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The iPhone 16 take center stage atApple ’s “ It ’s Glowtime ” event , but the most interesting tidbit came from a different line entirely . Indeed , among a ocean of new hardware came an intriguing software package update to one already on the market : the AirPods Pro 2 .
Apple declare that its most premium earbuds would double as an over - the - counter audition aid , courtesy of a software update , pending favourable reception from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration .
TheFDA on Thursday announcedthat it has granted what it calls “ the first over - the - riposte ( OTC ) hearing aid software program gadget , Hearing Aid Feature . ” Specifically , it has approved the software update that enable that functionality .
“ Hearing exit is a important public health issue impact millions of Americans , ” the FDA ’s Michelle Tarver notes in a instruction . “ Today ’s merchandising authorisation of an over - the - comeback hearing aid package on a wide used consumer sound Cartesian product is another footmark that bring forward the availability , availability and acceptability of learn support for adults with perceived mild to temperate hearing going . ”
The news was made possible in part by the FDA ’s October 2022 move to reserve for the sale of hearing aids without a ethical drug . That move has given ascension to a new industriousness of more easily accessible audition devices .
Earlier this calendar week , TechCrunch wenthands - on with a demoversion of Apple ’s fresh auditory modality psychometric test . The feature will be accessible via options in iOS 18 when a pair of AirPods 2 are connected . Users will have to receive a result of mild to restrained audition personnel casualty to take advantage of the new feature . Alternately , they can also upload test resultant from a Dr. .
The listening aid functions by conform different frequency levels , to exaggerate key sounds such as the human vocalization .
