Apple Highlights Using AirPods Pro 2 as Hearing Aid in Heartwarming Holiday Season Ad

[MacRumors]

Apple today shared its annual holiday season ad, and it's a tearjerker. The video is titled "Heartstrings" and highlights the new hearing aid feature on AirPods Pro 2 with a heartwarming father-and-daughter moment on Christmas morning.

"For so many of us, sound and how we hear shape how we connect to the world around us," said Apple, in the video description. "Yet, people with hearing loss wait an average of 10 years before getting their hearing tested and fitted for hearing aids. Leaving millions unaware they're living with hearing loss and without the assistance they need."

Apple's clinical-grade hearing aid feature on AirPods Pro 2 is still rolling out around the world. It is currently available in the U.S., Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, Japan, Singapore, New Zealand, and select other countries. The feature requires AirPods Pro 2 with firmware version 7B19 or newer, paired with a compatible iPhone or iPad running iOS 18.1 or iPadOS 18.1 or later.

AirPods Pro 2 also gained hearing test and hearing protection features in select countries.

Article Link: Apple Highlights Using AirPods Pro 2 as Hearing Aid in Heartwarming Holiday Season Ad

 

[Alwaysfindsaway]

I’m not crying, you are!!

 

[Grimace]

I definitely cried. The muffled perspective followed by the clear voices is powerful

 

[JippaLippa]

Lots of videos from Apple, this year.
By the way this was so heartwarming.

 

[Godspeed8230]

Why didn't anyone inform poor Dad that there are hearing aids available?

 

[Hopefully Smarter]

Why didn't anyone tell Dad that there are actual hearing aids available? I mean no sane person would solely rely on Apple AirPods to improve their hearing. And unlike sleep apnea you actually know that you are hard of hearing.

they did. He didn’t hear them. /s

 

[Mrkevinfinnerty]

Great ad, great way of showcasing the feature.

Stevie and Andra Day from 2015 is still my favourite though.

 

[Plutonius]

I may be wrong but I think that a dedicated hearing aid would work better.

It's nice to be able to do this but think of it as a additional benefit rather than a reason to buy.

 

[ForkHandles]

Bah humbug. Not in the uk!!!

 

[QuarterSwede]

I definitely cried. The muffled perspective followed by the clear voices is powerful

Reminds me of the Chevy ad years ago about the grandmother with dementia that comes around as she sees her hometown and is reminded of events in the past by her granddaughter. Comes back to the house and she remembers her husband and family. We’re all emotional buyers and this ad will hit just as hard.

 

[Jay-Jacob]

Why didn't anyone tell Dad that there are actual hearing aids available? I mean no sane person would solely rely on Apple AirPods to improve their hearing. And unlike sleep apnea you actually know that you are hard of hearing.

I dunno what it like over there USA but in UK for my Grandma and also many older and elderly people don’t want wear hearing aids cos they are fiddling, annoying, make sounds too loud or too quiet, changing batteries tricky for elderly hands, etc. My Grandma did have hearing aids but she never wear them and rather struggle instead.

So this for any older (not elderly) would be great for them if want hear something for bit and don’t need it all day long. Hearing aids are pain for all day for some people and it works great for other people.

 

[Apple_Robert]

I think this may be Apple’s best ad this year. Very well done.

 

[stocklen]

Bah humbug. Not in the uk!!!

anyone understand why we don't get this in the UK?

We usually get most other things - why is this feature in particular withheld?

 

[wonderings]

Hearing aids are much better today. My cousin has used them his entire life and they are much more high tech and focused then ever before. I also do work for a large company that makes hearing aids, so see a lot of their product lines and features. I did not watch the video, not interested in commercials geared to hit me emotionally so they can benefit financially. Apple is making the world a better place for those that can afford it only. Now I will say AirPods with their hearing tech is way cheaper then stand alone hearing aids, and if they actually can compete with the latest and greatest hearing aids out there today then they would actually be offering something really good. I have a feeling though that they are hitting a small mid range section of those who need hearing aids but have been living fine without them. The people with serious hearing loss will probably find that these are not good enough for them. Would love to be proven wrong on this one.

 

[Mrkevinfinnerty]

anyone understand why we don't get this in the UK?

