AirPods hearing aid feature approved for Australia

Alex Choros - Managing Editor + Group Telco Editor

Last updated 14 January 2025

The Therapeutic Goods Administration has approved Apple's software update for the AirPods Pro 2 that allows them to function as hearing aids. The approval was made at the end of December, but Apple told WhistleOut there's no firm date for when Australians will get the functionality yet.

"Receiving product approval from the TGA on our Hearing Test and Hearing Aid features on AirPods Pro 2 is an important first step toward making these features available in Australia," said Apple. "We are working through the other necessary steps to make these experiences available as soon as possible."

Hearing aid functionality for the AirPods Pro 2 was announced alongside the iPhone 16 in September last year, and it is already live in some markets such as the United States.

The feature allows users to take a hearing test in Apple's Health app on their iPhone. The test then ranks hearing loss in five categories ranging from "little to no loss to" to "profound loss". If needed, this information is then used to adjust the tuning of the AirPods Pro 2 to amplify frequencies where a user may have lost hearing.

Apple's hearing aid functionality is exclusive to the AirPods Pro 2, but will work with both the older Lighting variants and the newer USB-C model.

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Alex Choros

Managing Editor + Group Telco Editor | X | Instagram | Threads | LinkedIn

Alex Choros is the Managing Editor of WhistleOut Australia and an award-winning journalist. He's been writing about consumer technology for over a decade and is an expert on the Australian telco sector, to the point where he knows far too many phone and internet plans by heart. In addition to leading the WhistleOut editorial team, Alex is responsible for ruining the office Sonos with his troubled taste in music.

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