So, I bought a pair and it’s a bit of a revelation. Embarrassingly so.
I had a free hearing check earlier this year which shown mild hearing loss in my right ear, and moderate in the left. I’ve procrastinated over trying a hearing aid and was a little overwhelmed with the options and potential significant cost.
Just last week I bought a set of the AirPods Max headphones, specifically for pairing with my Apple TV for the Atmos and Spatial Audio features that have recently been added. This actually works extremely well and I’m very pleased with them and they are great for streaming off the iPhone and iPad as well for music and movies.
That got me thinking about the AirPods Pro 2 with the new hearing aid feature - these cost $400, so would be an easy and relatively low cost step into seeing what hearing aides might do. Well, it is a complete revelation. These are very impressive just as air pods and streaming, but I really wanted to try them as hearing aides for general conversation at home type settings and watching TV. The difference and improvement in sound reception was way above my expectations, so I tried them listening to the main system. Gosh, what have I been missing - transformational really, embarrassingly so really, a top end high cost system and I’ve been missing so much. It’s extraordinary how gradual hearing loss creeps up and you don’t acknowledge what you are missing out on. It’s a weird sensation initially, being somewhat immersed into the sound. You can toggle them on and off whilst listening through your speakers and without them on, or take them out as a double check. There’s no comparison, without the aides the sound is recessed and way less open with missing detail. I had clearly compensated for this with creeping volume and psychological compensation.
So, I’m going to play around with this for a while and hear how I get on. I need to try different tip sizes, as it’s not comfortable for me for long periods at the moment, or maybe some other type of tip. Either I will be able to settle into using the AirPods, or will have a better idea of moving forward with something more elaborate. Certainly the use within the Apple ecosystem is really very good, so it would be nice to settle into a routine with them.
How do other people find using hearing aids to listen to their main systems? Or with headphones even?
Interesting read, my hearing certainly isn’t the Mae West anymore, I’ve put off going for tests as I know the results won’t be favourable, I’ve mild to medium level tinnitus also - all those years of listening to Sabbath turned up to eleven on headphones has finally caught up on me! I might give the AirPods a go out of interest.
I tried them in a moderately noise restaurant last night, and they helped me isolate my table companions. I haven’t tried messing with the settings, but that might offer greater improvement.
On the other hand the Media Assist feature - more or less DSP settings to match my hearing test for use when noise cancellation is on - made the music sound much worse.
The UK doesnt get the ear correction feature until later this month I think, so you may get limited response. I’m looking forward to try it when it is available.
FWIW I used a free IOS app called “Hearing Test” that has given very accurate results. My wife’s profession tests matched the app almost identically.
Update: found this on Apple’s website “Due to regulatory restrictions, Apple is unable to release the Hearing Aid feature in the UK at this time”
Welcome to the world of ageing ears! For most of us age-related hearing loss is something that creeps up on us slowly, so we don’t notice the change - and ironically given the cost of high end hifi, for most of us we only get there later in life, when our ears are getting tired. I have no experience of earbuds masqueraiding as hearing aids - it sounds (!) a useful initial tool.
In my case, a bit over a year ago, it was a pleasant surprise, in particular with cymbals becominfpg alive in a way I had forgotten they should be. There are a number of dedicated threads if you search, with quite a number of members all with one thing in common - discovery that hearing aids can improve their hifi experience. There are also a number of people who clearly feel it is an admission of something negative that they are not prepared to do, putting it off…
I had a similar surprise after buying my Signia Pure 7ix. But they cost more than 5 times vs the AirPod.
Very curious on how they could compare both.
I have also a slight loss in one ear. With the aids the sound is more open and clear, crisper, and still fully natural.
Impossible to go back.
I was struggling a bit today with the fitting, and random volume fluctuations when listening to music. I’ve tracked down a simple Apple guide to fitting that seems to work. Turns out the volume fluctuations were due to some of the audio settings I had selected. These are Apples features to make adjustments for environments and loud noises. Turns out that these are not great for music, as the volume drops with the swings in music volume, so they are all switched off now:
The ambient noise reduction also needs to kept low, as music also causes that to treat some parts of music as ambient noise! Edit: this actually needs to be set to zero, otherwise it is removing texture and clarity.
The main issue now is adjusting to the presentation of the music and the psychological effect of having pods in your ears that aren’t playing music, they are acting as hearing aids to your system playing. That is a bit weird.
The hearing test app is really good to use and the data is nicely presented. You can also drill into more detail:
I’m normally up on Apple stuff (though don’t keep up as much I once used to), but I’d missed the hearing aid function of the Pro 2’s….
As you’ve said, I guess it was a bit of a revelation to you and a shock…!
Are you, now, tempted to go any further exploring more ‘advanced’ hearing aid solutions or happy to stay where you are with the Apple Pods…?
I have pretty bad Tinnitus (I guess all those walks to/from school with the Walkman at full blast has come back to bite…! Or maybe it was standing close to the speaker rigs at the Oxford Venue in the Shoe-gazing years…!)….as I understand things, not much can be done, but I wondered if these would do anything ‘active’…though I can’t really see how they would know what the ringing is that ‘I’m’ hearing, unlike cancelling external noises….
TBH, I tend to get by OK and I’ve become somewhat ‘used’ to it these past 5 years or so and strangely, my hearing is pretty good from what I can tell (certainly better than Mrs SC!) and I do make out things that other people don’t seem to hear….
Anyway, just a thought….
I have a pair of the AirPods Pro gen1, which I thought were good for that they are….though I’m not sure about the idea of having them in for extended periods or like you say, listening to music that doesn’t come from the pods themselves……I guess you get used to it though…
SC
Edit: interesting that the Pods haven’t got the UK regulation approval yet…Normally it’s the opposite way around – I remember when the watch gained the ECG – AU/NZ was way behind in allowing that on localised watches….
I presume AU has approved in line with NZ on the hearing aid function…?
I’m going to give it a few weeks, I’m still a bit in shock over the difference and are processing that, I’ve obviously been in denial about my hearing. There’s probably no going back now, and I’ll need to go more advanced. I’d be interested in @davidhendon view on this, he’s the hearing aid guru here.
Yeah, I can understand that….I’d probably be the same. As you say, once the door has been opened, that you didn’t even realise was there, hard to go back I guess……
Ah ok, didn’t know that…
Might take his Core advice with a pinch of salt now…!
Yes this is correct sadly. Some hearing aids provide assistance to tinnitus management and that works by you telling the hearing aid via the app what noises you want. But it doesn’t actually suppress the tinnitus, just help to make it less intrusive because of the presence of other similar noises.
The other angle is that if you correct a hearing loss with hearing aids, then that on its own can reduce the amount of tinnitus given time. But sadly there is no certain way to get rid of tinnitus, no drug treatment or surgery is going to help. There are one or two electro-stimulation machines/techniques that have been approved, but the results seem uncertain and only work at all for some people.
Mike, apologies if I missed it, but are you listening to music from your Room HiFi, or playing music directly to the AirPods via bluetooth? Or Both?
If via your HiFi, then because the earbuds block out all sound, then you are only hearing what the mic inside the AirPods is picking up, which will be somewhat limited. However on the other hand whilst it may not be best quality, if it’s picking up frequencies that you haven’t heard before, then perhaps that SQ drop is worthwhile?
If via Bluetooth, then I would imagine this would be the best way of hearing music as you are not relying on a titchy mic.
)….as I understand things, not much can be done, but I wondered if these would do anything ‘active’…though I can’t really see how they would know what the ringing is that ‘I’m’ hearing, unlike cancelling external noises….