AirPods would gain hearing health features within two years
Apple is betting a lot on health, especially with the Apple Watch. Another area is AirPods, with hearing health features expected to arrive by 2025 according to Mark Gurman of Bloomberg.
AirPods could get hearing data somehow within two years. Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has already highlighted the future addition of biometric monitoring functions when it comes to health. Apple’s patent filings describe an earphone-based fitness monitoring system that incorporates an advanced biometric sensor to detect physiological metrics including temperature, heart rate, sweat levels and more, all by contact with the skin and via integrated motion sensors. Kevin Lynch, Apple’s vice president of technology, also hinted that AirPods could be a source of additional health data in the future. The same goes for the Wall Street Journal.
As a reminder, Apple has already added several functions focused on hearing to the AirPods. There is in particular real-time listening with the iPhone which acts as a microphone to transmit the sound to the AirPods or Beats headphones. There is also the conversation amplifier which makes it easier to hear the person speaking in front of you. But these features aren’t officially designed to act as a replacement for a hearing aid, mainly because the US health agency FDA hasn’t given the go-ahead yet.
The good news is that what’s new from Apple may well be available on existing AirPods through a software update. But at the same time, it is not impossible that Apple reserves the novelties for future AirPods to push the purchase.
