Apple claims new AirPod hearing aid feature is ‘clinical grade.’ Is it?
Oct. 31, 2024
Health Tech Correspondent
Apple this week officially released a batch of new health features for AirPods Pro that allow users to test their hearing and use the popular wireless headphones as hearing aids for milder forms of hearing loss.
After they were announced in September, audiologists and other experts immediately praised Apple’s efforts. Many people with hearing impairment never get tested or seek treatment, so the new tools from one of the world’s largest tech companies could help boost awareness, and potentially improve the quality of life for some.
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But with the features now available, Apple may face confusion about its lofty marketing and how doctors and users are meant to interpret it. The company has hyped the technologies, and in particular the hearing aid software, as “clinical grade” and wrote in a white paper that some data from its research study are “similar to results obtained with conventional prescription hearing aids.”
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