Airpod Pro 2 Earbuds/Hearing Aids Review

[Lee Rider]

I was reading the New York Times recently and saw an article about Apple working up software to enable the Airpod Pro 2 earbuds to function as a hearing aid. I have never used Airpods so I thought I'd give them a try. I did not know that they also had microphones to pick up environmental sounds.

I wear hearing aids and have a hard time hearing the band. I have a lot of loss in the higher frequencies and wearing hearing aids when playing with the band did not work. I finally started just using one hearing aid and it did help fill in the highs that I have been missing (and also help with stage communication). Still sounded crappy but serviceable.

Received the Airpods and what a revelation! Tried them out in my studio with pedal steel and backing tracks and it sounded much better. Sunday the band rehearsed (I play plugged in acoustic guitar and dobro) and my ability to hear the rest of the band improved exponentially! I could hear all of the instruments individually whereas previously it was a mash of tones.

Not much EQ available with them yet but the new hearing aid program sounds like it will make the microphone inputs more adjustable, but for now they are a blessing!

[David Ball]

I bought a pair last month, and they really are nice. I've been using them mostly in restaurants for noise elimination, which they do quite well. Yes, they do change a mash of tones into something I can actually hear!

Dave

[Tom Wolverton]

Do you have to have your iPhone on for these to work as hearing aids? Or do the work in a loop right in the earpod alone?

[Steve Lipsey]

Did you do the built-in hearing test to set their EQ?

Does anyone know if they just pump up your missing frequencies, or do they do signal processing like good hearing aids do to make everything work better (e.g. changing attack/release, etc.)

[Lee Rider]

The hearing aid program had not been released yet, supposed to be this month sometime. They work independent of the iPhone now not sure about that once the software is released. There is a bit of EQ and you can control the volume with the iPhone or on the Airpods themselves. The software will include a hearing test (or you can upload one from your audiologist). I'm still trying to figure it out but am impressed by the sound.

[Steve Lipsey]

New firmware available with the hearing aid stuff:
https://9to5mac.com/2024/10/24/new-airp ... -features/

Firmware updates are delivered automatically while your AirPods are charging and in Bluetooth range of your iPhone, iPad, or Mac that's connected to Wi-Fi. You can also use your iPhone, iPad, or Mac to check that your AirPods have the latest version.

[Lee Rider]

IOS 18.1, with the Hearing Health app included, is supposed to be released on Monday, 10/28.

[Lee Rider]

Got the ios 18.1 update that includes the hearing test and hearing aids software this morning. Took the test which is very close to the hearing tests I have done with the audiologists. Very easy test took about 5 minutes. Sound quality significantly improved over pre-software use and there are now more controls for amplification and tone. Looking forward to trying them with the band.

[Steve Lipsey]

Thanks for the report...

Are there any choices like hearing aids have, for "music", "speech" "restaurant" profiles, etc. that aren't just making some parts louder according to your hearing test, but also adjust the EQ for the specific content you are listening to, and also adjust settings like attack/release, and deal with background noise, etc.?

[Lee Rider]

This is what you get for EQ at this point. There is also a conversation boost that focuses the microphones in front of you:

[Steve Lipsey]

Buy these from Amazon at $70 off and you get until January 15 to try them out and return them (their holiday deal)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D1XD1ZV3
..I know I'm gonna' give them a shot, not sure if they will work with my crap ears even with the built-in test - my regular hearing aids have a music profile that makes a huge difference, now I just turn them down a bit and add standard (not custom fit, I lost those) Etymotic musician earplugs on top of them...
But if these could do the whole job while playing it would be great...

[John Ducsai]

I bought a set last week and they are definitely helping me. I had just been to the Audiologist and had a test. The results from the Apple hearing aid software test were just about identical.
It would be nice to have manual control - like a 31-band EQ ! Maybe soon...
A whole lot cheaper than hearing aids.

[Steve Lipsey]

do they apply the test EQ to BOTH outside world sounds AND audio coming through EarPods ??
...so that they could be used as playing hearing aids even if not connected to anything...

[Lee Rider]

Found this:

Apple’s AirPods Pro 2 feature a clinical-grade hearing test that users can take with a compatible iPhone or iPad. It takes about five minutes and provides users with a summary of their results, along with recommendations.1

Based on the result of the hearing test, a software feature can transform the AirPods Pro 2 into hearing aids for people with mild to moderate hearing loss. Users also have the option to set this up with an audiogram created by a hearing health professional.

Once set up, users can adjust the earbuds to personalize their hearing experience. These adjustments also apply to music, movies, and phone calls.

[Lee Rider]

I bought a set last week and they are definitely helping me. I had just been to the Audiologist and had a test. The results from the Apple hearing aid software test were just about identical.
It would be nice to have manual control - like a 31-band EQ ! Maybe soon...
A whole lot cheaper than hearing aids.

Yeah, I'm hoping that updates will include more EQ ability.

[Greg Cutshaw]

It's possible that the hearing adjustments made by the software are far more extensive than the adjustments that are provided in the user interface screens. The powerful audio processor in the AirPods could certainly be able to adjust the EQ, attack and decay times, phase shifts and function as a limiter etc while only providing a simple adjustment to the user. I expect this type of information to show up somewhere shortly.

[Ken Pippus]

In case it impacts anyone else, the hearing aid function doesn’t appear to be licensed (or available) in Canada yet. Bummer.

[Steve Lipsey]

Greg-
Even in my ultra-high-end hearing aids, those hidden settings are only available to an audiologist on their professional software ...but they could be accessed by providing the user interface my aids do, with simple choices for "Speech", "Music" "Restaurant", etc., and that would probably give a better result than having end-users try to find the magic combo of subtle, interactive settings...

