THERE ARE MORE than 30 million people estimated to be living with mild to moderate hearing loss in the US—and for many, that condition is just a fact of life. They don’t seek treatment, and the accumulated efforts to interact with the outside world can build up to more serious health problems, like social isolation and even dementia.
On a more personal level, there are small moments in everyday life that can easily be missed when you can’t hear clearly. That type of moment is the center of Apple’s latest holiday ad, which casts a real person who’s had this type of experience. John Pelletreau is a normal dad from Chicago who has experienced hearing loss. But he’s been able to connect better with his loved ones thanks to the tech giant’s new hearing health features for the AirPods Pro 2 earphones, which include a clinical-grade hearing aid, the first over-the-counter (OTC) hearing aid software device authorized by the FDA.
The ad shows Pelletreau and his family on Christmas morning. As his daughter unwraps a guitar, he flashes back through memories of her over the years as he watches her excitedly take the instrument from its case and begin to strum—but all of the sound is muffled, and he can’t hear her clearly in real life or in his reverie. At his wife’s prompting, John puts his AirPods in his ears, adjusts the volume of the Hearing Aid feature on his phone, and the distortion resolves. He can hear his daughter playing and singing a song, and he cycles back through all the memories of her he had envisioned before, this time with perfect clarity.
It’s a touching scene (Apple appropriately dubbed the spot “Heartstrings”), but it’s also a practical showcase for the potential of the AirPods Pro 2’s hearing health features. You won’t exactly reimagine treasured memories with a remastered soundtrack when you use them like the ad shows, but you might be able to tune into your surroundings better to hear what you’ve been missing.
The most intriguing aspect of this type of solution for people like Pelletreau is that the intervention to his hearing loss comes in a gadget that’s widely available and accessible through a simple test on your smartphone. Apple’s own Hearing Health Study (undertaken in collaboration with the University of Michigan and the World Health Organization) found that 75 percent of people diagnosed with hearing loss go untreated. Part of that is likely due to the high costs associated with doctor’s visits and hearing aids.
“With hearing loss, you just kind of get used to dealing with it,” Pelletreau says. “I never thought to myself ‘Oh, I should go get hearing aids.’ I don’t know why—maybe just the cost. Everything I’ve always heard about hearing aids is that they’re crazy expensive.”
AirPods aren’t the cheapest true wireless earbuds, but the $249 sticker price is much more reasonable and accessible than the time and investment of thousands of dollars associated with doctors visits and dedicated hearing aid devices.
“When something costs that much, the calculation isn’t ‘I should do this because it might make my life better’—but ‘is it worth the cost, when my life seems just fine,’” Pelletreau continues. “Whereas with AirPods Pro, if they can drastically improve your hearing, that’s a done deal.”
AirPods Pro 2
AirPods Pro 2
If you have the AirPods Pro 2, you can check your hearing to see if the Hearing Aid feature might help. Make sure that your iPhone or iPad are updated to iOS 18 or iPadOS 18 (you can also use the feature with AirPods paired with a Mac running macOS Sequoia or later).
How to Take Apple’s New Hearing Test
Taking the Apple Hearing Test is simple. You’ll need just around five minutes in a quiet environment and some focused listening. (For more detailed directions, check out Apple’s guide here.)
To initiate the test, make sure you have the AirPods Pro 2 connected to your iPhone. Then, go to Settings on your iPhone, then select your AirPods Pro 2. Under the Hearing Health section, you’ll see the option to “Take a Hearing Test.”
On the next screen, you’ll be provided with some information about hearing loss and what the new features can do for you. Press “Get Started,” and you’ll be prompted to answer a few basic background questions before the test. After that, you’ll need to be in a quiet environment (the program will use the AirPods’ microphones to determine what exactly that means). Once you’re in the right spot and your earbuds are snugly placed in your ears, you’ll be ready to go.
After a program runs to check the fit of your AirPods, your phone will enable Do Not Disturb automatically during the test—so make sure you’re not in the middle of any important conversations. Then the test will begin.
The program will play tones at different frequencies and volumes. You’ll be able to play a sample of the sound before you begin. The tones come in threes, a quick beeping in either earbud. During the test, you’ll be prompted to listen and tap the phone’s touchscreen whenever you hear a tone. You’ll start with the left ear, then switch to the right.
After the test, you’ll be provided with the results. When I took the test, I was told that it indicated “little to no hearing loss.” There’s even a graph layout for more details—which you can share with a medical professional if needed.
For those who do have some hearing loss, you’ll be able to set up a hearing profile for the Hearing Aid feature (you can also set it up if you already have audiogram created by a hearing health professional). If your hearing loss is more severe, you’ll want to contact a doctor to seek other treatment.
