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Apple's AirPods and Live Listen are a revolution for the hearing impaired
- rgbrenner 8y agoKudos apple for this. Even though most of these (including this one) dont benefit me, this is always good to see. So many of these accessibility devices are ridiculously expensive, and Airpods are far cheaper than hearing aids. Maybe a little competition will bring down the prices to something more reasonable. Only 1/3rd of the 15% with hearing loss are using hearing aids. That's a lot of suffering for what is really just from poor insurance in the US: High-quality hearing aids fitted by an audiologist cost between $2,200 and $7,000 per pair. Prices vary by region, but the average cost of a mid-level pair of hearing aids is about $4,500.10 Most private insurance does not cover hearing aids. Only 3 states—Arkansas, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island—mandate coverage for adults, and just 20 states require that children’s hearing aids be covered by health insurance.11 Insurance companies say that they do not cover hearing aids because hearing aids are “elective” or because, unlike cochlear implants, hearing aids do not require a medical doctor’s prescription or surgical intervention. ... Hearing loss can have a dramatic impact on work performance, family and social relationships, and mental health. Studies have found that hearing impairment is significantly associated with depression and social isolation, particularly among women.16,17 A national survey found that hearing loss also has a negative impact on household income, with a loss of earnings up to an average of $12,000 per year, with the severity of hearing loss directly correlated with the amount of lost income. The use of hearing devices was found to mitigate this effect by 50%. https://altarum.org/health-policy-blog/millions-of-americans-need-hearing-aids-why-don%E2%80%99t-they-have-them https://altarum.org/health-policy-blog/millions-of-americans...
- faitswulff 8y ago> dont benefit me Not yet, but aging is a thing. I hope the accessibility options are the stuff of science fiction when I get old.
- Waterluvian 8y agoAnd they don't have the stigma attached. They look like what everyone else is wearing. Medical equipment is interesting. Something like a pacemaker really needs to work but a hearing aid can probably do fine with a much lower reliability if it means they're affordable.
- obelix_ 8y agoJust cheaper these days to buy them from India. You could fly there, get a top quality doc/audiologist to check you up. The same top of the line aids cost around 2-3K max. Do the touristy stuff and fly back all for less than what it costs to get an aid in the US. "Medical tourism" they call it.
- gwern 8y agoIf you are taking the trouble to look into how to save money on hearing aids, Costco will get you audiologist testing and hearing aids at <$2000 and vastly less trouble than a trip to India. (That's what I did for my last replacement pair last year and so far it's worked out well.)
- stephenamills 8y agoWow rgbrenner, thank you so much for sharing this. I didn’t have any knowledge about any of that. AirPods are going to change lives.
- herodotus 8y agoI have been wearing hearing aids for about 6 years. They work, but are incredibly expensive. If AirPods and an iPhone could be used as an alternative, that would be an incredible thing. My current hearing aids come with a blue-tooth adaptor which I never use. I don't use it because the sound quality is very poor - I have a common, age-related high-frequency drop off. So my aids boost the high frequencies, but do not transit the lower frequencies: these I just get as normal. (My hearing aid dome allows low frequencies through to my ear). So when I use the blue-tooth adaptor, all I get is the high frequency sound: very unsatisfactory. The only objection I can see to an AirPod alternative is that the AirPods show - my hearing aids are the behind-the-ear type, and most people do not notice that I am wearing them.
- TheJoYo 8y agoCurrently using AirPods (I call them AirBuds) to listen to ANYTHING playing on my Roku TV. They work great on Android and Windows 10, too.
- donarb 8y agoI do that as well with my AppleTV. I live in an apartment so I don't want to crank up the volume watching movies and bother the neighbors. And with my AirPods, I can get up and go to the kitchen to get something to eat and not miss a second of dialogue.
- philjohn 8y agoI've found they lose sync on Windows, as in, you hear an echo as left and right and perfectly aligned. Could be the bluetooth dongle I use I suppose, but it's an Asus rather than a no-brand off Amazon.
- satysin 8y agoI had no end of trouble with AirPods and a Killer 1535 wireless card (WiFi and Bluetooth) but replacing that with an Intel 9260 and it has been perfect.
