As someone who's worn hearing aides for almost a decade, I'm thrilled to see this.<p>To give folks a sense of the cost difference, here are some numbers:<p>My most recent pair of hearing aides cost $4,400 in 2020. And no, these are not covered by any kind of insurance.<p>AirPods Pro 2 cost $250, about a 95% reduction in price.<p>My most recent <i>service</i> on one of my hearing aides that was failing cost $280.<p>Also, I'm <i>really</i> looking forward to being able to manage things like audio curves myself, vs having to go through an audiologist for every adjustment.<p>The only thing I'm waiting for here before making a switch is better battery life, really want 18/24hours there.
I love this. You can say what you want with everyone wearing airpods all the time but I think there is a lot less stigma with wearing them as opposed to hearing aids.<p>Plus hearing loss is a major risk factor for dementia. So this is big!
Related Apple study from May:<p><i>Apple Hearing Study shares preliminary insights on tinnitus</i><p><a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41491121">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41491121</a>
This, like most bs we have had to endure, is certainly due to them changing the definition of hearing aids. (no, I am not joking).<p>This is why you can buy 'hearing aids' from costco now, without ever seeing an audiologist.<p>I think this is great that the tech is more accessible, IF the consumers are informed about how and why things changed.<p>Adam Currey (of the No Agenda podcast / headbangers ball fame) did a really good critique about this when it happened, and it was one of Nancy Pelosi's pet projects that made her a bunch of money.<p>He made a strong case (as a person deaf in one ear and an audio specialist given his work with tech, MTV, inventing podcasts, and suffering from hearing issues himself).<p>I would be very very wary of any device claiming it is a hearing aid that is not tuned by an audiologist, as you may just make your hearing problem worse.<p>This is what set this trainwreck into motion (picked at random with a quick search): <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/16/health/fda-hearing-aids.html" rel="nofollow">https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/16/health/fda-hearing-aids.h...</a><p>When you just change the definitions of words for everything and anything, all the sudden nothing matters because nothing can be trusted.