Hearing Accessibility in iOS

Hearing is an important part of the way we experience the world and perhaps it is one of those things we leave unchecked when an issue arises. We may put it off as not being too bad or wishing it will go away on its own. Further to that, there may be the stigma of being seen with a hearing aid — being seen as too old or deaf. Not so much of an issue when we choose the latest trendy headphones or earphones and even other devices such as handsfree or gaming sets.

Healthy hearing, and indeed, good hearing can benefit us in many surprising ways — from increasing social engagement, improving communication and even lowering the risk of depression. Furthermore, there are links of hearing loss to a number of disabling conditions. So, it is always a good idea to see what we can do for our hearing health.

Technology can be of great help in this area. For example, in a recent study published in the journal iScience researchers reported the preference of participants (n=21) to wear AirPods Pro with Live Listen tun on versus $10K hearing aids! Live listen is an accessibility feature in Apple’s iOS that enabled the microphones on an iPhone to feed audio to the headphones to help you hear a conversation in a nosy area. In the study the researchers tested other versions of AirPods and they reported their results as meeting established standards as per the ANSI/CTA-2051 criteria for…