From products designed for communication and entertainment to real health devices. In recent years, the world of mass technology increasingly focuses on the well-being of users. And in this field it certainly plays a leading role Applewhich with its Watches has already proven helpful several times in the past even in emergency situations.
Now Cupertino is embarking on a new challenge: helping those with hearing impairment (around 2.5 billion people by 2050 according to the WHO). For a few days now, functions have also been available in Italy that transform the AirPods Pro (but only the second generation ones) into indispensable allies. Starting from an innovative hearing test which is based on pure tone audiometry (the same used by healthcare professionals) and which allows everyone to evaluate their hearing ability simply and quickly and, in case of doubts, contact the doctor for the appropriate tests.
Noise reduction
But that’s not all. Although for the moment the functions that will effectively transform headphones into hearing aids will not arrive, thanks to the reduction of intense sounds – active by default in Transparency and Adaptive Audio modes – which allows you to lower the volume of noises even such as sirens or jackhammers, improving listening but also protecting your ears from exposure to harmful decibels. And this, of course, thanks to the shape of the earcups (available in 4 sizes) which acoustically isolate the ear canal. But also thanks to the H2 chip which processes the sound at 48 thousand times per second and the high dynamic range multiband algorithm, which makes the sound more natural in the event of live events.
How the hearing test works
The hearing test integrated into the AirPods Pro 2 it is very simple to do and lasts only five minutes. The only request is that it be started in a quiet environment, to prevent external noise from affecting the result. Just launch it from an iPhone or iPad updated to version 18.2 or later of the relevant operating system and follow the instructions. The device will first check that the earphones are well positioned and that the eartips are the correct size.
At the end of the test, a report gives a “grade” to the hearing of each ear and shows an audiogram with all the data collected. Data which is then stored in the Health app (in full respect of privacy) and can be sent to a doctor.