- baxtr 8y agoI think that’s a great use case, but what if you wanna watch with 2+ people? I am missing multi AirPod support!
- voidmain 8y agoHopefully the FDA will not move to block this.
- userbinator 8y agoIf it's not marketed as a medical device, the FDA can't do anything about it. For the same reasons they don't regulate telescopes and binoculars.
- elil17 8y agoThey won’t, there are already unregulated audio amplifiers. But everyone should know that trying to use headphones as hearing aids is exceedingly dangerous. Hearing aids are carefully tuned by doctors to prevent the loud noises they produce from accelerating hearing loss. The Live Listen feature is best used with hearing aids, not AirPods.
- drewg123 8y agoThis contradicts what I've heard from my wife's best friend who was diagnosed with hearing loss several years ago & has been using hearing aids. According to her, hearing aids themselves are dangerous, expensive & flaky. She complains there is no "one size fits all", and she needs at least two or three different ones. Eg, she has one which is great for indoor conversations, but is very susceptible to wind noise, which she said gets amplified so much it is dangerous. On the other end, she has one she wears outdoors that is great for rejecting wind noise, but she says is useless for indoor conversations with lots of people talking. These are devices which cost thousands. I'm going to forward this article to her; hopefully she has an old phone she can install the beta on and try this.
- elil17 8y agoI work in an audiology research lab. It is true that hearing aids can degrade your hearing. But if it is tuned by an audiologist it can do significantly more damage. Of course that does little good for people without health insurance - hearing aids are so expensive. But if you can possibly afford to see an audiologist and care about maintaining your hearing (which not everyone does) you should absolutely not use untuned audio amplifiers.
- pjc50 8y agoSo what does this actually do to the sound? Improve directionality? Amplification across all bands? Speech processing? Noise reduction? I have a set of NHS hearing aids (free and with a lifetime supply of free batteries), and they're effectively given a custom EQ profile to match my hearing loss (frequencies above 4khz). They also have feedback protection, which I can occasionally hear kicking in.
- MBCook 8y agoIt lets you use the AirPods to hearvwhat the phone’s mic picks up. That’s it. It won’t replace real hearing aids all the time. The battery only lasts 4 hours after all. But for people without hearing aids it may be useful in lour places or to hear quiet talkers.
- lev99 8y ago> The battery only lasts 4 hours after all. Just buy two, and keep one charging at all times. Two airpods are still about 1/10 the cost of hearing aids.
- emit_time 8y agoMore like 1/40 the cost
- empath75 8y agoThey last longer than 4 hours for me.
- MBCook 8y agoMaybe it’s five? I just know that sometimes I wear them nonstop starting from when I come back from lunch and they die a bit before I leave; if I haven’t taken a break and charged them for a few minutes. I’ve also had them since launch and use them basically every single day at work. Maybe those ridiculously tiny batteries have worn down a little bit.
- pohl 8y agoI got my pair as soon as they became available, and I’ve slowly realized that at the rate that I had to replace the old, wired EarPods (due to failures in the cable or accidentally laundering them) I’ve probably already crossed the break even point, making the AirPods surprisingly more cost-effective. And, yet, I use them so much more — very nearly all day.
- lwansbrough 8y agoLet me know how cost effective they are when the battery wears out or you accidentally launder them.
- donovanh 8y agoI accidentally laundered mine a few weeks ago - left them out for a few hours before trying them and they were (and have continued to be) 100% fine.
- robin_reala 8y agoBatteries are replaceable for $49: https://support.apple.com/airpods/repair/service https://support.apple.com/airpods/repair/service
- userbinator 8y agoJudging by how they're put together, https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/AirPods+Teardown/75578 https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/AirPods+Teardown/75578 ...I bet the $49 "battery replacement" is really more like "small discount on a new AirPod or case".
- qubitcoder 8y agoFor what it's worth, mine survived both the washer and dryer unscathed. I just had to clean off the contacts at the base with a cotton swab.
