Apple announced a handful of new products during its “It’s Glowtime” event this month. While the iPhone 16 lineup grabbed most of the attention, the most intriguing announcement came from a different product line. The Cupertino-based company in California revealed that its top-tier earbuds, the AirPods Pro 2, will now double as over-the-counter hearing aids through a software update, which is a feature that has also received FDA approval.
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Apple AirPods Pro 2 (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)
AirPods become more than just wireless earbuds
During the iPhone 16 event, Apple discussed the new hearing aid capability designed to assist people with mild to moderate hearing loss. At the time, Apple mentioned that the feature was still awaiting FDA approval. However, on Sept. 12, the FDA announced it had cleared the software-based hearing aid technology.
“Hearing loss is a significant public health issue impacting millions of Americans,” the FDA’s Michelle Tarver noted in a statement. “Today’s marketing authorization of an over-the-counter hearing aid software on a widely used consumer audio product is another step that advances the availability, accessibility and acceptability of hearing support for adults with perceived mild to moderate hearing loss.”
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The FDA approved AirPods after rigorous testing
The FDA said it cleared Apple’s hearing aid feature after running a clinical study with 118 people in the U.S. who had mild to moderate hearing loss. The study found that users got similar results from the hearing aid software when they “self-fitted” the AirPods, compared to those who had a professional fitting.
“Results also showed comparable performance for tests measuring levels of amplification in the ear canal, as well as a measure of speech understanding in noise. No adverse events related to the device were observed in this study,” the FDA added.
When turned on, this feature uses the results from the Hearing Test to give users a clinical-grade hearing aid experience. It makes real-time adjustments, boosting sounds around them based on their environment. Apple also mentioned that users can set up the Hearing Aid feature with an audiogram provided by a hearing health professional for even more personalized settings.
AirPods Pro 2 (Apple) (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)
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