USB-C AirPods Pro 2 may test your hearing too
Apple's next version of the AirPods Pro equipped with USB-C will ship this fall, a report claims, and it may even help users discover hearing problems too.
An AirPods Pro case
Apple is rumored to be working on an updated version of the AirPods Pro that could arrive within months. That model is already believed to be using USB-C for its wireless charging case instead of Lightning, but it is thought that it could finally land this fall.
According to Mark Gurman's "Power On" newsletter for Bloomberg, the AirPods Pro 2 is set to launch in the fall at the same time as the iPhone 15.
While USB-C is a great feature addition for the AirPods Pro 2, Apple may add another one to the mix.
Gurman writes that a new hearing test feature will play "different tones and sounds" to allow the AirPods to work out how well a person can hear. "The idea is to help users screen for hearing issues, not unlike how the Apple Watch ECG app checks for heart problems," he writes.
Though the feature may be the more immediate of its kind, Apple may still have more health-related changes in mind. Gurman believes Apple is keen to add more health sensors to AirPods, including being able to measure body temperature from the ear canal.
Patents and Applications
Patents and patent applications have pointed to Apple coming up with biometric sensing capabilities in an AirPods package, using the ear and a photoplethysmogram (PPG) sensor to monitor the heart rate and characterize blood flow in the ear's skin. There's also suggestions of things like an electrocardiogram sensor, impedance cardiography, galvanic skin response, VO2 sensing, and thermometers included in the device in filings dating back to 2017.
Some patents dating as far back as 2014 indicate Apple considered monitoring the heart rate, temperature, and perspiration of a headphone user, so the company has looked at the topic for many years already. Meanwhile, in 2018, other filings pointed to Apple creating a more secure fit for the AirPods, so that sensors could make better contact with the skin.
On the hearing health side, Apple does already provide some capabilities, including Live Listen to enhance a user's hearing by picking up audio from an iPhone. Meanwhile, Conversation Boost in AirPods Pro is an assistive technology to make it easier to hear nearby conversations.
For the moment, neither of these features are approved by the FDA nor qualify as a replacement for a hearing aid, though some have previously offered that AirPods can act as a cheap first step to accepting the need to wear a hearing aid. Even so, Apple is believed to be working to make these and other similar benefits it comes up with more "official" in the future.
Read on AppleInsider
Comments
Definitely not holding my breath, but it's more than a little disappointing when Apple, which prides itself on attention to detail and "it just works", hasn't figured something out. I totally get not wasting time and effort on what is very probably a small minority of users, but I sure wish they'd do something, because as you say, the sound and ANC are fantastic.
The ear is also a centre of balance and maybe there is a way to combine AirPods and iPhone or Apple Watch for gait+balance tests for early warning on a range of conditions related to viral infection of the ear that impacts balance.
I am very much not an expert on any of this, my assumption is that adding a gyro + accelerometer to the AirPods would enable a lot of head/neck analytics, posture checks, balance etc. Such sensors may even help detection of nerve conditions that cause small involuntary movements of head or neck.
chronically tilted head may indicate asymmetry in neck muscle tone/tension causing chronic headaches. If able to model the hunch forward over keyboard and tilt head upwards to see screen then could measure time spent with subocciptiales in contracted state and increased improper load on neck vertebrae and posture associated issues such as rhomboid tension for a long time in a lengthened and weakened state which is another major cause of discomfort and back pain.
Apple seems to be wizards at miniaturisation and I sincerely hope they pursue health aggressively in their products as they have an opportunity to positively influence the lives of over a billion people.