Apple brings AirPods hearing aid feature to India, users can now take hearing test at home
Apple has introduced a new hearing health feature for AirPods Pro users in India that allows them to take a hearing test at home in around five minutes.
Your AirPods are becoming more than just a device for playing music. After bringing features like heart-rate monitoring to its ecosystem, Apple is now turning its premium earbuds into a tool that can help users detect hearing loss early. With its latest health update in India, the company is introducing a new Hearing Test feature for AirPods Pro users. The update will also allow the AirPods to provide hearing assistance in certain cases.
The new Hearing Test feature works with AirPods Pro 2 and later models running the latest firmware, paired with a compatible iPhone or iPad on iOS 18 or iPadOS 18. Apple says the entire process takes around five minutes and can be completed from the comfort of home without needing to visit a clinic.
The feature is based on pure-tone audiometry, which is a standard clinical method used to measure how well a person can hear sounds at different frequencies.
How will the hearing aid feature work?
To test the hearing feature, users will have to wear their AirPods Pro and respond whenever they hear tones played into each ear. Once the test is completed, Apple generates a summary that includes hearing levels for both ears, a hearing-loss classification, recommendations, and an audiogram chart showing hearing ability across different frequencies. The results are then securely stored in the Health app and can also be shared with a healthcare professional for further consultation.
Apple says the idea behind the feature is to help people detect hearing problems early, especially because hearing loss often develops gradually and can go unnoticed for years. “At Apple, we believe technology should empower people to take control of their health, and that starts with giving users tools to detect conditions they may not even know they have,” said Sumbul Desai, Apple’s vice president of Health and Fitness.
Meanwhile, the update also allows AirPods Pro to function as a hearing assistance device for users with mild to moderate hearing loss. Based on the personalised hearing profile generated from the test, the earbuds can amplify surrounding sounds and conversations in real time. This means users may hear voices and environmental sounds more clearly during everyday interactions.
Apple says the feature was developed using insights from the Apple Hearing Study and large-scale real-world data. According to Dr Rajiv Kumar, clinician researcher at Apple, the company has been working on hearing health technologies for nearly a decade. The company notes that its earlier efforts using connected headphones faced challenges such as inconsistent hardware quality and noisy environments. However, improvements in AirPods hardware and better noise isolation have helped Apple move closer to delivering clinically reliable results.
Interestingly, the hearing update is part of Apple’s broader effort to position its devices as preventive health companions rather than just consumer electronics. Alongside the hearing features, Apple has also introduced sleep apnoea notifications for Apple Watch users in India.
Sleep apnoea is a condition where breathing repeatedly stops during sleep, often without the person realising it. Apple says the Apple Watch uses a metric called Breathing Disturbances, powered by the accelerometer, to detect wrist movements associated with interrupted breathing patterns during sleep.