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In iOS 18.1 the long awaited Air Pods Pro 2 Hearing Test and Hearing Aids feature is (as of 18.1 release date) not available in Canada. When will it be available and is there any specific was as users we can make this happen?
iPhone 13 mini, iOS 18
Thanks for sharing this response from your MP.
So a product that is designed and sold (both in the US and Canada) for the dedicated purpose of improving hearing recognition (and likely called a “hearing aid”) is allowed to be sold and used in Canada - because it is cleverly characterized as a “hearing amplifier”.
Yet an internet OS update for long available AirPods is “blocked” for Canadians because this “software code”makes our AirPods into “medical devices” - and now our AirPods are miraculously seen by our “health guardian bureaucrats” in Health Canada as a “hearing aid” and therefore a “medical device”. And thus subject to Federal and Provincial regulatory control.
A clever sleight of hand - likely unlawful - pushing the boundary of medical device protectionist and anti-competitive practice beyond any logical or purposeful limit.
Why the difference? Health Canada realizes there is no practical way they can block the mail or citizen transmission of OTC hearing aids into Canada - without an extremely costly and heavy handed enforcement process.
Think trained hearing aid sniffer dogs at airports and border crossings. Maybe further x-ray inspections and training to recognize clandestine hearing aids tucked away in your luggage! How about having to remove your US purchased OTC hearing aids at Canada Customs upon returning to Canada after a vacation and having them inspected by trained Health Canada “experts” to determine if they are “hearing amplifiers” or “hearing aids”.
Yah - you get the picture (and sarcasm) I trust.
But if all Health Canada has to do is to misuse Canada’s control over the airwaves within Canada to “block” the download of this “dangerous to the Health of Canadians” latest OS update - then it’s Golden! Let’s do that! That will provide at least 5 more years of market protection to the audiologist and hearing device industry in Canada. While Health Canada “considers” the pros and cons of deregulation of this market segment, just like the US has done over the last 5 years before they concluded the BENEFITS to American citizens outweighed any concerns. Is Health Canada really going to arrive at the opposite conclusion?
If this OTC hearing aid sale issue has been resolved to the benefit of US citizens, after strict review by US health experts, you figure Health Canada might move quickly to a similar decision? Or to at least, in the interim, back off of their patently misguided blocking of the latest AirPod OS upgrade within Canada? Close to 100 other countries recognize the obvious - the improved functionality is not making the AirPod into a “hearing aid” or “medical device”, and the upgrade has not been blocked from their citizens.
This sort of regulatory over-reach breeds contempt and cynicism of the important work that Health Canada performs each day.
It is also somewhat disappointing to know that for whatever reasons, Apple has been complicit in this madness by going along with the Health Canada position.
We must all write to Health Canada and also bring this to the attention of the media. The rationale of Health Canada will not withstand scrutiny from the public once known. I for one will be writing to CBC Marketplace because I believe this bureaucratic bungling is just the type that falls within the role that the TV show tries to fulfill on behalf of the public.
Thoughts?
FYI, I have tried to get the hearing features working in Canada by wiping my phone, setting up using a VPN, disabling location services and using a US account but it did not work. I guess they use your GPS location even if you don't allow it.
My next attempt will be a trip to the USA to see if that works.
What will work is if you set them up with an Apple device that is on IOS 18.01 or older.
It works. I have been using them since September and they work well for somebody with mild to moderate hearing loss. Music was a revelation and I am loving listening to music again.
Go to settings/accessibility/audio visual/headphone accommodations
Lucster wrote:
Some people here mistakenly label the AirPods Pro's transparency and noise cancellation functionalities as the hearing aid functionality. It’s like Live Listen, which has existed for a very long time, whereby you could use your iPhone to pick up sounds and relay them to your AirPods. These functionalities are fine but not the same as the hearing aid functionality.
The only way to get the hearing test and the hearing aid functionality is with IOS 18.1 and up and AirPods Pro firmware 7B19 and up, in a country that allows OTC sale of hearing aids.
I tried to set up my AirPods Pro 2 with firmware 7B21 with an older iPhone 1ù2 with IOS 17.7.1 yesterday, and YOU DO NOT GET the hearing test and the hearing aid functionality.
There is a lot of misinformation being spread here about this.
I tried to make that point early on in other threads. No one wanted to listen. Perhaps you'll have better luck. I hope so.
I tried to make that point early on in other threads. No one wanted to listen. Perhaps you'll have better luck. I hope so.
I wondered how long it would take for you to chip in.
In the end you and Lucster are really dancing on the head of a pin as to what constitutes "real" hearing aids.
The AirPod hearing aid setup prior to 18.1 was not promoted by Apple as hearing aids because the FDA would not have allowed them to be sold as hearing aids.
Apple put the features in and let customers find out for themselves. You only have to look on YouTube. There are dozens of videos showing how to set them up.
Here is the definition of hearing amplifiers.
