When was the last time you took a hearing test? Apple recently announced a slew of new hearing health features for the AirPods Pro 2 back in September. These included a clinical-grade hearing aid functionality, a hearing test, and more holistic hearing protection. This means that you can now use your AirPods Pro 2 for more than just listening to your favorite tunes. iOS 18.1 brings these powerful features to the AirPods Pro 2, and I gave it a go.
Prevention: Hearing Protection
According to the Apple Hearing Study, one in three people are regularly exposed to loud environmental noise levels that can impact their hearing. I know a few people who replace the use of earplugs with the AirPods Pro at concerts, or loud environments. I personally use the AirPods Pro 2 as earplugs while travelling, especially on flights.
Hearing Protection will now be switched on by default across all 3 listening modes: noise cancellation, transparency, and adaptive audio. Remember the loud sound reduction option? Think of this as an additional feature to that. The AirPods Pro 2 will help to make loud environments just a tad bit bearable, like concerts – where you’d still want to enjoy yourself without the risk of damaging your hearing health. With a multiband high dynamic range algorithm, live events will still remain natural and vibrant.
Awareness: Hearing Test
Hearing loss is something that often worsens gradually, and you may not even know that you are living with this condition. Most of us have definitely not taken a hearing test before, and this powerful feature is now available on your AirPods Pro and a compatible iPhone or iPad.
Where to Locate Hearing Test on your iPhone
Plug in your AirPods Pro, pop over to Settings > Your AirPods Pro > Take a Hearing Test. You can also locate the Hearing Test by scrolling all the way towards the end of the screen in the Summary page of your Health app.
Before Starting the Hearing Test
To take Apple’s hearing test, get situated in a quiet space. This is imperative and your iPhone will prompt you if the environment has too much noise. This would take roughly about 5 minutes to complete. To be honest, I was a little afraid to do this as I recently fell prey to the screeching loud tube sounds in London and I momentarily thought that I was going to go deaf.
Ear Tip Fit & Environment Analysis
Your iPhone will do a quick ear tip fit analysis and scan your environment to make sure you’re good to go. Just a note, that these health features are specifically calibrated for Apple’s silicone ear tips. If you need to change ear tips in order to proceed, you can easily find additional ear tip sizes in your AirPods Pro 2 box.
Take the Hearing Test
Once the test starts, just tap the screen whenever you hear any of the three-beep tone sequences. You are only required to tap once to confirm your response, and don’t freak out if you didn’t respond in time or missed one of the tones. You’ll get to hear it again. The test will begin with your left ear, and end with your results, after your right ear is assessed. I last took a hearing test almost 9 years ago, and this was similar, just in the comfort of my own home this time. The silence got rather deafening at one point during the test, and I almost started hearing phantom noises but I reminded myself to take note of the three-beep tone sequences.
Hearing Test Results
Once you’re done with the test, you will receive a personalized hearing profile (which is also known as an audiogram). This includes a hearing number for each ear that represents the level of hearing loss. Tap on ‘Show Details’, and a more in-depth explanation would pop up on your screen. Your hearing loss categorization is based on World Health Organization classifications, so this Hearing Test provides you with an indicator whether you need to share your results with your healthcare provider to get the necessary help or not. Your Hearing Test results are stored privately and securely in the Health app, and you can retake the Hearing Test at a later stage to re-evaluate your hearing health. I know I’d definitely be retaking the Hearing Test months later to make sure all is good.
If you already have your hearing test results from an audiologist, you can scan your results to add them to the Health app.
Apple has once again, outdone themselves with this feature. Try it out for yourself, and find out more about Hearing Health with Apple here.
