Ep. 96 Will Apple's AirPods hearing aid update replace doctors???

[@JunYamog]

I bought my mom Airpods Pro 2 when it was released 2 years ago. My mom has a slight hearing loss on her right ear but didn't want to treat her hearing loss. But it wasn't great w/o the software support back then, so I eventually used the Airpods for myself. After the release of this software, I tried it again 2 weeks ago. My mom actually liked it, there are also the advantage of she is being able to hear her show while on the kitchen. And the best feature she liked is ability to noise cancel my dad! 😅

[@askanaudiologist]

That’s great! We’re glad she’s experiencing better hearing with the new update! Thanks for watching and sharing your story!

[@alexandermayakovsky6550]

Well, as long as your mom doesn't decide to noise cancel you. Have you informed her how to contact Apple for help in cancelling you and your dad at the same time?

[@ZEROOOOOOOOOOOOOOO00]

For the average person on social security, $250 vs $4k-$6K. And there's your answer. The "hearing aid" industry has priced aids so sky high that the average person simply cannot afford these products. The audiologists out there can do all the technical comparisons they want, but none of that matters when the price point of a "prescriptive" aid is beyond the reach of the masses. Perhaps, if they want to expand their pool of customers, they'd do well to lobby for Medicare coverage for their products. Or maybe they could develop affordable entry level devices that could compete with nom-prescriptive devices while affording the user the benefits of new technologies. Then, we can all benefit from their prescriptive level devices. If you don't improve your business model then technology & mass production will come in to steal away your business.

[@iMax1975]

This mirrors my experience with the AirPods Pro 2's hear aid feature. I also have ringing in my left ear.

[@BobbieGWhiz]

Thanks. The first time I took the Hearing Test, I tapped the screen with barely detectable tones, and therefore got less amplification. Then I tried a second Hearing Test and would not tap the screen for barely audible tones. Therefore it diagnosed me as having slightly worse hearing and therefore increased the amplification of the AirPods Pro 2 more. This provided me much better subjective results.

[@ricklevitt2650]

What I found amazing is the ability to keep the loud sounds and the soft sounds within an acceptable range to protect my hearing. So clear! I’m in love!❤

[@volarex5311]

Only 446 subscribers? This deserves more

[@askanaudiologist]

Thanks! We think so too!

[@alexandermayakovsky6550]

I agree.

[@frontenac1]

Just try to get a clear answer of the your question you posted- does AirPod pro 2 help for moderate hearing loss on high frequencies? My wife recently got diagnosed with this issue and her average is normal. Can the AirPod pro 2 boosts those specific frequencies?

[@davepinnell]

If the AirPods charging case makes an audible “click” whenever it’s opened and closed, and you were intermittently doing this whilst recording your piece to camera, then I heard every single one and, as a result, I’ve now decided that my hearing isn’t as bad as I thought it might have been!

[@denniss1211]

Your profession is really needed ... but ... the profession is going to have to make a lot of changes ... most professions are going to change.

[@alexandermayakovsky6550]

Excellent presentation. The point about low battery life is a killer. You really have to recharge Apple earpods constantly. If you forget to do it, don't count on using the pods till you do get around to charging. As with most batteries, they may start out with an initial capacity of 6 hours. Within a year or so that capacity will reduce considerably. The Apple "hearing aids" Pro2 seem excellent for helping people with hearing problems to have a helpful introduction to the sort of tests conducted by audiologists and also the factors involved in testing. This can help people to jump over the initial fear of taking that first step to getting a real hearing aid with the help of an audiologist. There have been great strides made in improving impaired hearing through progress in developing ever tinier digital chips, constantly with greater performance in smaller spaces. The Apple earpods are good for listening to music. So if people then move on to real hearing aids they still have excellent earphones. The couple of hundred dollars will not have heen wasted. Thanks again for the calm but thorough presentation.

[@askanaudiologist]

Thanks - we appreciate you tuning in!

[@vernearase3044]

My take on them is not that they're actual hearing aids - though they _can_ be used for that functionality - but there is supplemental function available now when you _do_ use them. I suspect that if you use hearing aids, you need to remove them when using a headset like AirPods Pro. Betcha that while these don't provide all the hearing aid bells and whistles of traditional prescription hearing aids in the hearing aid function domain, even technologically advanced hearing aids don't provide the transparency, noise reduction, hearing protection, and music and phone fidelity of Airpods Pro in the portable headset arena. At least for the present, the design criteria for hearing aids and AirPods Pro are two _vastly different_ targets though they do both share some traits in common. I expect that AirPods Pro 3 will incorporate more hearing aid functionality in their design which will improve their function and effectiveness in the hearing aid role.

[@AntonChigurh-q7s]

Did you do Real Ear testing?

[@askanaudiologist]

We did not -- this particular episode was to focus on the actual "hearing test" feature of the AirPods, in comparison to a standard sound booth found in most audiologist's offices. In the two patients we tested, both Dr. Michael and his father, the AirPods did not detect hearing loss. We are currently working on a follow-up episode with more in-depth testing, including real-ear measurement (REM) and test box measures. Stay tuned!

[@adydee1]

Crap they don’t work in India !!!

[@murraybrown3137]

Only a slightly conflicted review🙄you’re not the right person to do this evaluation with your father who is a retired audiologist. First off instead of following the Apple instructions, he took the test sitting in an open office with you at a desk instead of in a quiet room with as little background noise as possible. Battery life? They charge super fast. At $249 buy a separate pair. Social stigma of these hanging off your ear. You’re stretching it dude. The Apple AirPods pro 2 have 2.3 Billion transistors. The architecture of the W2 custom chip is amazing. How many transistors are in a typical hearing aid? Who makes the cpu chip in most industry hearing aids.

[@BobbieGWhiz]

Some valid points, but your tone is a bit harsh. It’s called an H2 chip, not a W2 chip. Regardless of how many transistors are in that chip, it all comes down to improvement in sound and conversation. I think they’re fairly similar to my five-year-old Oticon OPN’s, but they’re better at ambient noise reduction. Having said that, that function unfortunately reduces the volume of conversation as well. They’re good, but they’re not amazing. They don’t blow traditional hearing aids out of the water, regardless of how many transistors they have. For me, they still don’t achieve the holy grail of understanding conversation in noisy environments or hearing soft talkers.