Thanks for the advice. My iPhone is running 18.1 and the AirPods are new, but as IdrisSeabright
points out, there a countries where the Apple hearing test isn't
approved: sadly I live in one of them (UK). However, again taking up a
useful suggestion, I've generated an audiogram using a mobile app,
Hearing Test. It compares pretty well with ones I've seen as the result
of professional tests. I've got the audiogram into the iPhone, and I'm
about to find out if it is imposed on the AirPods, and whether the
enormous number of adjustments one can make to them will cooperated with
audiogram's adaptation. I'll report back if I get nearer to my ideal
result.
You won't get them working in the UK if you have updated to 18.1. Apple have geographically locked them as the MHRA haven't approved them for use as a hearing aids.
I am pleased that Idris is actually acknowledging that the Airpods can be set up running an older IOS. Last week he was not. An equalizer on steroids working on the frequencies your ears can no longer work with pretty much sounds like a hearing aid to me.
People have been using them as hearing aids since September 2022 when the AirPods first launched. One big difference was that Apple didn't tell anybody that they had hearing aid features because they hadn’t been approved by the FDA but people who had bought them caught on pretty quickly. There are dozens of videos on YouTube showing you how to set them up.
Now they have been approved Apple have to adhere to the FDA rules that means geographical locks for countries who haven't approved them.
Even using 18.1 in an approved country, if your hearing loss test is severe Apple will prevent you using them so you also need to beware of that.
If you have an older iphone or iPad with almost any IOS that is older than IOS 18.1 you can set them up as hearing aids using the Transparency feature in Headphone Accommodations.
It works in pretty much an identical way to the features that are available in the 18.1 version but in 18.1 they have simplified and streamlined the menus.
Six weeks ago I started appreciating music again as I can now hear all of the mid and high frequencies and I can actually hear a phone call through my left ear. Something I was unable to do a couple of months ago.
