Contact your NHS provider (local hospital) and ask them to obtain the one’s I mentioned. I asked my provider for these specifically. I waited roughly a month and they were in stock ready for my collection.
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Apple Gets FDA Authorization for AirPods Pro 2 Hearing Aid Feature
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That might be worth trying, but I think that my NHS trust doesn't offer this. They buy a particular model in bulk, in order to get big discounts, and that's what you get.
Kudos to Apple. This is going to be a great solution for the huge numbers of people who have uncorrected sensorineural hearing loss, eg age-related high frequency hearing loss.
It won't do so much for those who have conductive hearing loss, which is something different.
I suffer from the latter, but am fortunate enough to have been helped by a Cochlear BAHA (bone-anchored hearing aid). The reason for my post is to say that Apple has quietly supported this device for a decade or more, something for which it has neither sought nor obtained any major credit. I stream daily from my Mac, my iOS devices and my Apple TV and I have greatly appreciated Apple leading in this area—Android support for BAHA is dismal in comparison.
I vaguely recall reading that Apple's work with Cochlear on supporting BAHAs was almost a dry run for AirPods which it predated by several years. Seems like things have come full circle.
It won't do so much for those who have conductive hearing loss, which is something different.
I suffer from the latter, but am fortunate enough to have been helped by a Cochlear BAHA (bone-anchored hearing aid). The reason for my post is to say that Apple has quietly supported this device for a decade or more, something for which it has neither sought nor obtained any major credit. I stream daily from my Mac, my iOS devices and my Apple TV and I have greatly appreciated Apple leading in this area—Android support for BAHA is dismal in comparison.
I vaguely recall reading that Apple's work with Cochlear on supporting BAHAs was almost a dry run for AirPods which it predated by several years. Seems like things have come full circle.
It wouldn’t hurt for you to ring the hearing department who supply and ask them? Just tell them you have heard the NHS in general provide and fit the Opticon Engage P digital hearing aids. The Chesterfield Royal Hospital definitely get them. You can also download and install on your phone the Opticon Companion App (it’s on both my phone and iPad).
A BAHA user here, too! I've had bilateral BAHAs since 2001 and for me they were definitely a life-changer. Although with my current pair of BAHAs I can stream from my Mac and my iOS devices I tend not to do so; some years ago I discovered the wonderful bone-conduction Shokz headphones, which is what I prefer to use when I want to listen to music. I don't watch enough television to bother setting up the streaming device with my TV and don't really feel that I need it.
Is this supposed to work in AirPods Pro 2 firmware 7A294, or is that for another release? Is there a beta?
Agreed. But that is generally for actual medical devices that serve a specific purpose. Can a device that can help hearing, and be used to play music during class be of the same category? I suspect, as you say, the schools will have to allow it with some medical documentation.
Regardless, it is going to be a problem for the local schools. Just like the no cell phone ban but watches are OK and are used for texting as that is not against policy. Students open shared Google documents and type in the document back and forth, even during tests. It is not against policy so nothing is done.
School boards, where most members still have VCR's flashing 12:00 are not the best people to make policy decisions regarding technology.
I believe there will be another firmware release in the future.
No, there is no beta to the public, ever, on the AirPods, that I am aware.
AirPods pre-release firmware does occasionally become available to external testers.