When Apple recently announced the hearing aid feature on their new AirPods Pro 2, it got the attention of quite a few people. Among these were [Rithwik Jayasimha] and friends, with [Rithwik] getting a pair together with his dad for use by his hard-of-hearing grandmother. That’s when he found out that this feature is effectively limited to the US and a small number of other countries due them being ‘regulated health features’, per Apple. With India not being on the approved countries list and with no interest in official approval legalities, [Rithwik] set to work to devise a way to bypass this restriction.
As noted in the blog post, the primary reason for using AirPods here instead of official hearing aids is due to the cost of the latter, which makes them a steal for anyone who is dealing with mild to moderate hearing loss. Following the official Hearing Aid feature setup instructions requires that your location is detected as being in an approved country. If it is, the Health App (on iOS 18.1) will popup a ‘Get Started’ screen. The challenge was thus to make the iOS device believe that it was actually in the FDA-blessed US and not India.
Merely spoofing the location and locale didn’t work, so the next step was to put the iOS device into a Faraday cage along with an ESP32 that broadcast California-based WiFi SSIDs. Once the thus treated iPad rebooted into the US, it could be used to enable the hearing aid feature. Next [Rithwik] and friends created a more streamlined setup and procedure to make it possible for others to replicate this feat.
As also noted in the blog post, the Hearing Aid feature is essentially a specially tuned Transparency mode preset, which is why using AirPods for this feature has been a thing for a while, but with this preset it’s much better tuned for cases of hearing loss.
One of those regulation idiocies which seriously tempts you to become libertarian. They’re way better for my mother and about 1/30th of the price of far inferior devices which are actual medical hardware (hence the insane upcharge, even surpassing the apple tax by more than an order of magnitude). Glad she’s inside the geofence…
I’m surprised they are allowed to market this as a hearing aid at all (probably due to lax regulation in the US). Hearing loss is cumulative and you can easily cause more damage by boosting the sound too much or using them as headphones.
People talking about overcharging for the real hearing aids have no idea what they are talking about.
No, the real ones are absolutely overpriced and it isn’t remotely reasonable. On top of this even the batteries are often massively overpriced. If your argument is fit medial approval that’s fine, but don’t excuse the abuses pervading medical technology.
I don’t remember exactly when but the FDA categorized hearing aids as over the counter devices. Meaning other companies can now make hearing aids besides medical companies. Sony even makes some hearing aids now.
The real ones are overpriced, locked-down, largely economically inaccessible(!) pieces of technology. Apple is also way too costy for me, but some genuine new airpods would be about a third of the price of my singular hearing aid (I have a budget one without all the extra functionality like bluetooth or whatever, and I have a moderate hearing loss so it doesn’t have to be as powerful as some others.) And I’ve already been informed that due to the age of my model (not my specific exemplar, which I bought brand new in autumn 2022 and promised to get at least 5 years out of it), if it breaks, I’ll have to just buy a whole new aid, as the suittable to my model receiver was sunsetted and the service centers no longer carry it. And yes I also have to buy the batteries all the time.
See, THIS is why Corporations and billionaires should NEVER have say nor sway over our governments. This is all about protecting the moneyed interests behind those inferior devices, and those behind the corrupt lawmakers enabling such fraud and profiteering.
I never looked into hearing aids myself, but there is something very fishy going on in that world. But also, It’s just the same abuse of artificial scarcity, abuse of power and money milking by people who already have too much money. Apparently, somehow this has become “normal”.
Apparently you can listen through them and EQ that path maybe even compress sounds like for shooting or shop transients even compress selective frequency bands anywhere in the world just don’t call it “ahem” you know. I need to spend some time in Ubuntu Rakarack and see if I can make it behave like the best personal-live-binaural-monitor setup I’d ever want.
Governments being governments, I wouldn’t be surprised if the people behind this – including the grandmother – receive an unfriendly visit from India’s health authorities.
I know India has corruption issues, but I don’t think there could be a real law that would make it illegal for someone to do this. Any law(s) involved would be the ones preventing Apple from offering the ability in a medical sense. If anyone’s going to go after the hacker it’ll be Apple, but I very much doubt they care.
We’ve been wondering if Apple’s going to patch this “loophole” at some point…
Doubt it, Airpods in every ear is their company dream, unless they get ordered to by a court theyve no reason to bother.
