Apple Provides Update on Expanding AirPods Hearing Aid Feature to Canada

[MacRumors]

While the AirPods hearing aid and hearing test features received Health Canada approval at the federal level in December, the features are not yet available in Canada. According to reports from CTV News and the Toronto Star this month, the features have yet to launch in Canada because regulations vary at the provincial level.

In the most populous Canadian province of Ontario, for example, hearing aids require a prescription from a physician or an audiologist.

The good news is that Apple recently told the Toronto Star that it is working with Canadian provinces to get approval to release the AirPods hearing aid and hearing test features over the counter. Apple told the newspaper that it hopes to make the features available as soon as possible, but it did not provide a timeframe.

With the clinical-grade hearing aid feature, AirPods Pro 2 can amplify the sound around you. The feature is intended for adults with perceived mild to moderate hearing loss, according to Apple. There is no additional cost to use the feature.

Meanwhile, the five-minute hearing test allows adults to identify if they have hearing loss by measuring their ability to hear different frequencies of sound. Afterwards, the results will show a hearing loss classification and recommended next steps.

The two features first launched in the U.S. and select other countries in late October, and they continue to roll out to more countries.

There is a third AirPods hearing health feature — hearing protection — that is available in Canada.

All three features require AirPods Pro 2.

Article Link: Apple Provides Update on Expanding AirPods Hearing Aid Feature to Canada

 

[shurcooL]

Thank you.

Sent from my iPhone in Canada

 

[CarAnalogy]

Each individual province has to individually approve every different health regulation which has already been approved by the federal government? Why even have a federal regulator then?

 

[TomaxXamot]

Expand it to the PowerBeats Pro 2’s as well.

 

[jicon]

Each individual province has to individually approve every different health regulation which has already been approved by the federal government? Why even have a federal regulator then?

On a similar point, pharmaceutical coverage is on the provincial level as well for most things, but I'd argue it would be a better bargaining fight to keep drug/device prices under better control if all handled at a federal level. There's been a slight movement on this recently, but needs to continue. Price in Canada appear cheap in comparison to prices a few hundred miles south, but globally, rather poor.

 

[0049190]

..

 

[w_macintosh]

litereally been waiting since the approval in Dec lol Airpods Pro 3 will be out by the time we get this software update LOL

 

[mitty]

The Therapeutic Goods Administration in Australia apparently approved it back in December, but still not available here, waiting on Apple to enable it.

 

[Rfrancos]

I live in nova Scotia and I’ve been using the hearing aid feature on my AirPods pro2s since going to Florida in January. The feature was enabled as soon as I picked up a us wifi network. I have all the updates done on my phone and have not lost the features. Other people have also talked about being near the us border or in the us and getting it ena led as well.

 

[fantasyname_qwertz]

With increasing elderly population, I hope that in a few years they make actual hearing aids. Apple is already doing terrific work in connecting hearing aids to its devices. They could acquire a manufacturing company like oticon and boost research and development.

 

[w_macintosh]

I live in nova Scotia and I’ve been using the hearing aid feature on my AirPods pro2s since going to Florida in January. The feature was enabled as soon as I picked up a us wifi network. I have all the updates done on my phone and have not lost the features. Other people have also talked about being near the us border or in the us and getting it ena led as well.

View attachment 2493528

Grew up in Nova Scotia, didn’t realize there were other scotians on the forum hahha. Jealous you got the feature enabled, but I can’t justify a vacation just to get the feature 😆🤣

 

[John_Blackthorne]

How well do these work as true hearing aids? Can't be better than a designated set. I remember, my old man refused to wear his because he thought it was way too loud. Wonder if AirPods might have been an option.

 

[dbo789]

Canada is extremely gatekeepey when it comes to health stuff. Part of it is to protect people from themselves (worthwhile when the government picks up the bill for healthcare), but there’s also a lot of protectionism for health care roles. This is the latter.

This rule doesn’t exist to protect patients, it exists to protect audiologist income streams. I hope Apple is effective in killing these rules, as all they do is make life harder for people with hearing disabilities.

 

[Rfrancos]

How well do these work as true hearing aids? Can't be better than a designated set. I remember, my old man refused to wear his because he thought it was way too loud. Wonder if AirPods might have been an option.

They work surprisingly well. I have a mild hearing loss. I like being able to adjust the amplification based on the pitch of the voices around me as well as other environment factors. I play the ukulele and was surprised how much brighter and crisper it sounds with the hearing aid feature turned on.

 

[Rfrancos]

Grew up in Nova Scotia, didn’t realize there were other scotians on the forum hahha. Jealous you got the feature enabled, but I can’t justify a vacation just to get the feature 😆🤣

In fairness I was at a conference in Florida so on work time.

 

[John_Blackthorne]

They work surprisingly well. I have a mild hearing loss. I like being able to adjust the amplification based on the pitch of the voices around me as well as other environment factors. I play the ukulele and was surprised how much brighter and crisper it sounds with the hearing aid feature turned on.

Good on Apple for doing this. They should probably market it a little better.

 

[TokyoKiller]

Each individual province has to individually approve every different health regulation which has already been approved by the federal government? Why even have a federal regulator then?

Welcome to Canada. Yes it sounds painful and doesn’t name much sense from the outside but these are remnants of pre-confederation differences and tensions of a country that’s only 158 years old. We are the 2nd country in terms of land mass yet the country is split into 10 provinces and 3 territories so there is quite a bit of difference in the way of life and way of doing things with that. It’s hard to understand not living within it but we agree it’s inefficient lol.

 

[hinchesk]

Grew up in Nova Scotia, didn’t realize there were other scotians on the forum hahha. Jealous you got the feature enabled, but I can’t justify a vacation just to get the feature 😆🤣

I’m in NS too and considering mailing mine to a US friend… not really… well maybe a little. 😂

 

[Jeeve Stubbs]

Each individual province has to individually approve every different health regulation which has already been approved by the federal government? Why even have a federal regulator then?

Basically, the federal regulator is the first filter, deciding whether the product is acceptable or not in Canada based on federal regulations, national security, etc. If it's not, end of story. If it is, then each province (constitutionally responsible for health care) applies a second filter to make sure the product is compatible with its own laws and local specifics. In practice, this is mere fine tuning as provinces seldom forbid something that's been approved at the federal level.

 

[Jeeve Stubbs]

I live in nova Scotia and I’ve been using the hearing aid feature on my AirPods pro2s since going to Florida in January. The feature was enabled as soon as I picked up a us wifi network. I have all the updates done on my phone and have not lost the features. Other people have also talked about being near the us border or in the us and getting it ena led as well.

View attachment 2493528

Is your iPhone set to US or Canada?

 

[Rfrancos]

Is your iPhone set to US or Canada?

my phone is set to Canada. no vpn or anything like that.

 

[PygmySurfer]

Also in Nova Scotia, and also activated mine on a trip to Florida in January . I wonder if you could connect to a US VPN and activate it that way.

 

[Rfrancos]

Also in Nova Scotia, and also activated mine on a trip to Florida in January . I wonder if you could connect to a US VPN and activate it that way.

Were you at a conference? Were we at the same one?

 

[JlynnPinkPineapple]

I feel like we’ve been waiting for this feature to become available in Canada forever. If this happens soon, it would be fantastic!

 

[brynsmith23]

The Therapeutic Goods Administration in Australia apparently approved it back in December, but still not available here, waiting on Apple to enable it.

I was excited when it was announced back in December, surely its just a click of a button for the AirPods firmware update.

hopefully they get around to implementing it soon, i'm looking forwards to trying them out with my hearing loss