Does the Apple airpods pro 2 hearing aid feature meet prescribed targets for standardized audiograms?

We aimed to record deviation of Apple AirPods Pro 2 Hearing Aid Feature (HAF) output from prescriptive targets (i.e., NAL-NL2) using two manually entered, standardized audiograms. We also aimed to record the acoustic effects of the HAF tuning controls and their utility for fine tuning HAF outputs. DESIGN AND

Audiologists counselling patients using AirPods Pro 2 as hearing aids should be aware of deviations from NAL-NL2 prescriptive targets, particularly for specific audiogram configurations, as fitting accuracy may be insufficient for some degrees of hearing loss.

As over-the-counter and consumer hearable devices enter clinical conversations, peer-reviewed verification of their prescriptive accuracy is essential for informed patient guidance.

1. 01Apple AirPods Pro 2 Hearing Aid Feature output was compared against NAL-NL2 prescriptive targets.
2. 02Standardized audiograms were used to systematically test performance across hearing loss profiles.
3. 03Deviations from prescribed targets were quantified, revealing where AirPods Pro 2 under- or over-amplifies.
4. 04Results are directly relevant to audiologists advising patients who use consumer devices as hearing aids.
5. 05Findings contribute to growing evidence on OTC/consumer hearable clinical accuracy.

PMID

42363719

DOI

10.1080/14992027.2026.2685112.

Journal

International Journal of Audiology

Publication type

research_article

Evidence level

2b

Population

Standardized audiogram configurations (not human participants — electroacoustic test bench study)

Intervention

Apple AirPods Pro 2 Hearing Aid Feature

Comparator

NAL-NL2 prescriptive targets