More likely they are able to fix the regulatory mess. Apple is one of the few organizations with the means and motive to push back here. This might be one of the few times when regulatory capture ends up favoring consumers, if only because Apple is significantly less insane than the industry currently calling the shots.
What is a California-based WiFi SSID?
A far as I knew, SSIDs are just things like Marthas_Basement_Router, NETGEAR14-5G, etc. Is there a hidden location code in there someplace?
It’s in Apple’s and Google’s databases, they have been collecting SSIDs, MAC addresses and their coordinates since smartphones hit the market.
Use WIgle.net and look up wifi with SSID/BSSID
WiFi access points broadcast country codes, usually.
I’d rather bite the bullet than jump through hoops to get Apple’s stuff working. How in the name of all that’s sacred would you want stuff that ain’t gonna work like you want just because its maker doesn’t want YOU to?
Hacking points alright but it’s like pretending to be rich to get the girl. And we KNOW what those POS hearing aids cost, a brother sent Dad a set and he never used it. Thing lies totally new and totally forgotten in its box with its battery dead. Neither does my MIL (95) want them. Go figure.
Paying over EUR 1000 for an EUR100 hearing aid is also no fun.
If it was up to me, I’d rather walk around with something in my ear of the same size as that thing Spock has in his ear than pay any of the modern con men. Provided it gets the job done of course.
I’m not sure how those modern hearing aids work. My first guess is they do some FFT stuff and only boos frequencies in which there is actual hearing loss. And that is a trick that any MP3 player has been able to do for 20 years now.
It’s usually the family that requires the hearing aid.
The person themselves are just as often just as happy to turn it off.
^^^ This. Typical age-related hearing loss is usually more of a social problem – listening to and participating in conversations.
Maybe true about older folk. Being a student or in workplace without a hearing aid when you need it can be hell for you, though.
FFT, multiply bins, iFFT followed by dynamic range compression to avoid hitting lowered pain threshold for loud sounds.
I actually read the latest lab results of my MIL and they may answer why he hears some things better than others. Not the first one since I took her to probably the first test, like five years ago and she heard better than now. And just like today she didn’t want them.
Apple wouldn’t put this restriction in voluntarily (other restrictions yes, but not this particular one). This is a regulatory compliance issue that they have to do to avoid being fined for selling unapproved medical devices. They aren’t benefitting from the restriction in any other way.
That I can believe but then again what are the chances in India that the customer would prevail even with a judge prejudiced against the US?
you seem to misunderstand the issue.
India does not allow OTC hearing aids.
Countries that allow OTC hearing aids are not blocked by apple.
For countries that do not allow OTC hearing aids Apple would have to have Airpods certified by their regulatory agencies as medical devices, and then would ALSO have to either be granted permission for their hearing test app to substitute for a professional hearing exam, develop an app for medically supervised calibration, or eliminate the testing feature and only allow certified otologist uploads of prescription profiles.
As time goes on, it is likely that the necessary legislation to allow airpods as hearings aids will be pushed through additional countries expanding the list of available locations, but for now Apple must comply or face legal consequences.
The end user choosing to hack their way into using them as hearing aids faces no legal repercussions for using them though.
This is a purely political thing, look here: https://www.apple.com/airpods-pro/feature-availability/
Only “friendly” states and regions (from an US point of view) get it.
I guess that would mean Canada wasn’t “friendly” enough for the hearing aid feature, they should’ve tried to be more like…Afghanistan?
Well yea. You don’t get to say Apple broke the law, fine them billions of dollars, force them to stop selling a feature – and then complain after you get what you wanted.
Either you agree with your countries regulations being a good thing and this isn’t a problem, or you don’t and this is a problem with your country and not apple.
In Canada, hearing aids aren’t available over-the-counter like in the US. Health Canada also needs to approve any devices classified as a hearing aid. They also need to get a licensed hearing professional to get hearing aids, through a prescription. So IF they get the airpods approved as hearing aids they would still need to have an otologist perform a hearing test and calibration
Which is a good thing. But people would rather
– buy a real hearing aid without consulting a doctor
– be surprised it doesn’t work as they think it should
– buy overpriced headphones with that “feature”, which will most likely damage the hearing more but will appear to work in the short term
A lot of regulation is bad or stupid, but usually not when it comes to medicine.
Though it’s not that surprising, considering how many Americans consider chiropractic quakery medicine.
