April Fool’s
FYI, the last line of the video:
The other thing you should know is that today is April Fool’s Day. Boom, that’s hilarious.
Hilarious? Sort of. I sent the link to my Dad, who can never find decent hearing aids, before I watched to the end of the video! Forgot it was April Fools Day. I had to call him and warn him not to get his hopes up.
The guy in the video did seem a little over-enthusiastic. Although the hearing aid market does have a history of over-enthusiasm.
With AirPods and iPhones I really expected Apple to enter the non-prescription hearing aid business. Seems like a natural to me.
For those who follow his youtubes that was the giveaway - he is usually pretty skeptical about new stuff and clearly gives pro/con.
Never heard of him before. Fell for it hook, line, and sinker.
I was almost going to do that!
In case it is not clear, the person in the video says “Boom, that’s hilarious” — that is not my take.
And as always, April Fools day has well and truly jumped the shark. I don’t believe much I read on the 1st of April in the morning, especially big press releases, especially (this year) on Easter Monday.
No problem! I’m embarrassed I fell for it. And my Dad thought it was funny that I was taken in.
Too sad it’s an April Fools joke … I’ve wanted such a thing (with custom earmolds ofc) for YEARS now.
It all starts with April Fools Joke and then becomes a reality one day. So don’t be embarrassed. You are their first customer
I also fell for this, especially as Apple has sold assistive technology in the past and this would have fallen into that category. Seriously though, Apple’s AirPods, while not as small and as sophisticated as prescription hearing aids, can do a really good job in certain situations. I’ve configured mine with the same audiogram that my audiologist used to configure my hearing aids and they work amazingly well, especially given that I could have bought five pairs of AirPod Pros for the price of the hearing aids. Anyway, perhaps a future topic of discussion, but wanted to mention something here in case people weren’t aware that this was even a possibility.
How could he omit these important details??
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Apple Hearing Aids come capable of amplifying conversations that take place within 3 feet of the wearer. But you can upgrade to include conversations that are 6 or more feet away, which everyone agrees is the bare, practical minimum, for only $400 additional.
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When wearing Apple Hearing Aids, you can easily converse with any other person who is also wearing Apple Hearing Aids. You can also converse with people wearing other brands of hearing aids (or even no hearing aids), but your conversations with them will be subject to a 1 second time delay and/or automatic translation to a language not of your choosing.
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Apple Hearing Aids are 100% ready for 16 amazing, exciting, groundbreaking hearing aid technologies that you will not believe. Apple has already developed these incredible features, and will include them in future models over the next 20 years.
Not prescription (yet?) but …
Note though that it’s a rumour.
The hearing aid market is a multi-billion dollar market. Apple has all the pieces in place (AI, AirPods, silicon, HealthKit) to do something big and meaningful here.
Remember - Apple plays the long, strategic game with these things, but when they do release something, it tends to almost instantaneously crowd out the competition and take over the market.
I hope this is true. Conversation boost and other tweaks to the APP accessibility settings are helpful for me (mild loss, auditory processing disorder.) Giving those tools a more exciting name will raise awareness it’s possible and maybe allow those sound enhancements to be packaged and put front-and-center in the UI.
Yes, I was happy to see this!
Also nice to see. I guess limited to the Pro because of better sealing. But while Apple products tend to be elegant, this will be clunky for a hearing aid. I’d go for it, but then I’m not stylish. My wife would hate it.