As someone who's worn hearing aides for almost a decade, I'm thrilled to see this.
To give folks a sense of the cost difference, here are some numbers:
My most recent pair of hearing aides cost $4,400 in 2020. And no, these are not covered by any kind of insurance.
AirPods Pro 2 cost $250, about a 95% reduction in price.
My most recent service on one of my hearing aides that was failing cost $280.
Also, I'm really looking forward to being able to manage things like audio curves myself, vs having to go through an audiologist for every adjustment.
The only thing I'm waiting for here before making a switch is better battery life, really want 18/24hours there.
Where did this article title come from? Last I checked, "soon" isn't "now," the feature isn't actually available yet
I love this. You can say what you want with everyone wearing airpods all the time but I think there is a lot less stigma with wearing them as opposed to hearing aids.
Plus hearing loss is a major risk factor for dementia. So this is big!
Related Apple study from May:
Apple Hearing Study shares preliminary insights on tinnitus
I'm currently working on a project for the blind and through my research have been made aware of the various accessibility features in macos.
[dupe]
More discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41491191
So how are hearing aid mfr stocks responding ?
"The big caveat is that users will still need an iPhone with iOS 18 and newer for this new feature to work."
This, like most bs we have had to endure, is certainly due to them changing the definition of hearing aids. (no, I am not joking).
This is why you can buy 'hearing aids' from costco now, without ever seeing an audiologist.
I think this is great that the tech is more accessible, IF the consumers are informed about how and why things changed.
Adam Currey (of the No Agenda podcast / headbangers ball fame) did a really good critique about this when it happened, and it was one of Nancy Pelosi's pet projects that made her a bunch of money.
He made a strong case (as a person deaf in one ear and an audio specialist given his work with tech, MTV, inventing podcasts, and suffering from hearing issues himself).
I would be very very wary of any device claiming it is a hearing aid that is not tuned by an audiologist, as you may just make your hearing problem worse.
This is what set this trainwreck into motion (picked at random with a quick search): https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/16/health/fda-hearing-aids.h...
When you just change the definitions of words for everything and anything, all the sudden nothing matters because nothing can be trusted.
The FDA approved these which feels big. Once Samsung and all the others follow this hearing aids will be much more affordable and accessible.