Updated on January 21st with more details about the hearing health capability and how to set up the new feature when it arrives.
Apple’s AirPods Pro 2 got updated software last fall, and now the UK will get to enjoy the cool features of the hearing aid in a few weeks. More details have now emerged about the feature and a neat add-on that helps it work, though it’s also clear that not every new listening feature is coming to AirPods Pro 2 everywhere.
Apple AirPods Pro 2.
As detailed below, a feature called Hearing Protection is not yet coming to UK users, and to set up the hearing aid capability, “Users may need to take the hearing aid test again, which will open the Hearing Aid menu. Apple will only suggest using AirPods Pro as a hearing aid if you have mild to moderate hearing loss when listening to spoken word frequencies.” as Macworld points out.
Why the hearing health features are limited to the AirPods Pro 2 and not the new AirPods Pro, which come in versions with or without active noise cancellation, has been confirmed by Matt Bolton at Tech Radar.
“Apple says this is because those models lack an ear seal to improve noise isolation, which is necessary for its technology to be effective. The mode won’t come to previous AirPods models either — though I’d expect it to be part of the AirPods Pro 3 feature list, which is said to arrive later in 2025,” Bolton explains.
AirPods Pro 2 has already unveiled the Hearing Test feature, so users can take a validated listening test at home to see if they would benefit from hearing aid assistance.
But while these features are already available in the US, for example, some countries, including the UK, did not have regulations in place to allow earbuds to continue to be used as hearing aids.
British Health Secretary Wes Streeting said: “Britain can be a powerhouse for medical technology, but only if we scrap the wasteful regulation that stifles innovation,” according to a report in the Daily Telegraph.
The report also cited a statement from Apple. “With new policy guidance from the UK Department of Health and Social Care, we look forward to bringing hearing aid functionality to AirPods Pro 2 in the coming weeks to help improve the daily lives of so many users in the United Kingdom,” Apple said.
In other words, Apple will release an updated version of the software for the UK, likely in iOS 18, but possibly with new firmware for AirPods Pro at retail.
AirPods Pro 2 can then be used as a hearing aid to help those with mild to moderate hearing loss.
Oh, and about that neat addition: if you hear a ring from the AirPods Pro 2 box while it’s charging, it turns out it’s a feature designed to make sure the microphones and speakers are working properly, “for example to help provide high-quality hearing test results,” Apple says in a support guide.
Of course, the battery life can’t match that of regular hearing aids and so will need to be removed to recharge periodically. And it can look like you’re listening to music or making a phone call when you wear them.
But for some people it can overcome the social stigma of having a visible hearing aid allowing them to hear better.
As for when, Apple’s comment about “the next few weeks” suggests January or February to me. For some, this can be a real help.
And then there’s hearing protection, which Apple describes in a support document as a way to “use your AirPods to help protect your hearing in noisy environments. If you’re in a loud environment like a live sporting event or a fitness class, you can use your AirPods to help reduce exposure to loud sounds around you.”
This feature, which relies in part on a comfortable in-ear fit for AirPods Pro 2, is enabled by default and works in all Transparency, Adaptive and Noise Canceling modes. Apple also says it’s effective when “your AirPods are clean.” Which I should hope they will be.
At the moment, this feature is very limited to the US and its small outlying islands, the US Virgin Islands, Canada, Puerto Rico, and Guam.
