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Apple Debuts Short Film Starring Pedro Pascal With AirPods 4

diego.caraballo said:
Some people may be using it as a Hearing Aid's.
With things like this and transparency mode, the need to remove your AirPods to speak with someone else, should not longer be the mandatory etiquette.


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This is me.

I’ve got a $7000 pair of ReSound hearing aids (that insurance paid for). Ever since I got a pair of AirPods for Christmas, I’ve left the ReSounds in my sock drawer.

Just yesterday, my Snugs arrived. They’re custom-fit silicone ear tips. An audiologist squirts a special foam in your ears to make a mold; you ship them off to Snugs; they make a 3-D model; and then they 3-D print the silicone. The “tips” fill your outer ear, making the AirPods stick out noticeably more than with normal tips.

And … wow. They are … amazing. Mind-blowing.

They will stay essentially glued to my ears.

And I’ll be more than happy to tell you that I’m using them as hearing aids.

I’ve yet to meet anybody who was put off by telling them that I’m using my AirPods as hearing aids. Quite the contrary — and, about half the time, it sparks a conversation about hearing aids in general, hearing health, and so on.

The AirPods with stock tips are significantly better-sounding hearing aids than anything else I’ve ever had in my ears. Upgrade to Comply or Sedna EarFit tips, and it’s a big step up in both audio quality and comfort. But from that to the Snugs … is an even bigger step up. I’m honestly not sure there’s room for significant improvement in audio quality. Ergonomics, maybe … it’d be nice to have something that fits entirely in the ear, for example, and with 24-hour battery life. But the sound really does seem perfect. (They’re quite comfortable, too.)

And, of course, this is on top of all the other features … with ANC turned on, these are just astounding earplugs. Takes my 1955 VW Beetle down to the level of a desk fan in a library. With the hearing protection feature …

… yeah, I’m not taking them out, even if you’re upset at the thought that I’m wearing them so I can tune you out (as opposed to the actual truth, that I’m wearing them so I can understand what you’re saying).

Cheers,

b&
 
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diego.caraballo said:
Some people may be using it as a Hearing Aid's.
With things like this and transparency mode, the need to remove your AirPods to speak with someone else, should not longer be the mandatory etiquette.


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I agree completely. I personally know several people with enough hearing loss that this would be a real boon, but they won't do it because of the social stigma.

Even though it has been standard etiquette for years, as far as I've experienced, to simply talk to someone who has AirPods in if you need to talk to them and assume they can hear you. It's on the person wearing them to ensure they can in the appropriate situations, and there are plenty of well known features now that help enable this.

This was a thing before the iPhone with Bluetooth headsets. Since the AirPods are both, people tend to treat them more as headsets than headphones.

I don't think this ad is helping, but Apple does need to get the word out as loudly as possible that people in fact may be hearing you better with their AirPods in.
 
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BenGoren said:
This is me.

I’ve got a $7000 pair of ReSound hearing aids (that insurance paid for). Ever since I got a pair of AirPods for Christmas, I’ve left the ReSounds in my sock drawer.

Just yesterday, my Snugs arrived. They’re custom-fit silicone ear tips. An audiologist squirts a special foam in your ears to make a mold; you ship them off to Snugs; they make a 3-D model; and then they 3-D print the silicone. The “tips” fill your outer ear, making the AirPods stick out noticeably more than with normal tips.
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Amazing.
How it's your battery life when using them solely as hearing aids, may I be curious?
It could be some hassle to remove the custom ear tips just to charge them, right?
 
TechnoTiger3000 said:
+ People who talk to you with their AirPods in are douchebags, and there is no amount of try-hard, celebrity-filled ads that will ever change my mind about that.
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I am not everyone, but as long as they are able to hear, understand, and interact meaningfully with me, it doesn’t bother me a bit, and I think it’s a bit silly to take it that seriously. As others have mentioned, some with AirPods Pro may only be able to do the aforementioned while using the AirPods as a hearing aid.

Maybe I’ve just got more important things to worry about, though.
 
TechnoTiger3000 said:
+ People who talk to you with their AirPods in are douchebags, and there is no amount of try-hard, celebrity-filled ads that will ever change my mind about that.
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That's the biggest issue with the hearing aid functionality in the AirPod Pros. It works great, but I want to get a button that says "Using my AirPods as hearing aids. I'm not one of those douchebags."
 
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