6 ms·

Fantastic news. If you can afford the $5,000 - great! The current system works for you. 80% of people cannot and so are stuck. For folks with mild/moderate lo

Fantastic news. If you can afford the $5,000 - great! The current system works for you. 80% of people cannot and so are stuck. For folks with mild/moderate loss (where a LOT of people don't get help) something as simple as letting Apple tweak noise cancellation to be voice enhancing and providing a tuning and hearing test app in the iphone would be a godsend. The elderly miss out on a lot of family life because of hearing issues - people stop talking to them even if they are fully sound of mind because of this issue. I've seen this personally. And for all those who say apple is just a consumer products company and there is no way their $180 - $250 airpods can provide any benefit I think you might be surprised.

kristofferR 5y ago
Yeah, the AirPods Pro's are amazing as hearing aids. The only issue is that they are very visible and only last 4 hours each charge (I suppose you could get two pairs and switch between them every four hours).
- slownews45 5y ago
  Airpods 3's should be 6 hours without spatial audio. And yes, I do use one at a time! The charge time is pretty quick.
  - kristofferR 5y ago
    The things that makes it work good as a hearing aid are the microphones and other Pro-only features though, so the non-Pro can't be used.
falcolas 5y ago
FWIW, there is a nuanced difference between hearing aids and iPods. Hearing aids basically apply a hearing-capability matched EQ to the incoming sound. Why this matters: Hearing loss is not uniform across frequencies, and we use huge portions of the spectrum for different functions (truck backup beepers vs. car engine noises, both used to identify what's coming your way).
- eurleif 5y ago
  Samsung phones have a feature that tests your hearing at different frequencies, creates a personalized EQ profile, and applies it to your earbuds: https://www.samsung.com/au/support/mobile-devices/customise-adapt-sounds/ https://www.samsung.com/au/support/mobile-devices/customise-...
  - falcolas 5y ago
    Cool. But without properly flat headphones and sufficient sound isolation, I wouldn't put a ton of trust into it. It's probably good enough for an temporary situation, but I wouldn't trust it long term. Improper amplification can damage your hearing further.
    - eurleif 5y ago
      I don't know much about this topic, so interpret these as questions, not as arguments that I have particular confidence in: * If the earbuds you use to perform the hearing test are the same ones you use with the resulting EQ profile, why does it matter whether the earbuds are flat or not? If you're taking measurements in a transformed coordinate space, and applying those measurements in the same transformed coordinate space, shouldn't that be equivalent to taking measurements in the original coordinate space and applying them in the original coordinate space? * Why isn't active noise cancellation a good enough form of noise isolation? * If using an EQ profile that only matches your hearing loss imperfectly can damage your hearing, wouldn't the same thing apply to EQ profiles that aren't intended to correct hearing, like the media player presets "classical music", "rock music", etc.? For that matter, wouldn't it apply to a flat EQ profile? Is there something special about an imperfect hearing correction EQ profile, compared to other EQ profiles?
      - falcolas 5y ago
        > If the earbuds you use to perform the hearing test are the same ones you use with the resulting EQ profile You also have to account for the microphone, which can (and will) have its own bias. Measuring from a flat response source, and producing for a flat response mic/speaker combination will produce the most accurate results. > active noise cancellation ANC creates sound artifacts at low volumes. It also provides, in ideal circumstances, around 25Db of noise reduction. You probably want between 40 and 80Db (or more) of noise reduction, depending on the ambient noise level around you. The threshold of hearing hovers around 10Db for healthy ears. Healthy ears can hearing your own heartbeat in an anechoic chamber (as close to 0Db as we can get). > wouldn't the same thing apply to EQ profiles that aren't intended to correct hearing If you're correcting for a 40Db loss at one frequency (taken randomly from the surrounding threads), applying it to a frequency where you have only 20Db loss can result in an extra 20Db of sound at that frequency. 20Db is 4x louder by perception, and over 6x higher pressure. For a point of reference, Apple music's EQ curves are 12Db, 24Db if you set the extremes. So yes, they could damage your hearing, but that will depend more on the volume than the EQ.
ddlutz 5y ago
This is me. 28, had mild hearing loss for about 3 years now in one ear due to a bad ear infection. I can get by fine, however I'm definitely missing out on a lot of "richness" of sound. I can't hear high pitched noises, or subtle differences between noises in my left ear at all. And everything in general is a little muted. Since I can hear perfectly find out of my right ear I'm not convinced spending thousands of dollars is worth it. I would spend $10,000+ if my tinnitus could be cured permanently though.
- dfinninger 5y ago
  I'd take that tinnitus treatment in a heartbeat. The drumming-on-the-back-of-the-skull trick lasts just long enough for me to realize what the world could sound like. (I tend to not do it anymore due to the mild depression I get realizing how fleeting the relief is)
- babarganesh 5y ago
  i'd pay way more than 100k for a tinnitus cure. it would be worth significantly delaying retirement for. but there's nothing on the horizon. and yes, i have adapted to it well enough that it doesn't cause me anxiety and don't notice it 98% of the time. i just miss pure hearing.
dominotw 5y ago
My dad has mild hearing loss and recent 'conversation boost' in airpods works like magic for him. Most ppl don't know that this even exists in their airpods because the settings are hidden deep inside hearing accessiblity .

