It works! Kind of. Updated my iPhone 13 to iOS 18.1 today and paired it with AirPod Pro 2 with 7B19 and took the hearing test and successfully set up with hearing aid settings.
As a $5,200 aids wearer for the past four years I think I’ll hang on to the pro level aid for a while longer. The AirPods do give me a Bluetooth connection to my phone now with controls to be able to participate in conversations at a boosted hearing level without a change of hearing device. And, there was an adjustment period with the pro aids as well so I need to give these time.
Upper Midwest, USA. My sympathies to my neighbors up north and around the globe.