- pohl 8y agoThe case is too thick to miss in a pat-down, making that scenario far less likely.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- inlined 8y agoAm I the only one whose AirPods have gotten quiet over time? I use mine now only to avoid disturbing others around me; I often have to hold them into my ear to understand YouTube. My phone's speakers are much louder and clearer. [Edit: the comment is meant to be relevant because this seems cool and I like the lack of stigma, but a nearly silent headphone may not be ideal for the hard of hearing]
- philjohn 8y agoSounds like you need to clean them https://lifehacker.com/the-gross-but-effective-way-to-clean-your-airpods-1820945258 https://lifehacker.com/the-gross-but-effective-way-to-clean-...
- inlined 8y agoEw.. since they're water resistant, I tried ear wax drops. Helps a bit, though it's weird that my wired Apple headphones don't suffer the same way
- samatman 8y agoI never got EarPods to last more than a few months; the wax would get through the mesh, and cleaning only worked once. I was concerned Airpods would be the same way but so far (six months) they sound as good as ever.
- MBCook 8y agoJust an anecdote, but no my haven’t changed at all.
- lowtolerance 8y agoI’ve never heard this complaint about AirPods. Mine certainly don’t seem to have experienced any reduction in volume after about 15 months of use. Have you gotten them wet?
- zeckalpha 8y agoYou may be experiencing hearing loss. Please get your ears checked.
- JosephHatfield 8y agoIs this enabled in the iOS 12 Beta 3? I can't find it.
- alexfringes 8y agoIt does seem like it is absent from Beta 3. In Beta 1, I had added it to Control Center but at some point in time since then (Beta 2/3) it was removed, it seems. Not exactly a promising sign. Edit: it seems that the feature only appears when AirPods are in proximity. Seeing it in Beta 3 now that I’ve gone home and am close to the AirPods.
- Cauchon 8y agoYup, I was able to get it when I had my AirPods out > Settings > Control Center > Add "Hearing". Then turn it on in Control Center and boom!
- victor106 8y agoI read all the negativity (I am not a big fan of the touchbar on my MacBook Pro) about Apple on HN but one thing they deserve high praise for is accessability and privacy. Going back to the release of the first iPhone it had great accessibility features.
- mwcampbell 8y agoJust curious, what accessibility features did the first iPhone have? FWIW, VoiceOver, the screen reader for blind users, didn't arrive until the third iPhone, the 3GS.
- baxtr 8y agoI find HN to be relatively positive about Apple, in general. RE MacBook Keyboard : If things are bad, they should be called out
- anonu 8y agoThe AirPods are really far and away the best truly wireless in ear headphones. I did a bit of research before buying them recently. Ultimately my thinking about buying Apple versus another competitor in this vertical boiled down to: Apple is sitting on billions and billions in cash... Their R&D can never be matched. Case in point: they built a custom chip for the airpods... Who else can do that? The bar is high.
- bognition 8y ago> The AirPods are really far and away the best truly wireless in ear headphones If they fit your ears yes, but if they don't fit your ears they're useless because they fall out after a few moments of use.
- ninkendo 8y agoDoesn't that apply to any in-ear headphone?
- Synaesthesia 8y agoMore so for EarPods because they don’t go into your ear canal. But yes it does apply to any in-ear earphone, except those with custom molds. Eg Etymotic
- nicwolff 8y agoOther earphones, you can add a formed rubber cover to make them fit. Due to the AirPods charging in their clever snug case, you can't easily use them with any kind of cover attached.
- Synaesthesia 8y agoUnfortunately they don’t fit my grandpa who has unusually large ear openings.
- 1123581321 8y agoPeople with larger openings can put a little rubber on them to increase the diameter and add friction. There are some third party products and DIY methods out there.
