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Testing the New iOS 18.1 Hearing Aid Functionality
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Hearing aids are OTC items now, as of last year, and can be had for a few hundred. Yes, there are still the custom case audiologist version that costs thousands, but you can by actual hearing aids on Amazon now for about the same price as AirPods.
In addition, you can’t get a full 14 hour day with AirPods in and running, but you can with actual hearing aids.
It’s a nice feature and it’s cool that they are offering it, but it’s not a full replacement for most.
You need new firmware on the AirPods. Put everything in charge and wait. 7B32 I think
It's worth mentioning that these hearing tests (Apple and pro audiologists) do not test all of your hearing range (20hz - 20khz'ish). The test only goes up to 8khz, because that is all that needs to be tested to see if your hearing is good enough to decipher speech adequately, which is all audiologists are interested in.
Essentially this means less than half the possible freq range is tested, so it's not a complete measure of the standard of someones hearing.
Essentially this means less than half the possible freq range is tested, so it's not a complete measure of the standard of someones hearing.
My AirPods are USB C. I’ve changed region from UK to Ireland and US. No hearing test.
I haven't read of any such restriction. Not seeing the Hearing Test and the other Hearing Aid features is probably due to other factors.
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At least one person in this thread is reporting that, after they installed the latest iOS 18.1 beta/developer/release candidate on their iPhone, they're now seeing all the Hearing Aid options with Airpods firmware 7A305, which is the latest release (non-beta/developer) version that's been out since Sept 26.
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I'll speculate that people's apparently mixed results on getting this working may be down to Apple only enabling it in countries where they've received regulatory approval. Hopefully when it's officially launched next week, Apple will publish a list of where it's enabled and update it as more approvals are granted.
Those in their current form can't happen in the UK because of differences in financial legislation, and Apple's attempts to position a financial offering in the UK and Europe has seen banks appeal to the various regulators to stop that in its tracks. Basically, the traditional banks are averse to fintech as it threatens their own interests.
There's currently a UK PSR/FSA review ongoing and maybe the eventual outcome of that might open the doors for Apple Pay Cash in the UK. But in the meantime, if you're looking for someone to be angry with, then look to the UK banking sector.
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My AP2 are lightning and I tested my hearing yesterday.
My wife thinks I need to purchase these Airpods next week. Wonder why?
I'm in the same boat with the dishwasher etc. My test showed 16 - 25 (75% / 72%). I do have trouble in loud environments.
As an aside, I have iOS 18.0.1 and took the test and loaded it on October 17th last week. It allegedly changed the sound in my AirPod Pro 2s for music etc. There was an option to hear the before and after applying the audiogram. I'm very much looking forward to trying the hearing aid and loud sound reduction (concerts) as I've recently been looking into both hearing aids and some sort of electronic plugs for concerts that reduce the sound level but not the quality.
Tests went just fine. Can confirm its pretty darn accurate. I have historical tests to refer back to with my hearing. Has been this way my entire life. I will say the hearing aid feature is amazing but I will probably not use it. I've never used them and don't have much of an issue. I don't want to get used to something and then when that something is gone, I realize just how bad it is. What I have now is "normal" to me and I'm good with that 
