I picked up the AirPods 3 Pro yesterday. My intention is to use them strictly for hearing assistance, and they have been absolutely fantastic so far.
So why do I claim I could have saved my money? Well, something totally unexpected occurred. I usually never wear headphones because my hearing impairment makes it hard to distinguish lyrics in songs, so I rarely listen to music and never bother with earbuds.
However, while wearing these yesterday, I noticed that people naturally raise their volume when speaking to me because they assume they have to talk over whatever I’m listening to. I could have just bought a broken pair of earbuds and walked around with them to get people to speak up, haha.
My biggest concern was that they might cause ear pain or constantly fall out. I’ve had them in for about 10 hours total since yesterday, and there’s no soreness or slipping with the standard tips. I can definitely feel them, but the comfort level is much better than I anticipated.
Just wanted to pass along this lifehack about people talking louder when they see you wearing headphones.
My dad has hearing loss and currently uses aids in both ears. Do you think the APP3 could actually replace traditional hearing aids? Do you happen to know what degree of hearing loss they are capable of assisting?
My father has significant hearing loss. We found out through the Apple Health test (and also learned that APP2 only helps with mild to moderate loss). But the issue isn’t just his hearing; he simply doesn’t care to engage with anything.
This is really helpful and valuable feedback, thanks for posting. If we imagine the AirPods were invisible, how do they perform as hearing aids in general? Would you suggest them for that use case?
As someone in Europe, I’m curious: is Apple promoting this because professional hearing aids aren’t covered by insurance or are too expensive in the States?
Over here, hearing aids are mostly covered by health insurance, so nobody would really think about using headphones or EarPods as a medical substitute.
The APP2 worked for my wife as hearing aids, but she couldn’t wear them for long because they wouldn’t stay in. Moving from the stock Apple tips to FoamMaster ones helped a bit, but she eventually went with ‘actual’ hearing aids that cost about six times as much.
I just bought some APP3s for myself, though, and might let her try them to see if the fit has improved.
So they work. That’s cool. Now we just have to fix the people around you… haha. I was thinking your feedback would be great for Apple. Maybe they could implement some kind of adaptive volume filter, not sure.
I tried the AirPods 2 for this, but whenever my hand brushed against my jeans, it created a really strange, cringey noise. I couldn’t figure out how to stop it.
They did help my hearing, though. I could hear the TV in the next room and things like that.
It’s pretty cool that they can do a hearing test so easily. I used to pay the price of the AirPods just to visit an audiologist for the exact same test results!
If you have an HSA or FSA account and are using AirPods as hearing aids, you might be able to get your doctor to write a letter of medical necessity so you can be reimbursed for the purchase.
I used them in a courtroom and had a hard time convincing the bailiff that I wasn’t listening to music (which is banned in NYC courts, even with buds). He eventually let me keep them in.
My professor, who is the department chair for my TV business class, refuses to get hearing aids but recently picked those up. They’ve been working well for him, and he’s older. It’s funny because he asked the whole class for help, and I ended up being his tech support for them, but I don’t mind :).