AirPods Pro 2 hearing aid feature approved by Health Canada

On December 12, Health Canada approved the Apple AirPods Pro 2 hearing test and hearing aid features for use in Canada. This is the first regulatory hurdle the company needed to cross to bring the hearing aid features to Canada, but there are still some provincial restrictions.

Apple has told MobileSyrup that it hopes to bring the AirPods Pro hearing aid feature to Canada as soon as possible now that it has Health Canada approval. However, the company is still working with the provinces for the right to distribute the feature.

The website for the College of Audiologists and Speech-Language Pathologists of Ontario says that it’s been monitoring the launch of Apple’s hearing aid features and has been collaborating with other provincial regulators “to assess if and when Apple’s product will become available in Canada considering Health Canada’s current regulatory framework and Ontario’sprovincial hearing and audiologist firms legislation.”

Both Speech and Hearing B.C and the Ordre des othophonistes et audiologists du Quebec also support Canada and the provinces bringing legislation for over-the-counter hearing aids to Canadians, so hopefully, the provincial regulation moves quickly as we approach 2025. MobileSyrup has also reached out to the Ontario College and other provincial hearing and audiologist firms for any updated information now that Health Canada has approved the Apple features.

When it does launch, it will allow you to put in your AirPods Pro 2 units and conduct a roughly 10-minute hearing test to determine how strong or weak your hearing is. Then you can keep your AirPods Pro 2 in, and they’ll act as hearing aids when you’ve enabled ‘Transparency’ mode. If you’ve ever had a professional audiogram, you can upload those results, so you don’t need to use the metrics derived from Apple’s built-in hearing test.

This feature has been available in the U.S. since late October, and reviews are quite positive. While AirPods Pro 2 are expensive ($329) compared to other wireless earbuds, they’re cheap compared to many hearing aids, which can be a few thousand dollars in Canada. That said, expensive hearing aids may perform slightly better and have longer battery life.

From the reviews I’ve read, the AirPods Pro 2 seem to be a great middle-ground for people who have okay hearing but might need a boost in some areas since the battery only lasts around five to six hours per session. This makes them great for part-day use. That being said, AirPros Pro 2 can top up quite quickly in the included charging case, so if you do need to use them for a longer period of time, you can likely make it work. They also include lots of other AirPod features for listening to music, so that’s another bonus.

Apple launched its ‘Hearing Protection’ feature in the fall in Canada, automatically limiting extremely loud sounds and making them safer for your ears when using AirPods. I’ve tested this feature a few times and when I was cutting tin to put a roof on a shed a few months ago it was astounding how much it brought down the noise of the cutting but still allowed me to hear people talking around me.

Beyond Hearing Protection, AirPods also offer a ‘Live Listen‘ mode that lets you use an Apple device as a microphone that sends sounds to your earbuds. Beyond that, there’s another feature called ‘Conversation Boost’ that can use the AirPods external microphones to make the person you’re talking to sound louder. These can also help people with subtle hearing problems in some circumstances, but it isn’t as seamless as the full-on hearing aid feature that’s hopefully coming soon.

Source: Health Canada