Turn your AirPods Pro 2 into hearing aids: Testing and tracking hearing health in iOS 18.1

Apple's latest mobile software update -- iOS18.1 -- includes new hearing health features for the AirPods Pro 2 earbuds. These features include a clinically validated hearing test to help users assess their hearing health and a hearing aid mode that allows the Pro 2 earbuds to act as an over-the-counter hearing aid.

If you're curious about Apple's new hearing health features, how to complete the hearing test, or anything related to these AirPods acting as hearing aids, keep reading to get your questions answered.

However, Maddie Maliszewska, an audiologist at Boost Hearingcare, says that at-home hearing tests may be less reliable, accurate, and comprehensive than ones completed in a clinical setting. At-home tests can't account for any obstructions in the ear and are too simple to determine what area in the ear is affected and causing hearing loss. The best way users can make their at-home hearing test more accurate is to clean their ears before taking it.

"The test conducted through the AirPods also only tests 'Air Conduction,'" she says. "To obtain a full picture of someone's hearing loss, a bone conduction test must also be completed. Bone conduction testing allows us to see if the hearing loss is sensorineural or conductive. Therefore, if the hearing test is not completed in full, then we cannot determine if there is an outer, middle, or inner ear problem."

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Cindy McManus, an audiologist with Zepp Clarity, a hearing health solutions company, echoes Maliszewska. McManus says hearing tests conducted by an audiologist can determine what kind of hearing loss someone has and whether they need prescription hearing aids or medical intervention.

"The hearing test on the iPhone should be considered a guideline for adjusting the software and is not a diagnosis of hearing loss," she says.