191–200 of 258 posts
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> Hearing aids are neither food nor drugs. Do you really believe that the FDA needs to be renamed before it is reasonable for them to be the agency responsible for regulating medical devices? Is there a different agency you think would be a better fit?
The NIH?
This is huge. Previously if you were hard of hearing, a pair of hearing aids could cost upwards of $2,000. Now Apple just brought that price down to ~$250. Even if you use them everyday and assume a shelf life of 1.5yrs (which is roughly mine and others' experience with AirPods), you would be replacing your Airpods for 12 years before the cost caught up with a single pair of hearing aids. Even if you think Airpods ar…
1.5? What happens after 1.5 years? Had mine for 5 years, no issue and sort of the same battery life or not noticeable to me (15% degradation is what I would not notice ) still charge very quick in a case.
Or maybe you buy multiple instead of just one, so you can hotswap any time.
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> In contrast, the AirPods run out after a few hours and are also destined to become landfill due to their built in battery. Also will entrench the user in a walled garden ecosystem from a very specific giant tech company that isn't big on making their products compatible with other companies.
That's an argument against buying an iPhone and AirPods Pro together as a combination instead of buying a hearing aid, but - it's not an argument against using AirPods as an aid with mild hearing loss if you're already an iPhone user - it's not necessarily a great argument against buying an iPhone and iPods Pro anyway, given that hearing aids can easily run hundreds or even thousands of dollars more than that combina…
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> he feels they amplify things he doesn't want to hear. I mean that's kind of the whole point of having them adjusted with an audiologist. They're tuned to your specific needs. It's too bad so many people think they're just mics and amplifiers. Modern hearing aids do a lot of signal processing.
> It's too bad so many people think they're just mics and amplifiers. Modern hearing aids do a lot of signal processing. This is what I'm still trying to convince my dad of, after he found the pair he was fitted with ~20 years ago absolutely useless. He found that they simply made everything louder which did nothing to help him pick out what he wanted to hear. But he's always been picky about his soundscapes, wanting…
I'm with him on this one. Commercials always end up being louder than the rest of the content, and are just.. annoying.
This is huge. Previously if you were hard of hearing, a pair of hearing aids could cost upwards of $2,000. Now Apple just brought that price down to ~$250. Even if you use them everyday and assume a shelf life of 1.5yrs (which is roughly mine and others' experience with AirPods), you would be replacing your Airpods for 12 years before the cost caught up with a single pair of hearing aids. Even if you think Airpods ar…
But now that Apple entered the market, maybe they will come out with wireless headphones that are more suitable?
With the AirPods now officially becoming hearing aids, it will hopefully reduce the stigma and attitude towards hearing aids and allow many more people to realize how bad their hearing actually is. I have been wearing hearing aids for a few years now (Phonak). I've also used the AirPods Pro with the accessibility audiogram feature (basically making them hearing aids), which is really good and has also been around for…
You're certainly not alone in resisting hearing aids. My dad just got some from Costco (most affordable) and really likes them. He probably waited 5-10 years too long. My father-in-law however doesn't like hearing aids because he feels they amplify things he doesn't want to hear. Granted he's never been fitted to actual hearing aids. I understand his concern, but he's told me multiple times his hearing loss leaves hi…
Modern hearing aids can be adjusted to amplify only the things you want to hear, and even reduce the things you don't want to hear.
With the AirPods now officially becoming hearing aids, it will hopefully reduce the stigma and attitude towards hearing aids and allow many more people to realize how bad their hearing actually is. I have been wearing hearing aids for a few years now (Phonak). I've also used the AirPods Pro with the accessibility audiogram feature (basically making them hearing aids), which is really good and has also been around for…
You're certainly not alone in resisting hearing aids. My dad just got some from Costco (most affordable) and really likes them. He probably waited 5-10 years too long. My father-in-law however doesn't like hearing aids because he feels they amplify things he doesn't want to hear. Granted he's never been fitted to actual hearing aids. I understand his concern, but he's told me multiple times his hearing loss leaves hi…
I used to be like your father-in-law, pride, vanity, stubborn, not wanting to be told what to do, whatever it was. And my dad was like this too (the hearing loss is heritable), I used to mock him about not wanting hearing aids before my own hearing declined. When I finally got fitted, it was shocking to me how much my hearing had suffered. Suddenly I could hear birds and crickets again, and most importantly speech!
Maybe you can get your father-in-law to first play around with AirPods as hearing aids to win him over to get proper ones. The latest generation hearing aids, like the AP's, have amazing AI signal processing that will suppress noise and enhance speech. It's always cool when my Phonak's detect noise and shut it down.
The important thing about hearing loss in elderly, especially if someone has an elevated risk of cognitive decline, is the resulting social isolation, and the increasing risk of dementia [1]. It should be addressed sooner than later.
To sum it up, the AP's have the potential to provide an affordable on-ramp for more hearing impaired people to experience hearing restoration and warm up to better ones (hopefully covered by insurance). I don't think AP's would a permanent hearing solution, other than for people who are uninsured and can't afford real hearing aids (sadly).
Edit: I could not imagine wearing AP's all day, great as they are, while I don't even notice my receiver-in-ear hearing aids anymore.
Edit: While AP's are not perfect, having any kind of hearing aid is a 100% improvement over having none, which is probably also why the FDA allowed OTC hearing aids.
Edit: [1] https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/hearing...
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> In contrast, the AirPods run out after a few hours and are also destined to become landfill due to their built in battery. Also will entrench the user in a walled garden ecosystem from a very specific giant tech company that isn't big on making their products compatible with other companies.
And will put some people off from talking to them. I don't talk to people with AirPods stuck in their ears until they take them out. Too many times I have tried to start a conversation or just say "Hello" but they are oblivious because they are on a call or have music or something else playing.
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The new hearing aid features are gatekept behind an iOS app. You can't tweak the hearing aid settings without an Apple device.
The Samsung Galaxy Buds only have 360 audio and the better audio codec if you use a Samsung Galaxy smartphone. Doesn't even work on other Android devices let alone iOS. And as far as I know you can't tweak the hearing aid features of Galaxy Buds on any device.
Personally I thinks it's shitty when anybody does it.
With the AirPods now officially becoming hearing aids, it will hopefully reduce the stigma and attitude towards hearing aids and allow many more people to realize how bad their hearing actually is. I have been wearing hearing aids for a few years now (Phonak). I've also used the AirPods Pro with the accessibility audiogram feature (basically making them hearing aids), which is really good and has also been around for…
> In contrast, the AirPods run out after a few hours and are also destined to become landfill due to their built in battery. Also will entrench the user in a walled garden ecosystem from a very specific giant tech company that isn't big on making their products compatible with other companies.