AirPods Pro Hearing Aids by Apple

Apple AirPods Pro Hearing Aids

AirPods Pro Hearing Aids are now official. After updating my iPhone 16 on Friday, October 25 to Apple’s release of iOS 18.1, this ground breaking feature has been enabled. I personally have been eagerly awaiting this upgrade since early this year.

As of today, October 27, Apple still reports the Pioneering Hearing feature – Coming Soon. If you are waiting, as I have been, to find out how your Apple AirPod Pros work as very affordable hearing aids, get ahead of the rush and enable yours today.

Steps to enable the Hearing Aid feature
Apple AirPods Pro Hearing Aids Settings
  • From a compatible iPhone go to Settings > General > Software Update and install iOS 18.1
  • Find a quiet place and put on your AirPods Pro, Pro 2
  • Go to Settings > Bluetooth and connect to AirPods
  • Once connected, the circle i
  • Click Take a Hearing Test
  • Once completed click Hearing Assistance (your hearing test results are automatically made available)
  • Toggle Hearing Aid to on
Adjustments
Apple AirPods Pro Hearing Aids Adjustments

Tweak your personal preferences for the AirPods Pro Hearing Aids by going to Adjustments.

Toggling ON the Conversation Boost (not shown) helped me hear family more clearly.

All this is obviously new, but testing out various features, experimenting, can be fun and rewarding.

Other OTC Hearing Aids

As an early buyer of the Bose Hearphones, this remarkable technology became my primary hearing device for nearly 7 years. At that time when the Hearphones were not allowed to be called hearing aids, but that’s what they were. They performed better, with far more features. than every OTC hearing aid I have tried prior to the introduction of the AirPods Pro Hearing Aids. Hopefully some features on the discontinued Hearphones will be adapted by Apple in coming releases.

Trying OTC hearing aids over the past 12-18 months have all had flaws compared to the Bose Hearphones. This is a link to a review of the Audien Atom Pro OTC Hearing Aids.

My personal hearing loss is defined as “moderate”. Some frequencies are fairly close to normal, while others are very poor.

Wm sig

I would love to hear from you,
email: Wm@WhereIDwell.net

Bose Hearphones

Late in 2016 Bose introduced the Hearphones, an innovated technology that amplified sounds from the real world. Although they were not allowed to call these hearing aids, that’s exactly what they were. Sometime in 2017 they were made available for in store only purchase in a handful of locations nationwide. I made a trip to an outlet near Dallas to purchase my first pair.

Bose Hearphones

These were bluetooth enabled with an app that allowed 2 connections. I could be streaming music and if I received a call the music would be paused while I connected trough my smartphone. The app allowed me to shut out essentially all outside noise, it was fantastic. The app came standard with 4 preset modes that would focus sound. There was group or individual conversation, as well as music and television. You could adjust the level of outside world and save them in the presets or create your own. Raise and lower base and treble.

The only issue I had with mine was the on/off switch, located on the neck bace, tended to malfunction after some time. In every case, right up until they were discontinued, I think early 2021, Bose would replace them with a brand new pair at no cost. The last time I called they apologized and offered a 100% refund. I gladly accepted, but would have much preferred to have a replacement.

Apparently some people, my brother included, found the neck brace uncomfortable. That was never the case for me, I loved it. Also, with my level of hearing, I didn’t need to have them on 100% of the time. I could just take them out of me ears and let the ear buds dangle or tuck them under my shirt.

Those were, as I recall, either $499 or $599. A bargain compared to all other hearing aids at the time. They have replacements, which I have not tried. The original replacements have a very low level bluetooth to preserve battery usage. It only connects to the app. A more recent upgraded version called the Lexie B2 Powered by Bose will stream phone calls, no other audio. They cost $999.

I have ordered the Sony E10 Hearing Aids, $1,300. I’ll do a review soon. These stream all bluetooth audio. I am unsure if multiple devices can be connected. Yet to be determined if anything available now is an improvement to my beloved Hearphones.

Audien Atom Pro OTC Hearing Aids

In late July I ordered a pair of Audi Atom Pro OTC hearing aids, list price as of this writing, $249. I’ll explain why these very affordable hearing aids may be a great option for most users, but less so for some environments.

The Pro model was chosen over the base model Atom for a few reasons. There was a special offer of $149, the PRO comes with a portable charging case, are somewhat smaller in size and have background noise cancellation – more on that later. For only an extra $50 over the base model that was quite a deal.

If you have looked at other reviews you will see that Audien receives high marks on their audio quality. I will say straight away, I fully concur.

Audien Atom Pro

Shown in the photo is the charging case and my Atom Pro hearing aids. Not shown is a charging cord, a tool to manually adjust volume level, a cleaning tool and additional size tips – for my ears I found the smallest size best.