We usually get most other things - why is this feature in particular withheld?

Has to meet regulatory approval and there is a huge backlog because our country is a mess

 

[klasma]

I definitely cried. The muffled perspective followed by the clear voices is powerful

It’s also fake, because you can’t record what a person actually hears. The ad exaggerates the effect for, well, effect.

 

[Amazing Iceman]

Why didn't anyone tell Dad that there are actual hearing aids available? I mean no sane person would solely rely on Apple AirPods to improve their hearing. And unlike sleep apnea you actually know that you are hard of hearing.

Unless you pay the big bucks, you may have to conform to AM Radio quality.
These AirPods give you superb quality at a tiny fraction of the price of "medical" hearing aids.

 

[Amazing Iceman]

It’s also fake, because you can’t record what a person actually hears. The ad exaggerates the effect for, well, effect.

You can, by using the hearing test of a real person then adjusting the frequencies of the recorded audio accordingly.

 

[klasma]

You can, by using the hearing test of a real person then adjusting the frequencies of the recorded audio accordingly.

Er, no. If a person only starts hearing a specific frequency at 40 dB rather than at 5 dB, boosting that frequency so that 5 dB becomes 40 dB doesn’t mean that it will sound the same to the person as if they had perfect hearing.

 

[alphaswift]

Why didn't anyone inform poor Dad that there are hearing aids available?

I was wondering the same thing. His kid looks about 14 and Apple did not invent hearing aids -- especially ones that look stupid if you wear them 16 hours a day.

 

[charlien]

I have official hearing aids and my airpods set up as hearing aids. I tend to wear my official ones out of the house and my airpods at home. The official ones fight for space with my reading glasses and make scratching noises. The airpods don’t do that since they don’t go around the ear. Either way, i hear much better today.

 

[Amazing Iceman]

Er, no. If a person only starts hearing a specific frequency at 40 dB rather than at 5 dB, boosting that frequency so that 5 dB becomes 40 dB doesn’t mean that it will sound the same to the person as if they had perfect hearing.

I was just referring to a way to emulate the sense of hearing loss.

 

[ForkHandles]

Er, no. If a person only starts hearing a specific frequency at 40 dB rather than at 5 dB, boosting that frequency so that 5 dB becomes 40 dB doesn’t mean that it will sound the same to the person as if they had perfect hearing.

Why not?

I use Headphone Accommodations linked to my audiogram and it sounds great B purely because it boosts sounds by different amounts for different frequencies.

 

[phenste]

yall in the comments always find a way to be ****ing gross about this and I’ll never understand it. Apple made OTC hearing aids for $250 (that also happen to be…AirPods…) and it’s a fantastic thing. they’re far from perfect; I don’t remember any first-gen Apple product ever being perfect. forgive me for continuing to be a pest in these threads when hearing loss is an issue that’s deeply affected several of the closest people in my life + I can see decades-out the potential this has to change the course of an actual epidemic the entire world is facing, in a culture where everything is loud for the sake of being loud.

happy Thanksgiving yall, grateful to live in a timeline where I own a product that does double-time as hearing protection and hearing aids. I’ll continue to wear them the same way I wore my Watch every day from day-one; being the dork who normalizes wearable tech is fun if you just lean into it. especially when the main purpose of that wearable becomes health.

😮‍💨

 

[hadenbrecker]

I might have a sort of unique perspective here. I’m a psychotherapist in private practice, so my days are spent listening very intently and deliberately with one individual in a room with me. I determined I had moderate to severe loss a couple years ago, and have gotten ‘aids (through an audiologist) that are more or less invisible and seem to have solved things entirely.

I have used this AirPod functionality, and find it really spot on and technically pretty excellent. It’s definitely not some parlor gimmick like Spatial Audio. However, I think my clients would be really distracted at first seeing me talking/listening while having AirPods in. I might inadvertently remind them
Of a parent who never gave them their full attention, or being at work and having to always keep one ear out for the boss barking. I don’t think people associate them with “help me hear the external world better” as much as “immerse into something inward.” I know I always assume someone else’s mind is elsewhere-at least half of it-anytime I’m talking to someone with a Pod in.

Great technology though, and far more accessible than my ‘aids. Bravo Apple.