“There are things known and there are things unknown and in between are the doors of perception.” — Aldous Huxley

I’m Junior Huxley Westemeier, and welcome to The Sift, a weekly The Rubicon opinions column focused on the impacts and implications of new technologies.

_________________________________________________________
As of Monday, any Apple user with an iPhone or iPad running iOS 18.1 can use a pair of AirPods Pro (2nd Generation) with the new Hearing Health features to take a clinically validated hearing test. If the test shows low to moderate hearing loss, AirPods can be used as hearing aids. A 5-minute hearing test on your phone every month is more convenient than driving to a healthcare facility for a 30-minute audiology appointment. The hearing aid functionality also allows the user to control noise amplification, normalizing the music so your ears hear the frequencies accurately.

This is huge: current over-the-counter hearing aids can cost upwards of $1500. Apple’s $250 price tag is comparably cheaper for a pair of hearing aids that can also play music. It’s also interesting to consider the social stigmatization surrounding hearing aids. Hundreds of thousands of people are already wearing AirPods everywhere- at coffee shops, walking their dogs, and at school- so why would it be out of place to wear them as hearing aids? Nobody needs to know- and that privacy is beautiful. While I can’t try the Hearing Aid functionality (I didn’t meet the hearing loss criteria), I decided to try the Hearing Protection feature.

Hearing Protection isn’t entirely new to AirPods. It’s similar to the Adaptive Transparency mode released in 2022 and automatically lowers the volume of environmental noise without changing the audio frequencies themselves.

I tried playing music from a Bluetooth speaker around three feet from my ears to simulate the volume of a rock concert. My Apple Watch measured that my environment was loud at around 97 decibels (which can cause hearing loss in 30 minutes, similar to a concert which typically ranges between 90-115 decibels). When turning on Hearing Protection, the perceived volume of the music went from maximum volume to half. The sound actively reaching my ears lowered to 67 decibels, which is safe for long-term exposure. That’s a substantial reduction.

Foam earplugs are uncomfortable and completely block your ears. You can feel yourself breathing, and sounds can be muffled. These problems do not exist with AirPods as they have multiple vents that allow for constant airflow, which reduces the pressure and makes the experience much more comfortable. And, if one ear’s pod isn’t correctly in place, the internal microphone listening inside your ear canal will detect it- and adjust accordingly.

Overall, the new software update provides a less expensive over-the-counter option for hearing aids and adds Hearing Protection which keeps your ears safer for longer. I’ll bring AirPods to the next concert I attend. They’re that good.