Adam Savage (of Mythbusters fame) discussed his use of very high-end hearing aids on his Youtube Channel. He has hearing loss and he's of course pretty clued in when it comes to hearing aids. He did a review on the specific brand he's using. From what I remember, he was quite critical on the lack of access to good products for most people that need to get these via some insurance coverage. It would be interesting to get his perspective on airpods.

Because of all the legislation, it's actually a hard market to break into and the resulting products aren't necessarily very good or competitive. The focus is on keeping the insurers happy and getting approved; not the end user. The better products can get really expensive too. So the FDA approving consumer grade products could be a big deal.

Apple's airpods probably have quite a lot of non trivial tech on board that probably overlaps significantly what some hearing aids try to do. For example, AI that isolates sound and things like noise suppression that work in a very targeted way are game changers. Instead of just amplifying sound, selectively blocking some sound is probably very helpful.

Thankfully I have no issues but I know some people that do that wear hearing aids. Despite that, talking to them can be challenging and they have all sorts of issues communicating in loud places.

I imagine these could be useful for people that are completely deaf even. They wouldn't hear anything but they might benefit from e.g. live audio transcription; which is something that's probably not that hard anymore for the likes of Apple or Google.

> I don’t personally need hearing aids (yet) but I know people that do, and dear god are they expensive pieces of equipment.

They aren't as bad as they used to be. You can get over-the-counter hearing aids in the $200-500 range nowadays.

Even so, at $250, AirPods Pro are in a pretty good spot. The main drawback I see is that the earbuds don't have all-day battery life; users will need to recharge them in the case periodically.

I guess the big question there is, which market segment will the airpods be comparable to - OTC or prescription?

Because the 'good' hearing aids cost thousands of dollars, and a lot of their added value is in various forms of sound processing. I can see apple doing quite well at that.

> The main drawback I see is that the earbuds don't have all-day battery life; users will need to recharge them in the case periodically.

Yeah definitely, though if we are comparing them to 'good' hearing aids then at that price you could buy two pairs and rotate them through the charging case and still come out ahead.

I’ve seen Costco sell AirPod Pros for $170 or $180 a couple times a year.

any recommendations ?

Just to echo what the other poster said - Costco seem to have very good prices and will give you a free hearing test with an audiologist (in Australia anyway)

Their range is fairly limited, but not necessarily in a bad way. Compared to what other audiologists recommend/prescribe, Costco's stuff was about half the price.

OTC hearing aids - no idea.

You should go to Costco and try a bunch if you have one near you. Its hard to recommend specific hearing aids to people without knowing what they need. If you dont have a Costco, go to any reputable hearing aid store near you and try from their stock

I think I’m the target market. Old enough that my hearing requires some help, but still working in tech from home. The hearing aids I’ve looked at - I have a prescription - have Bluetooth for listening but no microphone for talking. I use my AirPods for teams calls all day long. Switching back and forth to a hearing aid seems too much trouble so I haven’t taken that step. I will get these new AirPods the day the feature ships. I may need two pairs to deal with the battery life but it’s still cheap.