Why are AirPods Pro 2 Hearing Aid features not available in the UK?

Apple SupportUK is as much use as a chocolate fireguard on this subject. I enquire and had to jump through several hoops e.g "Serial number please". Nothing wrong with the AirPods Pro 2 just asking why the UK is not included.

Did a bit of research and this is what came up from the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency.

Apple simply hasn't registered them in the UK! This is the MHRA response.

Thank you for your email.

As of 18 Nov 2024, Apple Inc has not registered the AirPods Pro 2 or Hearing Aid Feature as a medical device with the MHRA. Details on what Apple has registered with the MHRA are available to search on the Public Access Registrations Database (PARD) at the following link PARD

Registration of devices with the MHRA (the UK Competent Authority) does not represent any form of accreditation, certification, approval or endorsement by the MHRA.

In accordance with the above, medical device manufacturers must ensure that all information registered with the MHRA is accurate and up to date.

You may wish to contact Apple UK (see details below) to learn of plans to introduce the Hearing Aid Feature in the UK.

Telephone: 0800 107 6285

Contact – Official Apple Support (UK)

Get technical support for Apple’s Accessibility features

Connect with British Sign Language support

Kind regards,

Judith

MHRA Customer Experience Centre

Communications and engagement

Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency

[Edited by Moderator]

Regarding “doing your homework” - Would to say having detailed lengthy chats with Apple sales people in a UK Apple Store should cover it, or do we need to be looking elsewhere? Or just keep going.

I chatted about the hearing test and aid features as well as hearing protection (noise cancellation) for gigs. At no point was it suggested to me they are not available in the UK. And regards hearing protection, it was suggested that ear plugs would do a better job.

Clearly there is a bit of a miss by Apple UK regarding communications about this product under iOS 18.1.

I think it's been a huge miss by Apple and the left hand doesn’t seem to know what the right hand is doing.

The hearing aid function has been available for the AirPod Pro 2s since September 2022 and many are using them in the same way that I am because none of us updated to IOS 18.1. Dig out an old iPad or a iPhone 12 or newer that's running and IOS older than 18.1 and you can set them up. You will need a third party hearing test app like Mimi or you can upload your Audiogram to the AirPods in Transparency Mode in Headphone Accommodations.

They work very well for me with my mild to moderate hearing loss.

Don’t know if this is a naive question but could you re assign the iPad to an available region in settings e.g from UK to Ireland? where it is available.

That won’t work but the following will help you to set them up.

I set a new pair of AirPod Pro 2s up for my big sister today in the UK and she is really happy with them. She cannot believe that she can hear music properly again.

Annoyingly she had her update settings on automatic on her iPhone so it was on IOS 18.1 so I just set them up on her iPad mini that is on IOS 16.

If you have another Apple device that is running an older IOS you can set them up with no restrictions. An iPhone 12 is new enough.

Pair the AirPods and stick them in your ears and do a Ear tip test to make sure you have a good seal and download the Mimi hearing test app and take a hearing test.

You access the options via Headphone Accommodations in Settings/Accessibility/Audio Visual and you can load your audiogram onto the AirPods or take a hearing test using the Mimi app from the app store.

If you want to use your own existing audiogram you can. There are many videos online that will help you.

I have been using them since September but people have been using the AirPod Pros as hearing aids since 2020 and September 2022 for the AirPod Pro 2s when they were first launched.

Check out this article if you are skeptical.

https://www.hearingaidknow.com/hearing-aid-functionality-introduced-to-apple-airpods-pro

The menus were simplified and streamlined for 18.1 and the geographical lock has been implemented by Apple as it was one of the requirements of the FDA in the USA.

Other countries like Canada, the UK, France, Spain, India and Italy need to be approved to use them in those countries before the lock is removed.

Setting them up with an older device will allow you use them now. My iPhone is on 17.7.1 and they work very well for my mild to moderate hearing loss.

If you have an Apple device that is running 17.7.1 or older, an iPad works, you can use your Audiogram.