My Small Town New Hampshire Experience

When I received my Audien Atom Pro hearing aids I was spending a month near N. Conway, NH. Peaceful morning walks with the dog, time with my daughter and adult grandson, who will be off to college after the summer. Quiet most days, some work on my computer, trips to a local senior center, some movies or TV series in the evenings. I quickly discovered these hearing aids far exceeded my expectations. They were looking like keepers.

Audien recommends going slowly to find the best size tips, volume level, and allow your ears time to adjust. All that is very good advice, but I have had other hearing devices, so I admit to moving a bit more quickly, but systematically. I spent about a week getting familiar with my new hearing aids, finding the settings that worked best for me and allowing my ears to adjust.

After less than 2 weeks I determined the best setting for my surroundings and hearing was about 1/3 total amplification. A small flat head screwdriver is supplied to easily change amplification. Too high and you get feedback and normal conversation feels like people are raising their voices with you. A very good test is to ask a family member with good hearing to set the optimal TV volume. For the first time, since my Bose Hearphones finally gave out, I didn’t require subtitles.

Lunch at the senior center was another good test. I didn’t need to just nod and pretend I heard, I could actually join the conversation. Lunch at a favorite local restaurant was a bit more of a challenge, for the first time I found the restaurant uncomfortably loud.

My only other issue was one I decided I could work around. My daughter has a very nice induction range, in my mind far superior to either electric or gas. On higher settings there was very significant feedback to my hearing aids. I simply took them out for my meal prep when requiring those settings.

A big plus for Audien is that they are genuinely committed to addressing any concerns, they offer great support. I decided to consider purchasing a 2nd set of just the Atom Pro hearing aids to allow me to set those at a lower amplification for some environments – Audien had already made an offer of a 2nd pair at a reasonable price.

However, before making any additional purchases I would need to test my new hearing aids in a very different living environment…

My New York City Experience

More than half my time is spent in New York City. I love the city, at 77 I do a lot of walking every day, take the NYC transit to meet with friends for lunch, theater, walks in the parks, NY Yankees games, along with numerous other cultural events.

My first full day back to the city I had a procedure scheduled for NYU Langone Health. I put in my Atom Pro hearing aids and headed for the subway, being certain to take the charging case, but hoping not to need it.

Subway cars are loud, but I left the hearing aids in until a very loud group of teenagers arrived, I was glad to have the charging case. I got out at Grand Central, reinserted my Atom Pro’s. On 42nd St heading toward Lexington Ave the traffic noise was unbearable. Again, into the charging case.

At NYU Langone I reinserted my hearing aids. At checkin they use a scan of my right hand to bring up my profile and begin the checkin process. That equipment, even more so than the induction range, caused feedback at a very high level. Reinserting the hearing aids after checkin I had no further issues and was happy not having to ask the medical team to repeat things.

My Conclusions

I thought long and hard about what to do during my test period with my very affordable Atom Pro hearing aids. After NH I was ready to commit to them.

Prior to searching for new and affordable OTC hearing aids I owned the Bose Hearphones for going on 5 years, until Bose discontinued those and replaced them with a different model that I find unacceptable – a review of that experience is in the works. The features I was giving up with any affordable in ear hearing aid that I utilized and loved most about the Bose included:

  • Bluetooth streaming to 2 devices
  • Blocking of any or all outside noise
  • Supplied presets for normal conversation, tv, focused and group conversation. All of the presets could set for individual hearing, adjusting for base or treble, higher or lower for left/right ear. Easily switched by app.
  • Calls, when connected to a phone, could be answered and any other bluetooth connected device was automatically silenced.
  • Excellent battery life and very high quality Bose audio.

Even without those above Bose Hearphone features I would rate my New Hampshire experience 5 stars with the planned addition of a 2nd pair of Audien Atom Pro heating aids.

After my NY City experience I decided to return the Atom Pros. Audien, of course, hoped I would decide to keep the Pros, but the return process could not have been easier. They even sent me a free shipping label. I received a full refund soon after they received my returned hearing aids.

I hope the above was useful, please feel free to leave comments, I will be more than happy to try to answer any questions. You should feel very confident ordering from this fine company.

Activity & Weight Tracking – Month 2

Activity & Weight Tracking is part of a Healthy Lifestyle Plan that I am adopting. I want to emphasize, I am not on a diet. I do not believe in diets as a pathway to getting to and maintaining a healthy weight or lifestyle. I do believe that enjoying a healthy lifestyle as we age is far easier if, all things considered, we are close to our own individual optimal personal body weight.

