Listen up: AirPods Pro to get ‘hearing aid mode’ in iOS 18

We all probably know someone (or you are that person) who wears AirPods all the time. Well, you might be seeing even more people leaving their AirPods in their ears if the latest report on a future feature pans out.

In the paid edition of the Power On newsletter, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reports that the upcoming iOS 18 update will come with a “hearing aid mode” that will work on the AirPods Pro. Details on how this feature works were not provided and it’s not clear if the hearing aid mode will work with the current AirPods Pro or a new model that has yet to be released.

Apple will unveil iOS 18 at its Worldwide Developers Conference. While the dates for the event have not been set, it usually occurs in June. WWDC mostly focuses on operating systems, but Apple does release hardware at that time. The AirPods were updated last September, but only to release the USB-C equipped charging case–the earbuds themselves have not changed since September of 2022. So Apple could release a completely new set of AirPods Pro at WWDC, but reports of new AirPods Pro have not been circulating.

In 2022 in the U.S., the Food and Drug Administration established a regulatory category for over-the-counter hearing aids. Presumably, the AirPods Pro with iOS 18’s hearing aid mode would fall under this category.

Apple currently has a couple of AirPods Pro features that can assist with hearing. Conversation Boost uses the AirPods Pro’s microphone to isolate human voices and amplify them. Live Listen uses the iPhone’s microphone to pick up sounds and boost them through the earbuds.

In July of last year, Gurman reported that Apple is “working on a new hearing test feature that will play different tones and sounds to allow the AirPods to determine how well a person can hear.”