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New hearing aid features are coming to AirPods Pro this fall, with the imminent iOS (18.1) update, as Apple announced during its back-to-school keynote.
The new features announced concern the reduction of loud sounds, but also the implementation of a hearing test, accompanied if necessary by a real integrated hearing aid. This new software is a first. It is accessible to all AirPods Pro 2 owners.
The hearing test function, scientifically validated by Apple, is available on iPhone or iPad. This test, which lasts a few minutes, evaluates the perception of sounds at different frequencies and intensities. The result indicates your hearing ability and can, if necessary, be shared with a doctor.
Once the test is completed, you will have a hearing profile, allowing you to adapt the sound quality of the headphones to your possible hearing difficulties. Corrections, more or less significant, can then be automatically made to compensate for the observed deficiencies, in particular by adjusting the volume or accentuating certain frequencies in real time, to be able to make the most of your music or phone calls.
Be careful though, not everyone will be able to benefit from it. Apple announces that these new features will be available this fall in around a hundred countries, including of course the United States, but also Japan and Germany. France is awaiting validation by the health authorities. It is therefore possible that these functionalities will be absent on the French side or, at best, limited, at the time of their launch. It will then remain to be determined whether these headphones, sold for 279 euros, can be considered as medical aid in their own right and thus claim possible reimbursement, in full or in part, by Social Security.
Apple recalls that more than 1.5 billion people around the world suffer from more or less severe hearing loss, according to the latest figures from the World Health Organization (WHO), a figure that could even reach 2.5 billion by 2050.