AirPods Pro 2 Hearing Aids Not in Canada

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?