Hearing Aids vs Hearing Amplifiers
https://www.hearingaid.org.uk › ... › Hearing Aid Advice
9 Sept 2024 — All sounds are amplified, unlike hearing aids that are programmed for the specific frequencies an individual with hearing loss needs to hear. ...
Note that it says that ALL sounds are amplified so we know that Apple did NOT release the Airpods as hearing amplifiers in 2022 because you can upload your audiogram to the Airpods and they work across a range of frequencies..
I have mild to moderate hearing loss in my ears in the high and mid tones and my left ear is much worse than my right.
Let's move onto hearing what people are saying to me when I am wearing them.
In a noisy restaurant last week using the Airpods, background noise drops in volume and voices are crystal clear from everybody sitting at the eight person table. You can manually adjust the volume of background noise and voices independently using Transparency Mode or use the Adaptive Mode so they adjust automatically.
If I am listening to a podcast or some music and somebody starts talking to me, because I have Conversation Boost and Conversation Awareness switched on too, as soon as I start talking, OR somebody starts talking to me, the music or Podcast or fades to nothing while I carry on a conversation and gradually fades back up where it left off. It took me a couple of days to gets used to the fact that all I needed was to start talking to get the music to fade out.
Listening to music was totally transformed for me. Previously all I heard in my left ear was a mush using a cheap set of ear buds.
The Loud Sound Reduction also works extremely well. Our peanut grinder is deafening when I used it and the first time I tried it the volume dropped to less than 50%.
Whether you both like it or not, my Airpods sound like a VERY sophisticated pair of hearing aids to me and guess what? I am using IOS 17.7.1 and using them in the UK where they haven’t been approved.
I think this is the only officially supported way to get them to work.
Correct but then if you are in the "wrong" country where they are not approved you cannot use them at all. They work very well using 17.7.1 unofficially and the only difference I have heard about is that the volume output is higher running 18.1. As I have mild to moderate hearing loss they are better than fine for me.
Why would I update when the 18.1 update will prevent me from using them? They work really well on 17.7.1.
@rasg
Does 17.7.1 let you enter the audiogram test result to use the "hearing aid" function? If yes, you are probably right. If not, it is not a hearing aid, just a background noise cancellation. Honest question here because I don't have an airpod pro 2.
I’ve just gone thru the process that @rasg suggested and if you use the mimi app for the hearing test there is a box below the audiogram that asks if you want to integrate into Apple health.
Excellent.
Does 17.7.1 let you enter the audiogram test result to use the "hearing aid" function? If yes, you are probably right. If not, it is not a hearing aid, just a background noise cancellation. Honest question here because I don't have an airpod pro 2.
Yes it does. It is a hearing aid. Apple the Airpod Pro 2s in September 2022 but they didn't publicise it but let people find out for themselves. What it led to was Apple getting mountains of information from the people who owned them about hearing aids. 150,000 of them. They mentioned it in the Apple iPhone 16 keynote in September.
The AirPods are effectively "tuned" by your audiogram AND they also have excellent noise cancellation and excellent Loud Sound Noise Reduction.
I sent an email asking the same thing to Health Canada October 31. The response was they would forward it to the correct department: Medical Devices Directorate. Like you, I did not receive a response. I’m glad you followed up with your M.P.
Ok. I purchased the airpods pro 2. I did not upgrade to ios 18. I took the hearing test on mimi with only mild deficit and I linked it with the health app. I linked the airpods on my iphone 15 plus. What should I do next?
Thanks.
welwyn wrote:
Well, the latest update is 18.1.1. However, the hearing aid capability is simply NOT available in Canada yet. When will it be? No answer
No one participating in this forum would know the answer to that question. You will need to wait until Apple and the Canadian government work through whatever they need to work through.
Yes. I arrived home in Alberta last week and the hearing aids are working perfectly. I was in California when 18.1.1 came out - I updated there and lo and behold the hearing aid capability was added. I am guessing that IF I update to the next software release in Canada I will lose the hearing aid capability?
The only way to find out is to update! I am still on 17.7.1 as they work anywhere in the world.
This is very helpful only under headphone accommodation I am not offered the option of using an audiogram. I have done the Mimi test and associated the audiogram with the Health app but still don’t get that option.
iPhone 12 Pro Max 18.2
Airpods Pro 2
Canadian resident obviously
Yes - it continues to work - but nervous about upgrading to 18.2 in Canada and losing the hearing over
So why would be in such a rush to update? I think you will lose the feature if you update. Let everybody else have the problems and iron out the bugs.
I will stay on IOS 17.7.1 as it works very well.
Image 1. In Canada the Hearing Test feature is not on the menu.
Image 2. In the United States and other countries the feature is activated and shows on the menu.
Do you think the same process would work if I buy the Air pods- create an US Apple ID, etc? The Sony hearing aids sound great but they are $1000 US.
AirPods Pro 2 Hearing Aids Not in Canada
