IT Home November 18th news, a study by shows that AirPods Pro can be used as a hearing aid, and its performance is no less than that of a high-end dedicated hearing aid device worth tens of thousands of dollars. In the roadmap for improving accessibility services, Apple takes hearing aid functions as the medium-term development goal of AirPods, and some results have been achieved.
IT Home learned that professional hearing aids are a very complex and sophisticated device that has functions such as filtering unnecessary frequency ranges and focusing on specific directions, so that hearing-impaired users can hear other people's conversations, surrounding sounds, etc. more clearly.
However, this professional hearing aid is expensive, and a typical mid-range hearing aid is usually priced at several thousand dollars, while a high-end hearing aid costs more than $10,000.
This also means that many hearing impaired patients cannot afford the high cost of hearing aids. According to a survey, only one in six of the U.S. people under the age of 70 need hearing aids have hearing aids.
Apple has long been interested in hearing aid functions. Back in 2013, the company's MFi plan expanded to allow iPhone to add functionality to Bluetooth hearing aids.
In 2018, iOS 12 added Live Listen, while Apple introduced Conversation Boost for AirPods Pro last year, which can improve the microphone pickup from right in front of you to better communicate with others.
