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

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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