Apple May Be Working On New Hearing Health Features For AirPods – SlashGear

Another notable upgrade reportedly destined for the AirPods is a built-in hearing test that will help determine a person’s hearing capability and assess if they have any difficulties. Apple already offers a few accessibility features to help folks with hearing challenges, such as boosting the audio output from the onboard speakers, and AirPods can already be used in conjunction with an app called Mimi to assess one’s hearing capacity. This feature — if it does indeed arrive with future AirPods — would eliminate the need to use Mimi.

Gurman also goes on to claim that Apple is looking into ways its AirPods (some future models, at least) could effectively function as over-the-counter hearing aids, which have proven increasingly popular — in fact, the first pair of OTC hearing aids featuring the Sennheiser brand were recently announced. However, consumers may find a dual-purpose device like AirPods with hearing aid functionality more appealing than dedicated hearing aids, as they would not only pack more capabilities but also shed the stigma that some may experience with the latter product. Apple reportedly has tapped some experts from the hearing aids industry to explore this possibility, but there’s no word yet on when such functionality may arrive, if ever.