- The Hearing Aids feature is only available on the 2nd-generation AirPods Pro, both USB-C and Lightning versions.
- AirPods 2 hearing health features will only be available to users in the U.S. and Canada.
- To use AirPods 2 as hearing aids, you must install iOS 18.1 on your iPhone or iPadOS 18.1 on your iPad.
Apple shared another glimpse of advanced hearing health features coming to the AirPods Pro 2 with iOS 18.1 next week. The Cupertino tech giant announced the AirPods Pro 2 hearing aid feature at its September iPhone launch event. As soon as Apple previewed this feature, it grabbed everyone’s attention and became the most impressive iOS 18 feature for many. Since then, fans have been waiting to get their hands on this incredible addition. Unfortunately, even if you’ve got an AirPods 2 and an iOS 18 compatible iPhone, the hearing aids feature won’t be available worldwide. Read on to know if AirPods 2 hearing health is available in your country.
AirPods 2 Hearing Health Features
AirPods 2 hearing health will include three core features: hearing protection, hearing testing, and hearing aid functionality. With the Hearing Aid capability, your AirPods Pro 2 can be used as a clinical-grade hearing aid, boosting specific sounds in real time. Users have to take a hearing test on their iPhone, which will be similar to a clinical hearing test performed by audiologists. The test will play a series of tones with different frequencies to which users can respond. AirPods will use those results to fine-tune the sound and turn AirPods 2 into hearing aids. The results will be stored in the Health app, and users can adjust their AirPods audio settings accordingly.
In addition to hearing aids, the update will include advanced hearing protection that actively monitors the user’s surroundings and reduces the impact of loud noises, such as concerts or traffic. This feature will be integrated across various listening modes on the AirPods.
AirPods Pro 2 Hearing Aids Availability
The Hearing Aids feature is only available on the 2nd-generation AirPods Pro, both USB-C and Lightning versions. Also, according to a footnote on Apple’s website, AirPods 2 hearing health features will only be available to users in the U.S. and Canada.
That means, even if you’ve got the AirPods Pro 2 and an iOS 18 or iPadOS compatible device, you can’t use hearing health features outside the US and Canada, at least for now.
When Apple release new options for health features, they have to be approved by the local regulators. In the US, the FDA authorizes AirPods Pro 2 as the first over-the-counter hearing aid software. It appears Apple is waiting to get approvals from more health regulators across the globe to expand Hearing Health capabilities to more countries.
If you live in the US and Canada, you just have to install iOS 18.1 on your iPhone or iPadOS 18.1 on your iPad and then look for the Hearing Health options in the AirPods settings.
Apart from the AirPods Pro hearing features, Apple also previewed a list of the first Apple Intelligence features arriving with iOS 18.1. As anticipated, the upcoming iOS 18.1 will bring Writing Tools, Notification Summaries, Smart Replies in Mail & Messages, a polished Clean-Up Tool, Siri’s ability to answer questions about Apple products, and more. Other impressive AI features like Genmoji, Image Playground, and ChatGPT integration will arrive at a later date.