Which is a good thing. But people would rather
– buy a real hearing aid without consulting a doctor
– be surprised it doesn’t work as they think it should
– buy overpriced headphones with that “feature”, which will most likely damage the hearing more but will appear to work in the short term
A lot of regulation is bad or stupid, but usually not when it comes to medicine.
Though it’s not that surprising, considering how many Americans consider chiropractic quakery medicine.
Recently Canada wasn’t “friendly” to Apple.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/apple-settlement-british-columbia-supreme-court-1.7098096
That’s not at all true, it’s a regulatory thing
The definition of a “medical device” varies country by country and marketing a device or feature that hits one of those definitions could get you serious legal troubles if you’ve not gone through the appropriate testing and certification processes to prove your device is “safe”.
Yes, it’s largely BS and it adds huge cost for the end user but it’s not some shady conspiracy as you seem to be suggesting.
If it were a regulatory thing, this feature wouldn’t be available in the EU where the rules are rather strict. Apple makes no claims that iPods can be turned into a medical device by the flick of a switch, they just call their advanced tone control magic “clinical-grade” which can mean anything or nothing. Even with this feature, iPods remain consumer devices. This is how efficient marketing works, spit out some fringeworthy but legally sound blurb and delegate exaggeration and false claims to the media and customers. Works perfectly with dietary supplements (which are legally foodstuff) and various “aids” for the elderly.
Which pretty much exactly backs up what I said, there are strict regulations on what can and can’t be called a medical device and what is defined as such varies in different countries and regions, so it absolutely is regulatory.
It is a regulatory thing, and the feature is not available in the EU as a whole. Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Slovakia, and Sweden have provisions of law allowing OTC hearing aids which gives Apple the ability to enable this feature without legal reprisal as in those jurisdictions they would NOT be considered medical devices. Other EU member states do not have such provisions and are consequentially geo-blocked for the time being.
It’s not “friendly” regions. It’s regions where they wouldn’t be explicitly breaking the law by enabling the feature. I am not an Apple fan at all, but if your region isn’t on the list its because your government forbade it.
Not true in Australia’s case—allegedly we are allies. The inability to use the new hearing assistance function is because the iPods Pro 2 and accompanying software have not been approved here by the TGA (Therapeutic Goods Administration). There is no indication at this point that they will.
And Australia?
So now the interior of the cage is American territory, land of the free and home of the brave. you will need to put walls all around because they are not sending the best :)
Oh ! come on guys! is a joke.
It is a good joke.
but
Interior of the cage IS American territory.
Same with internet websites.
Same with AI data.
One of my friends did call this the freedom cube haha
https://x.com/David_Kasten/status/1856390648225472717
So if someone in the US who is using the hearing aid feature travels overseas, their hearing aid stops working or is this just a one time set-up that locks? Does your Tesla have a geolocation feature and if you drive to Mexico it stops or is that just an X-feature? Insult Elon and he bricks your car.
um, there was the Cybertruck in Russia, not to mention the stolen Ukraine John Deere combines.
Also see Japanese CNC milling machines (hint hint Toshiba submarine propellers)
This is just a one time set up! Once unlocked, Apple doesn’t take the hearing aids feature away even if you travel to an unfriendly jurisdiction
After we unlocked the first iPad and took it out of the cage, it still had the feature
This fad will be over within a year. It isn’t a new invention at all, premium medical grade hearing aids have been offering Bluetooth earplug functionality for more than two decades. I guess that a short window of opportunity just opened for Apple due to expiring patents and their marketing department is running at full tilt trying to exploit that window. Other headset manufacturers like Jabra and hp-Poly (ex Plantronics) will follow soon, they already sell hardware with similar capabilities. But all these ear wax collectors will never replace professional hearing aids, as the consumer stuff has limits on the sound pressure level required by law in most jurisdictions. (Most cheap OTC hearing aids also obey the limits, make no health-related claims and can therefore be sold as a novelty or toy.)
Yes, premium hearing aids have had Bluetooth for some time now, what they’ve also had is a price tag that’s 10 times higher than a set of apple air pods, the pair of hearing aids my mother owns cost as much as a very nice 4 year old BMW for example
A 4 year old BMW .. that’s like what, a handful of DOGE coin? Or is it a bucket? The conversion factor table is a little hard to read, help us out, will ya?
How much is a 4 year old BMW in your country?
Well , grandma’s hearing aids cost 2 large each and tjeu aren’t top of the line……..
Probably somewhere between a few hundred to several ten thousands, depending on original price and current state.