kristofferR 5y ago

Yeah, the AirPods Pro's are amazing as hearing aids. The only issue is that they are very visible and only last 4 hours each charge (I suppose you could get two pairs and switch between them every four hours).

slownews45 5y ago
Airpods 3's should be 6 hours without spatial audio. And yes, I do use one at a time! The charge time is pretty quick.
- kristofferR 5y ago
  The things that makes it work good as a hearing aid are the microphones and other Pro-only features though, so the non-Pro can't be used.

falcolas 5y ago

FWIW, there is a nuanced difference between hearing aids and iPods. Hearing aids basically apply a hearing-capability matched EQ to the incoming sound. Why this matters: Hearing loss is not uniform across frequencies, and we use huge portions of the spectrum for different functions (truck backup beepers vs. car engine noises, both used to identify what's coming your way).

eurleif 5y ago
Samsung phones have a feature that tests your hearing at different frequencies, creates a personalized EQ profile, and applies it to your earbuds: https://www.samsung.com/au/support/mobile-devices/customise-adapt-sounds/ https://www.samsung.com/au/support/mobile-devices/customise-...
- falcolas 5y ago
  Cool. But without properly flat headphones and sufficient sound isolation, I wouldn't put a ton of trust into it. It's probably good enough for an temporary situation, but I wouldn't trust it long term. Improper amplification can damage your hearing further.
  - eurleif 5y ago
    I don't know much about this topic, so interpret these as questions, not as arguments that I have particular confidence in: * If the earbuds you use to perform the hearing test are the same ones you use with the resulting EQ profile, why does it matter whether the earbuds are flat or not? If you're taking measurements in a transformed coordinate space, and applying those measurements in the same transformed coordinate space, shouldn't that be equivalent to taking measurements in the original coordinate space and applying them in the original coordinate space? * Why isn't active noise cancellation a good enough form of noise isolation? * If using an EQ profile that only matches your hearing loss imperfectly can damage your hearing, wouldn't the same thing apply to EQ profiles that aren't intended to correct hearing, like the media player presets "classical music", "rock music", etc.? For that matter, wouldn't it apply to a flat EQ profile? Is there something special about an imperfect hearing correction EQ profile, compared to other EQ profiles?
    - falcolas 5y ago
      > If the earbuds you use to perform the hearing test are the same ones you use with the resulting EQ profile You also have to account for the microphone, which can (and will) have its own bias. Measuring from a flat response source, and producing for a flat response mic/speaker combination will produce the most accurate results. > active noise cancellation ANC creates sound artifacts at low volumes. It also provides, in ideal circumstances, around 25Db of noise reduction. You probably want between 40 and 80Db (or more) of noise reduction, depending on the ambient noise level around you. The threshold of hearing hovers around 10Db for healthy ears. Healthy ears can hearing your own heartbeat in an anechoic chamber (as close to 0Db as we can get). > wouldn't the same thing apply to EQ profiles that aren't intended to correct hearing If you're correcting for a 40Db loss at one frequency (taken randomly from the surrounding threads), applying it to a frequency where you have only 20Db loss can result in an extra 20Db of sound at that frequency. 20Db is 4x louder by perception, and over 6x higher pressure. For a point of reference, Apple music's EQ curves are 12Db, 24Db if you set the extremes. So yes, they could damage your hearing, but that will depend more on the volume than the EQ.

ddlutz 5y ago

This is me. 28, had mild hearing loss for about 3 years now in one ear due to a bad ear infection. I can get by fine, however I'm definitely missing out on a lot of "richness" of sound. I can't hear high pitched noises, or subtle differences between noises in my left ear at all. And everything in general is a little muted. Since I can hear perfectly find out of my right ear I'm not convinced spending thousands of dollars is worth it. I would spend $10,000+ if my tinnitus could be cured permanently though.

dfinninger 5y ago
I'd take that tinnitus treatment in a heartbeat. The drumming-on-the-back-of-the-skull trick lasts just long enough for me to realize what the world could sound like. (I tend to not do it anymore due to the mild depression I get realizing how fleeting the relief is)
babarganesh 5y ago
i'd pay way more than 100k for a tinnitus cure. it would be worth significantly delaying retirement for. but there's nothing on the horizon. and yes, i have adapted to it well enough that it doesn't cause me anxiety and don't notice it 98% of the time. i just miss pure hearing.

dominotw 5y ago

My dad has mild hearing loss and recent 'conversation boost' in airpods works like magic for him. Most ppl don't know that this even exists in their airpods because the settings are hidden deep inside hearing accessiblity .