How Apple Turned AirPods into Hearing Helpers: A Look Inside

Apple recently shared some exciting details about turning their AirPods Pro 2 into practical hearing aids. The science behind this feature was developed at Apple's top-notch Audio Lab in California. Here’s the lowdown on how they did it. The Audio Lab is packed with cool spaces designed for different tests. One is the Longwave anechoic chamber, which is super isolated to measure sound accurately. Another is the Fantasia Lab, filled with 50 loudspeakers to simulate places like busy streets or airplanes. To make sure the hearing aid feature works for everyone, Apple brought in people with different hearing levels to test it out. They sat in a special room filled with sounds, like a noisy restaurant, and had to repeat words said by a single speaker. The feature helps users protect their hearing from loud noises, check their hearing at home, and even use the AirPods as a clinical-grade hearing aid for mild to moderate hearing loss. The goal is to make the AirPods adaptable and easy to use for a wide range of needs. According to the World Health Organization, around 1. 5 billion people worldwide live with hearing loss. This makes features like Apple’s hearing aid super important for helping people communicate and take care of their health. Kuba Mazur, Apple’s hearing health lead engineer, said, “AirPods are truly the interface to the ear. They can protect hearing at concerts, provide insights on hearing health, and do what each person needs them to do. ”