Apple may add hearing health features to its AirPods wireless headphones in the next year or two, according to Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman.
In his latest Power On newsletter, Gurman said he thinks Apple will upgrade the AirPods in the next year or two to make them a health tool” and “add the ability to get some kind of hearing data.
According, Apple has added some hearing-focused features to AirPods in recent years, such as Live Listen and Conversation Boost, but Gurman noted that these features have not yet been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and are not designed to replace hearing aids. The Given Apple’s health goals, he expects AirPods to “more formally” take on such features in the near future.
Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has also previously highlighted the company’s intention to add biometric health monitoring capabilities to future AirPods. An Apple patent describes a headphone-based fitness monitoring system that incorporates an advanced biometric sensor that detects physiological indicators including body temperature, heart rate, sweat levels and more through skin contact and built-in motion sensors. Kevin Lynch, Apple’s vice president of technology, has also hinted that AirPods could be a source of additional health data in the future.
New hearing health features won’t necessarily be dependent on future new AirPods, as existing models already include the speakers and microphones needed to support these features, which can be pushed to existing devices via firmware updates.
