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The Costco guy gave a very favorable review of the Apple Air Pod PRO 2 as OTC Hearing aids

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Edited

I was surprised he liked them so much. Has anyone tried them as a replacement for their hearing aids? What did you think of their ability to be used as hearing aids?

This is his review

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@ronshere

I’m very interested. I have a new e-bike. I’m considering these hearing aids for those rides, solely because I don’t want to lose my own hearing aids if anything happens…and…I have considerable wind noise using my Phonak Audeo Pradise P90R’s at the speed I can travel at. I’m using a typical bike helmet. (Concerns are wind noise, and possibly rain if that happens when I’m out for a ride wearing that helmet.)

My wife uses these when cycling (but she does not wear hearing aids).

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I’ve got some APP2 but the battery life is nowhere near that of my Phonak Spheres but they do cost 1/10th the price.

For cycling and running I prefer some Shokz OpenRun bone conduction headphones (but they are now no good on my left side with my sudden hearing loss, but ok on the right).

Edited

I wouldn’t call him “the Costco guy”. He himself publishes a disclaimer that his opinions do not necessarily reflect those of Costco. He’s working there “at present”, he says.

In reply to @HomerSimpson

Thanks. I appreciate it.
I just put my sports lock back on my hearing aids so they’re in better.
And I’ll start looking for a helmet that will keep the rain off my bald spot and hearing aids. My bike “helmet” would be no good on a motorcycle. I don’t want to hit my head at all. The e-bike can cause the same head-hurt as a motorcycle would. Still have my motorcycle license, even though this isn’t nearly as fast.

DaveL

Jim, thanks very much for reporting the broken link. We had to migrate to a new site today on HearAdvisor due to some technical issues I won’t get into. In the process, half our pages were down due to incorrect URLs being used on the new site. I’ve fixed a bunch of pages and I owe you one for the report. PS. You might have to refresh the page in your browser as it may be cached as a 404.

I have tried them as a hearing aid/streaming earphones. The volume on the transparency mode is not high enough to be effective. That might be one of the things Apple is going to modify. I hear better with them than without them, but nowhere near as well as with my Phillips 9050’s.

I tried using rev 1 Airpods pro in transparency mode as backup hearing aids 2 years ago - while they helped, as compared to no hearing aids, they really weren’t adequate. The 4 hour battery life was a real show stopper, no matter how fast they charged.

@mrblanche said:

9050’s.

I suspect these pods will still obey the legal EU output cap of 85 db (for general audio devices), so they will always only serve those with very modest hearing loss (and need no special “ approval”). Apparently you can overcome this limitation if you jailbreak your iPhone, but I don’t think this applies to the pods.

I took an online hearing test, entered the prescription, and used AirPod Pro’s 2 as hearing aids for a little over 6 months before getting Oticon Intents. For my hearing loss (68yrs old - high frequency loss)–mostly trouble in noisy environments, they worked as well as the Intents if not slightly better.

Airpods Pro pluses:

  • Great audio all around (still use them for streaming a fair amount).
  • Way way less expensive.
  • Maybe slightly better performance in noisy settings due to total occlusion.
  • Better for phone calls outside.
  • Better iPhone integration.

Airpods Pro negatives;

  • Battery life. Didn’t think this would be so much of an issue, but it is a hassle to deal with charging every 5 hours or so.
  • Comfort. While I could wear the AirPods all day, after 3 or 4 hours, I would become aware of them and feel relieved when taking them out. I don’t notice the Oticons at all–have to remind myself to take them off before getting into the shower. YMMV.
  • This is kind of a subtle difference and really only pertains to my kind of hearing loss, but all the sound coming through the AirPods is processed. This gives it the edge in noisy environments since it can effectively dampen background noise and boost voices, but isn’t as natural and is a little fatiguing to me. Because my low and mid frequencies are OK, I use open domes on the Oticons and in aggregate the sound is more natural.
  • The need to explain AirPod use gets old.

I tried Jabra over the counter earbud style aids–nowhere as good as the AirPods. Kind of with I’d tried the Sonys.

Overall, while the Oticons are stupidly expensive, happy with the transition.

Great and very helpful experience summary. It would be helpful to have your posted up so that others can assess the hearing loss that the AirPods assisted, which may guide their own assessments.

I wear the AP gen2 w/ latest firmware. BE CAREFUL. If you have, as I do, ear canals of different size and/or shape relative to whatever Apple considered to be “normal” for the various ear tip sizes they send as OEM, you WILL, I repeat, WILL….LOSE one or both of them - simply by breathing, or, turning you head. I’ve spent an additional $130 to replace a lost one while simply walking on a paved sidewalk. “Find my Device” was absolutely NO help in “finding my device.” I have spent at least another $100 with failed attempts at securing after market tips that “solve this problem.” Bull*******. they do NOT. The damn devices still fall out. An outfit in NJ named Bloom Audio has the only ones that even remotely provide security, but I never exercise with them anywhere except indoors.

Acoustically, with unilateral profound left ear loss, the adjustability of the audio signal is remarkable enhancing the acoustic trauma, left ear deficits as well as, if not better, than the Jabra enhanced pro “real” aids I have. (Which parenthetically suck loads of salt water for music). It is an absolute joy to listen to music with the new firmware. They get me through about 70% of the listening environments I’m in during the course of my day, those include large meeting rooms filled with people, a noisy restaurant and bar, rooms even with no hearing loss would be a challenge.

When Apple gets it act together and decides to enhance the “hearing aid capabilty” with its own Apple , the mega million hearing aid companies better standby. I will be among the first adopters, they are acoustically that good. I should add, that when I use then beneath my Apple Pro headset, music does not get any better at that price point. Only the Lyric 4 surpass them for audio while under the headset . But, at 1/5 the cost, to hell with phonak.

Disclaimer: I own no Apple stock. Costco’s Jabra Enhanced pro were at least inexpensive and work well in environments where I cannot afford to lose one hearing aid, e.g., firearms training environments. So, your experiences may not be at all similar to mine. HTH, Tony

I have a medium tip in my right ear and small in the left and have no difficulty with them falling out. Just lucky I suppose.

I agree, acoustically they are really, really good both in clarity of voices but listening to music has been a pleasure that I hadn’t really enjoyed that much for a long time, That changed when I could hear high and mid frequencies properly again.

I had no idea that my hearing had got so bad in my left ear until I had a Costco hearing test because my right ear was compensating.

In reply to @pets.billows.0x

@pets.billows.0x said:

This is kind of a subtle difference and really only pertains to my kind of hearing loss, but all the sound coming through the AirPods is processed.

You could always wear a more occlusive fit with your Intents and achieve the same effect. That’s what I do with my ReSound Omnias. I wear custom molds with no vent (I’m an extremist!).

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