Use AirPods Pro 2 as a hearing aid

With the iOS 18.1 release (and an accompanying AirPods firmware update), you can use your AirPods Pro 2 to take a “clinical-grade” hearing test and then optionally use them as over-the-counter hearing aids or just play them of media to suit your hearing loss.

It’s a fantastic new feature that we recommend everyone take advantage of. Hearing loss is much more common than most people realize, even if you don’t have significant hearing loss or don’t want to use your AirPods 2 as a hearing aid.

What you need

To perform the hearing test and use your AirPods Pro 2 as a hearing aid (or to tailor media playback to your hearing profile), you will need three things:

1. An iPhone with iOS 18.1 or later
2. AirPods Pro 2 (the Lightning or USB-C version)
3. AirPods Pro 2 updated to firmware 7B19 or higher

The latter may be difficult. There’s no way to force an upgrade to the new firmware, but it will install automatically when the AirPods are in their case and charging. However, it may take hours or even days for the latest firmware to be installed.

To check your firmware version, open your AirPods Pro 2 case and go to the Settings app on your iPhone, select your connected AirPods (at the top), scroll past all the options to the About section and look at the Version line. You can also find this information in General > About > (name of your AirPods).

How to test your hearing

Start by placing your AirPods Pro 2 in your ears, then open Settings. Tap your AirPods (at the top of the Settings page) and look for the Hearing Health section. You will see options for Hearing protection, Hearing aidAnd Take a hearing test. Tap that to get started.

Before you start, several screens will describe the process for you and tell you whether your AirPods Pro 2 are in your ears and fit properly (they go through the fit test just to be sure). You also want to be in a quiet area to take the test.

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The test takes about five minutes. You will hear a series of tones with different intensities and frequencies, each beeping three times. Just tap the large moving circle in the center of the screen when you hear a tone. Your left ear will be tested first, then your right ear.

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There will be times when you hear nothing at all for several seconds. The notes are meant to play at different intervals, so you can’t play the system by just tapping the screen every few seconds. Don’t worry if about ten seconds pass without sound, just take your time and don’t try to “win” – it’s not a game and there is no high score, and try to anticipate the notes and get a better score. The result will do nothing other than create an inaccurate model of your hearing.

When it’s done, you’ll get a result that shows the hearing loss for your left and right ears over a wide frequency range. It is common to lose hearing in the high frequencies as you age, but this test is mainly about how much hearing loss you have in the spoken voice range between about 90 Hz and 300 Hz.

These results are stored in the Health app, where you can find them in the Hearing category.

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Customize your hearing options

After you have taken a hearing test, the Hearing aid menu will get many options for you. Apple will suggest turning on hearing aids only if you have mild to moderate hearing loss in the spoken word frequencies, but not if you are losing hearing in the high frequencies.

In a case like mine, where my hearing is fine for speaking but starts to fade at high frequencies, Apple will suggest turning on Media Assist. This adjusts the volume of different frequencies across the spectrum to precisely match your hearing results, restoring to each ear the exact frequencies you may be having difficulty hearing. It is active when playing music, videos, calling or using FaceTime.

The difference can be dramatic! Start playing some music and then come back to this Settings menu to toggle Media assistance on and off to see what a difference it makes.

When you turn on Hearing Aids, you can set some options in the Adjustments menu. You can change the level of audio enhancement, adjust how much noise cancellation is applied, enable call enhancement, and more.

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The Hearing Protection feature is enabled by default when you use Transparency, Adjustment, or Noise Reduction modes. It reduces loud sounds by 25-30 dB in noise canceling or adaptive audio modes (losing a bit of effectiveness for lower volume sounds in adaptive mode) and can shave 11-18 dB for sounds over 100 dB in the transparency mode. However, it can’t handle very sudden loud noises like fireworks or gunfire, so keep in mind that it’s more about reducing persistent loud noises like a loud rock concert or a motorcycle engine.