Airpods are not hearing aid replacements (yet). Hearing aids are specifically designed to compensate for loss, not simply to filter out background noise and boost voices. Hearing aids frequently need an audiologist to tune them to get maximum value out of them. In fact, AirPods might actually make hearing worse for those with hearing loss!
I mean, real hearing aids are being sold COTS now, aren't they? Do those still require a medical consultation?
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Actually, this has a much better overview of the kind of calibration they do for real hearing aids: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMSQemYlC80 (not sure if the COTS stuff do anything similar)
The Airpod calibration is nowhere near as thorough.
Yeah, that last part is the right part. AirPod calibration is nowhere close to the level of calibration that an audiologist would put you through. It's more than simply boosting voices and filtering out background noises, it's calibrating to a much higher level of precision for this.
On top of that, the difference between "just right" and "too loud" is pretty small, and you really want a professional to set it to the point where it aids your hearing without damaging your hearing further. If you just pump the volume up, you can hear better, but you're also potentially causing even more damage. A professional can help you do that better.
OTC hearing aids are still calibrated by professionals, although probably not to the degree that a more serious hearing aid would be.
How well do those work I wonder? I'm not on Apple so I can't buy those. Do they really make it possible to speak on a crowded street or a nightclub? Or is it a few dB of improvement only?
Thanks for that! Excellent article. Too bad that they're not quite "there yet" but it's about what I expected
Edit: ah they look similar in construction and filtering to the etymotic ones I have from years ago. They work well indeed. But etymotic seem to be unavailable now.
They don't seem to have a version with volume control though just like etymotic.
> They don't seem to have a version with volume control though just like etymotic.
Are you talking about Airpods? The second generation Pros actually do have volume controls. The stem is touch sensitive and you can drag a finger up or down it to change the volume. You can also use different gestures to play/pause, skip, rewind, change transparency modes, etc. These all work on Android and Windows too, FWIW.
