It’s been about 90 days since my original post and I thought I’d give a follow up on my experiences. Here are my observations on their effectiveness vs my conventional hearing aids. As a point of reference my devices were purchased from a long standing local provider that has taken care of my needs for the last 10+ years. My current hearing aids were purchased about 4 years ago at a cost of around $5,000. They do an annual hearing test and my hearing loss is considered mild, and has remained very stable.
Hearing Test
I have hard copies of my last six hearing tests. I took 2 on the iPhone and the results were almost identical. The hearing aids function on the iPhone adjusts the devices to your hearing test result(s), and you can actually add the results of outside hearing tests if you want to. Grade A.
Phone Calls & Music.
The Air pods deliver clearer and easier to comprehend sound. The huge advantage is that you can adjust the volume to suit your need on each individual call and can even adjust the balance L to R. I didn’t find this feature necessary but someone with a problem specific to ear one might. Grade A+.
Noise reduction.
My current devices do not provide this feature, except to have five levels of volume which turns everything up or down. The AirPods have four levels of background noise reduction from zero to total. When total you are effectively deaf with the exception of whatever is being delivered through the phone. Definitely useful if you’re sitting in an airport, sleeping in a car, etc. but the noise reduction is so complete that you don’t hear things you need to while driving or say, on a treadmill. The first level of noise reduction is about right for me most of the time. Where the Air pods do perform better is a noisy restaurant, in wind, road noise, etc. Grade A
Battery life.
My old devices went 8-9 days on a set of throw away batteries at a cost of a couple of dollars per week. The Air pods are rechargeable and I’ve been getting about six hours before needing a recharge. They recharge pretty quickly, 30 minutes or so, but this still requires having them down for that amount of time twice per day. This is my biggest complaint and hopefully Apple will find a way to get at least a whole day without a recharge. Grade D.
Comfort and fit.
The Air pods fit comfortably and they come with four different size tips. There is a test to determine which size gives you the best seal to keep unwanted sound out. My old devices have three different sizes of tips but it’s trial and error as to which ones feel and perform the best. Grade B.
Conversation, hearing and comprehension.
This is probably the most important function for a hearing aid. I feel like the Air pods are about the same or slightly better due to the ability to adjust volume. I still have the same challenges of comprehension when someone is behind me or speaking in a low voice. A feature that helps a lot with music or television is you can easily pair the devices to any TV either bluetooth which gives excellent hearing and comprehension. The downside to this is that only you can hear it. I did not spend a lot of time with this but if you could get the audio through the Air pods while others get it from external speaker it would be a great feature. Grade B.
Overall.
I’ve worn my devices all day every day in as many different environments as I can and given the price difference I would say that if you already have an iPhone (It must be a 15 or newer) the Air Pods are an no-brainer value at around $180. I think they would still be a good value even if you have to buy a phone. Grade B+
These are my opinions which are of course totally subjective. I would like to hear from anyone else on the board with their experiences and opinions. I would also like to know of any other features you've found useful that I haven't mentioned.