I never updated my iPhone to IOS 18.1 so it still allows me to use my audiogram and I will wait for MHRA approval in the UK before I update. I did a test on my wife's 2018 iPad that is on 17.7.1 yesterday and it works well but the iPad is a bit big to lug around if you want to change settings.

Having said all that, an old iPhone 12 off of eBay or Amazon will do the job as long as you switch updates off.

Do you know how bad your hearing is? If not download the Mimi hearing test app and check. If your hearing is severe, eve when the MHRA approves the Airpods the Apple Hearing test will lock you out. The Airpods are only good for mild to moderate hearing loss.

Apple SupportUK is as much use as a chocolate fireguard on this subject. I enquire and had to jump through several hoops e.g "Serial number please". Nothing wrong with the AirPods Pro 2 just asking why the UK is not included.

Did a bit of research and this is what came up from the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency. 

Apple simply hasn't registered them in the UK! This is the MHRA response.

Thank you for your email.

As of 18 Nov 2024, Apple Inc has not registered the AirPods Pro 2 or Hearing Aid Feature as a medical device with the MHRA. Details on what Apple has registered with the MHRA are available to search on the Public Access Registrations Database (PARD) at the following link PARD

Registration of devices with the MHRA (the UK Competent Authority) does not represent any form of accreditation, certification, approval or endorsement by the MHRA.

In accordance with the above, medical device manufacturers must ensure that all information registered with the MHRA is accurate and up to date.

You may wish to contact Apple UK (see details below) to learn of plans to introduce the Hearing Aid Feature in the UK.

Tinnitus is, for many, a fundamental part and a symptom of hearing loss.

Not the same agreed. The ability for airpods to assist and for

(potential) users like me who have retrochohlear nuroma to adjust the

audiogram will be fantastic. But until, or as it now sounds, if they

are ever, licensed for use in the UK I will wait.

Well there has obviously been some movement in the right direction as the Hearing Test itself will be available in the next update.

The only way to currently set them up as hearing aids in the UK is to set them up on an older IOS. I am using 17.7.1 and I've been sing them since September. My sister bought a pair a couple of days ago and as her iPhone had upgraded to 18.1 I used her iPad Mini.

From the release notes:

- Support for the Hearing Test feature on AirPods Pro 2 in Cyprus, Czechia, France, Italy, Luxembourg, Romania, Spain, United Arab Emirates, and United Kingdom

- Support for the Hearing Aid feature on AirPods Pro 2 in United Arab Emirates

The hearing test feature is what allows the generation and use of an audiogram in the custom eq settings. Otherwise there’d be little point!

What rasg is saying is true, you can’t use audiogram-based transparency mode (accessibility eq) if you are on iOS 18.1 or higher - at least not for countries where the hearing aid functionality is not available. Apple has geo blocked this and removed the audiogram option from the accessibility menu after iOS 18.1.

My airpods are set up with my iPhone. The audiogram option appeared again with iOS 18.2

I have a MB M2 pro running 15.1.1, second iPhone iOS 18.2 and iPad running 18.1.1. All set to UK region.

The screenshot I posted was from yesterday evening after updating to iOS 18.2 on the iPhone.

So in the UK the option to load an audiogram appeared. Does the audiogram actually have an effect?

gr7 wrote:

I've just noticed that the feature is not available in the UK. It's just about the only country where it's not available

No, it's not "just about the only country" that hasn't gotten it yet. The UK is one of 193 countries that hasn't gotten it yet. Currently, as the previous poster noted, it's only available in the U.S. and Canada.

Upgraded both iPhone and iPad to latest iOS before discovering that an older version could work. Sod’s Law.

Contacted Apple support and got the usual unhelpful reply

Thank you for your email. Unfortunately, we are unable to provide a timeline for when the hearing aid feature of AirPods Pro 2 will be available in the UK. When the feature is made available in your region, the following support article will be updated with that information: 

AirPods Pro 2 - Hearing Health Feature Availability - Apple

Sincerely,

Apple Accessibility

Please include the line below in follow-up emails for this request.

Case-ID: 10410058