How Apple turned AirPods Pro 2 into an affordable hearing-aid alternative

Apple engineers conducted thousands of clinical-grade audiometry tests and software-based hearing tests before they submitted their 'Hearing Test' feature to clinical validation studies.

As per the latest World Health Organisation report, 1.5 billion-plus people are living with hearing loss worldwide.

Hearing loss worsens gradually over time, most people lead their lives unaware of the issue until it's too late. A medical-grade over-the-counter hearing aids are expensive and this is a major factor for most people to continue to live in isolation without any assistive support.

In India, a medical-grade hearing aid costs anywhere between Rs 37,000 and Rs 6.2 lakh. An AirPods Pro 2 costs less than Rs 25,000.

Now, engineers at Apple's state-of-the-art Audio Lab who work on top-class products with speakers or microphones have developed a breakthrough technology that can turn AirPods Pro 2 into a hearing aid.

Every person’s hearing is different, so we created an innovative, end-to-end hearing health experience that addresses this variability in a way that’s both simple to use and adaptable to a wide range of needs. That’s especially important because hearing loss affects people of all ages with different levels of tech savviness. . “With the Hearing Aid feature, we wanted to build something so intuitive, it felt like an extension of your senses. We knew the results would change people’s lives — and democratise access to treatment for a condition that affects more than a billion people

Sumbul Desai, M.D, Apple’s vice president of Health

Space Echo Room set up at Apple's Audio Lab.

Here's how Apple achieved the marvellous feat of turning AirPods Pro 2 into a hearing aid

At the Audio Lab, Apple has set up Longwave, the company's largest anechoic chamber. It has a custom-built loudspeaker and microphone arc that can measure how sound interacts with the human body.

There Apple engineers tested how ears perceive sound. Whenever an audio travels in any medium, it never reaches both ears at the same time. The sound reaches one ear first before the other, this creates a time difference in how humans perceive sound. This helped the engineers to build experiences that accurately represent the sounds in any natural environment.

And, on the other side of Audio Lab, there is Fantasia Lab. Here Apple tests audio to ensure the highest sound quality is achieved in every audio product. It has a spherical array of 50 loudspeakers to simulate hundreds of real-world sound scenes such as a shopping mall, a busy street, or travel on an aeroplane — in a tightly controlled, evenly distributed sound field.

And, to develop the hearing aid feature, Apple conducted a research study with voluntary participants of different age groups with a wide range of hearing levels in a controlled environment to complete a speech-in-noise test.

Fantasia Lab at Apple Audio Lab.

The test consisted of a participant sitting in a chair in the middle of the space while a complex sound scene, such as a noisy restaurant, played. The participant then had to repeat the words of a single speaker, distinguishing from background conversations.

To make a flawless hearing aid, engineers collaborated with specialists to perform more medical-grade tests.

To be doubly sure, engineers reportedly conducted thousands of clinical-grade audiometry tests and software-based hearing tests before they submitted their 'Hearing Test' feature to clinical validation studies.

Finally, last month Federal Drug Administration (FDA) approved the hearing aid feature of AirPods Pro. Now, Apple has rolled out the new feature via a software update (iOS 18.1) to the earphones.

Just thinking about the innovation that was necessary, the density of the technology that goes into AirPods, and the amount of effort and attention to detail that went into building these complex software features. So many teams came together — including software and hardware engineering, design, health, accessibility, clinical ops, regulatory, and the human factors engineering team — to ensure the best quality and experience,

Kuba Mazur, Apple’s hearing health lead engineer within Acoustics Engineering

AirPods Pro 2 will be able to support clinical-grade hearing tests based on the standard clinical approach called pure-tone audiometry. There will be no requirement for supervision by a doctor.

Users can take themselves with their AirPods Pro (2nd Gen) and a compatible iPhone or an iPad.

Get the latest news on new launches, gadget reviews, apps, cybersecurity, and more on personal technology only on DH Tech.