On May 29, 2022 I began daily intermittent fasting, 16-hours, from 2:00 pm to 6:00 am. Over the course of the coming weeks and months I’ll track activities I see as promoting my personal desired lifestyle. One very important measure is allowing my body to tell me when I have reached my optimal personal body weight.

Specifics and references can be found in Notes at the bottom of this post. Comments are very much welcome, thank you.

Wm sig

Daily Tracking

Week 1 of 4 Weeks of Intermittent Fasting

June 1, 2022
Baby Hens

Weight: 194.0
Steps: 4050/7600
Daily Calm: 20
Wm’s Yoga: 1:00
BP: 126/70 HR: 62

Start of what I hope will be a full month dedicated to establishing a better overall health. I’ll look for improvements in weight – bmi=24.9 –, blood pressure, average steps/day, strength, flexibility, balance and mobility. I’ll have feedback on a lung infection and get a good set of blood tests when possible.

Week 1 – Summary 6/1 to 6/7

  • Weight Start: 194.0 End: 189.6
  • Steps Avg: 3707/day Goal: 7600/day 49% of goal
  • Daily Calm Meditation: 27 min/day
  • Wm’s Yoga: 5 days 5 hrs 20 min
  • Foot & Body massage: 1 hr
  • BP: 129/68 HR: 73 [6/8 reading fairly typical]

Weight Graph with Moving Average

Weight by Day 6/1-29/2022

Activity & Weight Tracking – Part 2

Activity & Weight Tracking is part of a Healthy Lifestyle Plan that I have adopted. I started with a month of intermittent fasting, see Activity & Weight Tracking. I intended to continue with monthly updates, still tracking daily weight & activity except no longer fasting. Sometimes life gets in the way, it did for me. Starting with the day below, I’m trying again.

As mentioned before, I am not on a diet. I am looking to maintain a healthy weight and lifestyle. What that is for me is almost certainly different for you and everyone else. Some of the reasons I have gap in this process is that I have had personal health challenges. I’ll mention those if I feel numbers recorded here are effected.

With that I’ll begin again. Comments are very much welcome, thank you.

Wm sig

Daily Tracking

Week 1 of 4 Weeks of Tracking

July 22, 2022
Typical Breakfast

Weight: 192.8
Steps: 2370/5000
Daily Calm: 10
BP: 114/63 HR: 75

Start of what I hope will be a full month dedicated to establishing a better overall health.

I have a lung infection and asthma. A couple weeks ago I saw a specialist and he took me off two fairly serious drugs that my pulmonologist prescribed. Along with other side effects, my blood pressure during my fasting month was higher than normal for me. The recording above is more typical, hopefully that continues.

My weight this morning is somewhat higher than the 190.0 that I feel was a baseline at the end of my fasting month. We’ll see how that goes. The photo shows a typical breakfast with the exception of the bagel and cream cheese. The egg, avocado, berries, walnuts and fermented sauerkraut is part of most mornings.

July 23, 2022
Dietary Fiber

Weight: 193.6
Steps: 3110/5000
Daily Calm: 20
BP: 108/61 HR: 60

The weight has a lot to do with retaining fluids. Some medical conditions are effecting this, I’ll work on it. Another typical breakfast, a couple times each week, includes oatmeal. Very high in dietary fiber, essential to a healthy diet and easy weight control.

July 24, 2022
Dietary Fiber

Weight: 193.6
Steps: 2264/5000
Daily Calm: 35

July 25, 2022
Dietary Fiber

Weight: 192.2
Steps: xxxx/5000
Daily Calm: 20
BP: 1108/61 HR: 60

Week 1 – Summary 7/22 to 7/28

  • Weight Start: 192.8 End: xxx.x
  • Steps Avg: xxxx/day Goal: 5000/day xx% of goal
  • Daily Calm Meditation: xx min/day
  • Wm’s Yoga: x days x hrs xx min
  • BP: xxx/xx HR: xx

Weight & Moving Avg – Fasting Month

Weight by Day 6/1-29/2022

Notes on Activity & Weight Tracking

Key elements to my approach to a healthy lifestyle: Intermittent Fasting; Why I chose 6:00 am to 2:00 pm to eat; Daily Tracking; Base Lines; My daily fasting routine; Why I do not count calories; Walking, Yoga & Strength; Daily meditation; Flexibility with routine.

Intermittent Fasting

A very comprehensive beginner’s guide to intermittent fasting can be found at Intermittent Fasting 101 — The Ultimate Beginner’s Guide. Here’s the lead in to the article:

  • Intermittent fasting (IF) is currently one of the world’s most popular health and fitness trends.
  • People are using it to lose weight, improve their health and simplify their lifestyles.
  • Many studies show that it can have powerful effects on your body and brain and may even help you live longer.

