AirPods Pro Hearing Aid Capabilities
Did you know that approximately 1.5 billion people worldwide have some form of hearing loss? Or that only 1 in 5 people who could benefit from hearing aids use them? For those with mild-to-moderate hearing loss, using Apple AirPods as a hearing aid alternative might be helpful. In this article, we'll discuss how to use the current hearing accessibility features available for your AirPods and the exciting upcoming features.
Get ready to explore how to Use Apple AirPods Pro as hearing aids and other hearing accessibility features.
Live Listen
Live Listen is a feature on iPhone or iPad that turns your device into a remote microphone. It sends sound to Made for iPhone hearing aids or AirPods/Beats, helping you hear conversations in noisy environments or from a distance.
Headphone Accommodations
Headphone Accommodations is a feature that works with Apple and Beats headphones to customize audio levels according to your liking. It's designed to amplify and adjust certain soft sounds to better suit your hearing. This could make a noticeable difference during phone calls, and even enhance the experience while listening to music, podcasts, or watching movies on your iPhone or iPad.
Compatible earbuds
Which earbuds are compatible with Live Listen and Headphone Accommodations?
Live Listen and other accessibility features work with the following earbuds or headphones, but the AirPods Pro are the best option:
- Apple AirPods Pro 1 & 2
- Apple AirPods 2, 3, & 4
- Apple AirPods Max
- Beats Powerbeats Pro
- Beats Fit Pro
- Made for iPhone hearing aids
Hearing accessibility shortcut on iPhone or iPad
To make it easier to access these features, add the Hearing control to your Control Center. Here's how to do it:
- Check that you have the latest version of iOS or iPadOS.
- Go to Settings > Control Center.
- Find the Hearing icon and tap the green + sign to add it.
- Check the "Included Controls" section to ensure the Hearing icon is there.
- Tap Settings at the top of your screen to save the changes.
How to set up Live Listen
Once the Hearing icon is added to your Control Center, follow these steps to use Live Listen:
- Connect your wireless earbuds to your phone by going to Settings and tapping Bluetooth.
- Select your earbuds from the list to connect them.
- Open the Control Center (swipe down from the top right corner on iPhone X or later, or swipe up from the bottom on iPhone SE, iPhone 8, and earlier).
- Tap the Hearing icon.
- Tap Live Listen to turn it on.
- Place your phone near the sound you want to hear and adjust the volume as needed.
- When finished, tap or swipe out of the control panel.
Transparency mode and Conversation Boost on iOS and more:
There are many other hearing accessibility features available on your iPhone and iPad. For a full detailed list and explanation of these features, please visit this webpage.
To use Transparency mode on your AirPods Pro and adjust the way certain sounds come through, follow these steps:
- Go to Settings > Accessibility > Audio & Visual.
- Go to Headphone Accommodations and choose Transparency mode.
- Press "Custom Transparency mode" and use the transparency slider to adjust.
To enable Conversation Boost, go to the Headphone Accommodations menu and choose "Conversation Boost."
Coming soon, the Hearing Test
This function checks to see if you may have any hearing loss and only takes about 5 minutes to complete. If the hearing test determines you have mild to moderate hearing loss, you'll be able to use the hearing aid feature.
The hearing aid feature lets you use your AirPods Pro as clinical-grade hearing aids. It will use the results of your Apple hearing test to make adjustments to help you better hear voices and sounds. Though the Hearing Aid feature has been FDA-authorized, it is not a replacement for actual hearing aids.
Which devices will the new features work for?
Currently, the Hearing Aid and Hearing Test feature will be available only on the AirPods Pro 2. They will need to be paired with a compatible iPhone or iPad with iOS 18 or iPadOS 18 and later.
Apple also notes that certain features may not be available in all regions or all languages. However, more than 100 countries and regions, including the US, Germany, and Japan, will have access.