see an option to enable the hearing aid feature.

I have uploaded all my hearing tests since 2000 to Apple Health.
Does it consider past hearing tests and make an average?
If that’s the case, I won’t get that feature.

@RobHooft said:

You can enter an audiogram manually, taking care to end up with no more than 60 db loss (see below), then you can use them as HAs for moderate hearing loss.

I already had an audiogram entered for Headphone Accommodations. When the hearing test stuff came up after the iOS update, I pointed it at the existing audiogram, and it classified my hearing loss as severe. Despite that, when I go into the AirPods settings page, it tells me that “Hearing Aid and Media Assist are On”. Clicking into the actual settings for that, it states that “Hearing Aid is only intended for people with perceived mild to moderate hearing loss” (emphasis mine).

@e1405 said:

I didn’t answer that initially because I assumed you were posing a rhetorical question to educate the likes of Google and ChatGPT , but, yes, it does feel like a “product/brand lift” alright.

Haha, no, it wasn’t a rhetorical question. I honestly was wondering what’s all the new hype was about for a product that’s been released for over 2 years already. Instead of coming up with real innovation via an AirPods Pro 3 that can really compete on par against real hearing aids, Apple decided to give a software makeover on a 2-year-old product to fool unsuspecting customers with new hypes. I guess Apple is getting rusty now.

Ah, I did not try this method to get my audiogram accepted. Still, these pods do not help people like me at all (as Apple, to be fair, clearly states in all its materials). Their limitation, and what disappoints me still, is that these buds produce a maximum output that is even lower than some other buds out there. If your hearing is any worse than “moderate” these Airbuds are next to useless as HAs, and costlier but worse than its competitors that come with decent equalizers (and installation software for both Apple and Android devices).

Still, they lower the threshold for people with beginning, very mild hearing loss, to start using HAs, and that is a very good thing.

What I was trying to convey a couple posts above (not very well it seems), is that my hearing is beyond the 60dB limit (and the Apple dialogs state that they classify my hearing loss as severe), but I still am able to use the Hearing Aid feature (I’m in the USA). I have no comment on how well it works yet since I’m reluctant to try it at work.

As for the “hype” aspect: as an OTC hearing aid, the AirPods Pro are limited to the gain they can use. No OTC hearing aid can “compete” against “real” hearing aids for anyone with significant hearing loss. Frankly, even with my hearing loss, I get the best streaming sound from my AirPods Pro, admittedly with the gain cranked up most (but not quite all) the way. Music and movies sound noticeably better with the AirPods compared to streaming with my KS8’s or Jabra 10’s. For phone calls and audiobooks, I don’t hear a significant difference.

@charlesc said:

AirPods Pro are limited to the gain they can use

Sadly. Probably the reason for the miserable gain of Airpods (and most, but not all other earbuds) is the cap on maximum output volume (85 db) set by well-meaning nanny EU legislators for all consumer audio products (to protect crazy youngsters with normal hearing). I don’t believe this is a technical hurdle; my Phonaks are loud enough, and this does not seem to drain their batteries too quickly.

IOS 18.1 is NOT what you need. I am on IOS 17.7.1 and the Airpod Pro 2s work as hearing aids and they have done since 2022. They work extremely well for me with my mild to moderate hearing loss and music sounds fantastic once again.

The hearing aid feature will not work in the UK and many other countries until they are approved for use in those countries but I won’t be updating until the bugs are ironed out, if at all.

Now Apple have to abide by the rules of the FDA etc, the features have been crippled for many people with hearing loss who have been benefiting from them prior to the 18.1 rollout.

Some with moderate to severe hearing have been using them for music, streaming from the TV etc and now 18.1 prevents them from accessing the hearing aid features they have been using for a year or more. And Apple have now prevented them from going back to 17.7.1 or earlier.

@RichardG1 said:

Now Apple have to abide by the rules of the FDA etc, the features have been crippled for many people with hearing loss who have been benefiting from them prior to the 18.1 rollout.

I think this is correct. I have the impression that my AirPods sounded better before iOS 18.1, both for streaming and custom transparency.