- csomar 8y agoI got the airpods a couple weeks ago. My main motivation was that the earpods cable easily tangle. It's difficult to sort it out. The next motivation was to be able to charge the phone while using the earpods since they have lightening. And finally, because I can't get the earpods in my macbook unless I use an adapter. And here is my experience: It is great and feels like an Apple product. 1. The charge lasts. It lasts around 2-3 hours + charge 6-7 more times. Can go with the thing for a full day of usage without worrying. 2. It is seamless to get it working. You just open the case. Done. Then you can easily switch on the Mac after you connected it to your iPhone. 3. The sound is good. It is not too strong. But I guess this will protect me against my own stupidity. 4. The airpods are water resistant (though warranty doesn't cover that). I dropped one on my coffee cup. Still working good. Simple. Nice. And it works. That's what I'm paying the premium for! And yes, it is definitively worth the price. I use them for 3-4 hours per day. So if they last for a couple year, that's like $0.22/day for something that I use probably more than anything else.
- MBCook 8y agoThey really do feel like that old Apple magic from when you first got an iPod. I ordered them when they came out and figured I’d return/sell them if I didn’t like them. I had normal corded headphones, wasn’t sure I’d really care. Given how long it took for them to fix supply issues that was a good decision. But they really changed the way I do everything. They’re so small in their case that I can just carry it with me all the time, so I never have to worry about if I left my headphones somewhere. I always have some on me. By and large they sound better than my old headphones (comfortable/decent sounding $20 model, so no big surprise) but they’re so incredibly convenient. I don’t remember the last thing I could give an unqualified recommendation to other than AirPods. Android users don’t get some of the benefits of easy pairing, and of course your ears have to fit the things... but they’re fantastic.
- anonu 8y agoNice points. I actually use my AirPods on Android. They've been really great there. There' not much visibility on battery life though - have to connect them to my MBP to get a battery status. The Android apps that have any support for this are bloated with junk. I'd write my own if I had the time - and then again - I don't know if I want to delve into the world of the Bluetooth protocol. I would say I get a bit more than 3 hours on a charge - but maybe because they're still new. Agreed on the 6-7 charges from the case.
- eagsalazar2 8y agoI'm confused about what is so amazing about this. To be clear, I have Airpods and really love them but how is this different than any of the many "microphone" apps already out there? I have a Pixel 2 so I can confirm there are a million of these apps on the Play Store, is there some reason this app isn't possible on iOS? Is it about lower latency?
- MBCook 8y agoHonestly it never occurred to me to even look for such an app. It may simply be that this is built-in and thus more people will have/know about it.
- abritinthebay 8y agoThe focus on low latency is a big deal. Many of the live mic apps are fine, but they have noticeable lag (really low, but there) But also being built in is big too
- notatoad 8y agoI can't really say because I haven't used either Apple's live listen feature or any of the microphone apps on Android, but the article says live listen doesn't just amplify sound, it isolates and amplifies voices. Which sounds like a different thing to the standard microphone apps.
- SuperPaintMan 8y agoYeah that's pretty similar to what current/last gen hearing aids can do. My mother has been dependent on her pair since she was 7, but a few years ago she upgraded to a newer version. The hearing aid has a few different modes for isolating foreground and background noise toggled by a small button. There's a general amplification mode, conversation mode (isolates) and a crowd mode. Now I'm very curious as to what current gen hearing aids are capable of.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- ricardobeat 8y agoThe Sony MDR-1000X/WH-1000XM2 have had a 'voice' mode for years, where noise cancelling let's through specific bandwidths. I use it as a safety feature when riding my bicycle, and it is nothing short of amazing. I can hear birds tweeting in the trees around me, tire noise coming from cars, crystal clear conversation. I'd love to have the same feature in a smaller package.
- delbel 8y agoCan somebody help explain this to me? Can I buy AirPods (looks like they are $159?) and then use them with android? or do I need an iphone? Which Iphone do I need? Is there one without a contract that has this software? Will I eventually be forced to upgrade the phone or it will stop working? Does the software allow me to adjust for the frequency that I need help in? How much do I need to spend?
- wlonkly 8y agoBuying an iPhone for this feels expensive to me. You might be interested in PSAPs, which are basically hearing aids that haven't gone through the FDA hearing aid bureaucracy: https://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-personal-sound-amplification-product/ https://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-personal-sound-amplif... But to answer your question: You can use AirPods as headphones with Android, but the "Live Listen" feature in the article is an iPhone feature.