That’s powerful stuff. I’ve had numerous health challenges over the past couple years. All but my current one, a lung disease called MAC or MAI, is either completely remedied or under control. The medications I’ve been prescribed have seriously affected every aspect of my lifestyle and caused my weight to trend significantly higher.

Intermittent fasting is allowing me to reverse my weight trend and simplify my overall health and fitness. I find I am not usually very hungry anytime in the fasting period. I also find that, as I walk past where I keep nuts, dried fruit, dark chocolate and health bars, I’m thinking about grabbing something. Being part of the IF period, I see this as being in training to avoid constant grazing.

During the IF period I always allow myself something, but try to do it after a little check-in. Keeping some things that are high in fiber, very low or 0% added sugar, low sodium is what I do. A favorite is adding NuttZo to a crispbread, I find it very satisfying:


List and Examine Your Current Medical Issues

Why I chose 6:00 am to 2:00 pm to eat

Typical Breakfast

I love my breakfasts, most of mine are big. It only makes sense, to me, to pick a period that covers a traditional breakfast/lunch or lunch/dinner. I live alone, easy choice for me. Everyone’s circumstances are different. If you have a partner, she/he may or may not want to join the fast. Do whatever works best.

Daily Tracking

I’m unlikely to see big changes from one day to the next, but I track daily for a number of reasons. On my Weight Chart, I’m looking at the moving average trend and identifying what I call Base Lines. Some days I am might expect to see my weight drop some, only to hop on the scales and see a gain. I note what it is I ate. Pasta days can add, but that’s okay, we’re interested in this for the long haul. I record my weight each morning, before having any food or drink, totally naked. My digital scales are accurate to 0.2 lbs. If you do not have digital scales, I suggest to estimate to either 0.25. That might not seem like much, but I’ll show how it’s important later.

Base Lines

About 3 years ago I was borderline obese. I’m 6’2″ and weighed in at close to 250 lbs. I was disgusted with myself and decided to seriously limit my food and alcohol intake, and created monthly spreadsheets with graphs. I wasn’t fasting, but I would make a blender drink every morning with Spiru-tein, which contains 100% of about every vitamin and mineral a body needs to live. Long story short, about 8 months later I was not only below 200 lbs, I was about 192 lbs.

When I looked at the the graphs I saw 4 to 7 day periods that were basically flat lines. The I would trend down, maybe a week or two, and see another flat period. I’m expecting to see those again, they are what I’m calling base lines.

I’ll back edit this in the coming weeks and up what I see as the significance of base lines. Eventually, we’ll hit a base line and our weight will just continue to fluctuate between that base line and the previous one. That’s when we no longer need to continue Intermittent Fasting, we have reached optimal personal body weight.

My daily fasting routine

I try to prepare most of my meals at home. When shopping I essentially only buy organic and pay attention to the Nutrition Facts. Low sodium and sugar, high fiber and the ‘good’ fats. I’ll have more on this, with references, in the coming weeks. For your meals, pick quality that you love. Eat until you are full, have a nice piece of homemade pie or a dish of ice cream, just don’t go overboard.

I see the fasting hours as a training period. I was tending to graze way too often. Now I stop if I am about to reach for a snack, ask myself, if I’m really hungry. The answer is almost always, “no”.

Why I do not count calories – Not a Diet

Ask yourself if you’ve ever seen anyone that has cut calories and lost a dramatic amount of weight and stayed there? I suppose some, but very very few. Each of us is totally different. Some people my height, 6’2″, might be at their optimal personal body weight and be 220 lbs or 170 lbs. I’ll back this up soon, but you’ll never need to count calories to maintain the weight that’s right for you.

Why diets don’t work https://apple.news/Ahi1y-GtMTDGdBAnICyc_Dg

Walking

Walking, no matter how many steps, is not going to lose anyone much weight. Sadly, many of our friends and family just can’t do much. For those of us that still can, it should be an essential part of our daily routine. As I begin this, it’s a formidable challenge for me. I’ll post more soon, the 7600/day steps goal is scientifically selected, I’ll supply references.

Yoga & Strength

[to be added]

Daily meditation

[to be added]

Flexibility with routine

[to be added]

Healthy Eating Links

Possible Articles for Publication

This post and Notes on Activity & Weight Tracking can be references to a number of articles prepared to be submitted for publication. Here are some thoughts for titles:

  • Intermittent Fasting, 4 Weeks to Better Health
  • Intermittent Fasting, 4 Weeks Toward Finding Your Optimal Weight
  • Intermittent Fasting, 4 Weeks to Good Nutrition
  • Intermittent Fasting, 4 Weeks to Uncover Your Hidden Health Issues