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.

chopcat wrote:

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.

The more options that people with hearing issues have, the better. It's only recently in the U.S. that it was legal to buy them "over the counter." Given that there is little coverage for hearing aids in the health care that most retired people have, expensive hearing aids are often out of the question.

I hope the AirPods as hearing aids becomes available in the UK soon!

Thanks for your helpful reply.

Unfortunately, as I'd already heard that the hearing test and aid features would not be available until the update to iOS 18.1, I didn't even consider the AirPods Pro until I'd picked up and installed the update. I had no idea that by doing so I'd actually remove all useful features as well as being denied access to the ones which had been advertised as dependent on that update. Double whammy!

If you are over 60 you can go to your GP and get a referral to Specsavers who will do a hearing test and dispense NHS hearing aids as well as the ones they sell. Go with the NHS ones - they are nearly as good and free.

I just got off the phone with Apple in the US. They say they will notify me of when the UK has approval for hearing aid function.

Then I read that other people say they have got the function. The question is are these people actually in the UK?

Do we know if Apple has actually applied yet?

According to another post, MHRA have not received an application from Apple for this. 8-(

I bought them especially for this function - it wasn’t very clear that’s it’s not available in the UK.

I wouldn’t have bought them if I’d known. Bit cheated really.

There is a way/hack to run the hearing test in the UK (although you cannot use the AirPods in hearing aid mode yet)

interestingly enough I ran my AirPod hearing test and had a NHS audiologist test this week (9 month waitlist) and guess what… my results were identical so very impressive as I want to track my hearing over time

maybe an update apple on when you expect to launch this in the UK - I bought my AirPod pros solely for this feature based on your advertising. I really want the hearing aid support to see if it will save me a small fortune on hearing aid I most likely

now need

Perhaps read my post again - I wasn’t “blaming the NHS” or “waiting for a test”

I was saying a recently had an NHS test and the results were identical to the AirPod test (enabled via the hack)

I’m more than capable of doing my homework but this feature was heavily marketed to UK customers without too much of a warning of its limited availability on launch - I’m sure it will come soon enough

@rasg thank you for the helpful reply. @me: AAARGH - look before you leap. I updated to 18 SPECIFICALLY to access the HA feature (as suggested by Apple). Oh well.

But back to the point: by "...an older IOS you could set them up on that" are you suggesting that you can configure the AirPods to an audiogram on an old device and that will persist onto the new one?

@rasg thank you for the helpful reply. @me: AAARGH - look before you leap. I updated to 18 SPECIFICALLY to access the HA feature (as suggested by Apple). Oh well.

But back to the point: by "...an older IOS you could set them up on that" are you suggesting that you can configure the AirPods to an audiogram on an old device and that will persist onto the new one?

No I'm not BUT the AirPods work totally on their own once you have set them up with a device with an older IOS. To change settings you will need to use the device you set them up with. It's not ideal but they work fine. I never update anything until I know it works and the bugs have gone. And there are always bugs. On my M2 Mac Mini I am still on Ventura as it will cost me £500 to update our restaurant ordering system. It's good to have the latest for the new goodies if the bugs have been squashed but not at the expense of anything else.

For the first time ever Apple are now preventing you from going back to an older IOS.

Ok, so just to clarify, are you talking about iOS 18.2 fixing the audio accessibility and adding back the ability to use an audiogram to drive phone audio and transparency mode in those countries where Hearing Aid mode is not supported?

From what I read elsewhere, they’ll just include the ability to take an audiogram with your iPhone in some additional countries, and out of those countries only enable the Hearing Aid feature in the UAE.

All it will do is allow you to take the Apple Hearing Test. No way will Apple be putting the Transparency Mode back until the Hearing Aid Feature is approved for that country. Transparency Mode IS the Hearing Aid Feature with a different name.

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 would be the easiest fix ever! It won't make any difference. The only way you will get the Hearing Aid Feature in a country where they AirPods haven’t been approved is to set them up with an older IOS on a different device. In 18.1 or newer they won't work.

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.