I went back over a dozen times for hidden tweaks to get music right for my instruments - he told me what he was doing, but there wasn't an obvious "cause and effect" for what he did, it depended on knowing the idiosyncrasies of the devices and how they handled the sharp slopes in my high-end response curves- it is a bit of an art for the audiologist...some folks here might have the required knowledge, of course...

But mostly, beyond the idiosyncrasies of the devices, it is making the EQ output be flat for music and frequency dependent for speech, with some more subtle tweaks on the speech one...and selecting front microphone only and adding noise reduction for restaurant...etc.

[Steve Lipsey]

OK, did a lot of testing, with my Starkey Evolv-9 high end aids and the Apple AirPods Pro 2...

First, there is new firmware out for the AirPods, as of today...don't know what that does...

My Starkeys work great, just turn the volume down a bit and wedge Etymotic high-fidelity musician earplugs in my ear at an angle just outside the Starkeys, to give me good bass and treble, just quieter.
(I do use the 2-layer Etymotics or cut the tips off the 3-layer ones)
https://www.etymotic.com/product/er20xs/
dual flange; https://www.etymotic.com/product/er20xs ... al-flange/

The AirPods, set on Transparent so that they are hearing aids, do cut the sound a bit (you can set the volume). BUT they have a LOT of compression...the sound of my pedal steel is very "springy" and unreal, and unsatisfying.

And although the test calls me "moderate" hearing loss, they don't really amplify enough of the area where my hearing is lacking. I re-did the test and faked it out by claiming I couldn't hear all of the fairly quiet test tones, and that resulted in a better EQ, but still not good enough - drum cymbals disappeared, and my 3rd string was hardly audible at all...

So I'm keeping the AirPods for exercise and random listening - the sound of internal program music, with my hearing profile applied, is pretty good. But for playing steel, they aren't acceptable...

[Lee Rider]

OK, did a lot of testing, with my Starkey Evolv-9 high end aids and the Apple AirPods Pro 2...

First, there is new firmware out for the AirPods, as of today...don't know what that does...

My Starkeys work great, just turn the volume down a bit and wedge Etymotic high-fidelity musician earplugs in my ear at an angle just outside the Starkeys, to give me good bass and treble, just quieter.
(I do use the 2-layer Etymotics or cut the tips off the 3-layer ones)
https://www.etymotic.com/product/er20xs/
dual flange; https://www.etymotic.com/product/er20xs ... al-flange/

The AirPods, set on Transparent so that they are hearing aids, do cut the sound a bit (you can set the volume). BUT they have a LOT of compression...the sound of my pedal steel is very "springy" and unreal, and unsatisfying.

And although the test calls me "moderate" hearing loss, they don't really amplify enough of the area where my hearing is lacking. I re-did the test and faked it out by claiming I couldn't hear all of the fairly quiet test tones, and that resulted in a better EQ, but still not good enough - drum cymbals disappeared, and my 3rd string was hardly audible at all...

So I'm keeping the AirPods for exercise and random listening - the sound of internal program music, with my hearing profile applied, is pretty good. But for playing steel, they aren't acceptable...

Steve: Thanks for the update. I have found that before taking the hearing test they did sound better than afterwards and they do have quite a bit of compression, but still much better than my hearing aids or none at all. Hoping that they will improve the software so that more of the sounds can be manipulated.

[Greg Cutshaw]

I did the hearing test and the results look identical to what my audiologist got. I don't have hearing aids to compare them to but they are vastly better for TV listening and general conversation than nothing at all.

For example I could not hear the air rush out of the heating vents when the furnace switched on or hear the humidifier's air fans from the next room at all. With the AirPods I can hear both of those as clear as a bell. Another good test is to rub your thumb and finger close to your ear and see if you can hear that sound. Again with the AirPods I went from nothing heard to clear as a bell. I have light hearing loss in one ear and moderate in the other. I'll be getting hearing aids from Costco soon and I hope they are even better but for $189 on sale at Amazon I am pretty happy with the AirPods.

You have to have the latest firmware downloaded to the Airpods to have the hearing test show up in the Health app on your iPhone. Also the Airpods on Amazon for $189 that are advertised as "Pro 2" ($250 at Apple) are actually "Pro Version 2" so that's misleading but they work fine for me. Apple claims that these two versions are identical except for a slight increase in the Pro 2 battery over the Pro Version 2.

[Jim Pitman]

I don't understand what happened in my case.
I returned them because they had a bout 100 to 200ms of latency making them useless. I'd speak and hear myself much later.
Did I leave out a setup step anyone?

[Steve Lipsey]

Well, there is latency...if I clap my hands I can hear the delay...but for anything else it is not noticeable....there isn't a lot of outside direct sound - the AirPods block it pretty well...so the original sound is muted. And if you are listening to program content, the outside sound is pretty much invisible. So you can test latency and hear it, but in real-world use it doesn't bother me...

When I'm going to be just using them as hearing aids and not listening to music, etc. for any length of time, I use my hearing aids instead.

Based on previous discussions on other topics here, latency seems to be a thing that doesn't bother some folks and is a killer for others...

Ah, if only I hadn't spent my youth standing in front of a Marshall Stack turned up to 11...little did we know back then...

[Lee Baucum]

...Ah, if only I hadn't spent my youth standing in front of a Marshall Stack turned up to 11...little did we know back then...

Agreed. Too many years of shotguns and high-powered rifles didn't help any, either.

~Lee

[Patrick Fleming]

The thing I want to know is, how do they work as earplugs when playing with a band that has a loud stage volume? will they limit the overall DB?