From counting our steps to checking our heart rate, the latest and greatest in Apple technology is no stranger to helping us keep tabs on our health. Even small adjustments like volume maximizers, colorblind filters, and blue light blockers built into the technology can help us keep our health at front of mind.
In case you missed it, Apple recently released a new healthcare feature for their AirPods Pro 2 models: Apple Hearing Care.
Promoted as working like “clinical-grade hearing aids,” your headphones can now test your hearing and help adjust your volume to work better in loud and crowded spaces, as well as lessen the effects of background noise.
Your AirPods could work as a major boost to your hearing capabilities, with these new tweaks to help you hear better. However, there are a few things of note to remember before relying on your headphones as your hearing aids.
The Cons
One of the most common questions we get from patients is how to help things like AirPods or hearing aids stay in their ears better. Quite often, people complain that AirPods don’t feel like they fit well, or feel like they’re about to fall out with too much activity.
The main point for Apple hearing care is to wear your AirPods as much as possible. AirPods often get uncomfortable after just a couple of hours of wear—not to mention the battery drainage after that time, too!
To test your hearing on your Apple device, you download an app and take a quick hearing test on the phone. As a hearing aid user myself, I took this test for a spin; it uses old-school hearing test capabilities that work, sure, but it won’t provide the most accurate reading like a comprehensive hearing test from an audiologist would.
For those looking for a situational boost to their hearing, like in busy environments with a lot of background noise, the AirPods could be a good fit, but as professional audiologists, we don’t see this being a comfortable long-term solution.
The Pros
As much as this new frontier for Apple is concerning, it’s also intriguing to see how many big companies like Apple and Bose or Sony are venturing into the realm of hearing care technology.
The hearing test on the phone acts more like a screening, in our opinion, to determine whether you should come in to see a professional audiologist (like us!) for a full, comprehensive hearing test to further understand any level of hearing loss you may be dealing with.
If you’re curious about hearing care or would like to get started on your hearing health journey, please feel free to request a callback and we’ll get in touch with you as soon as we can to alleviate concerns or answer any of your questions.
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