Apple’s AirPods could gain more prominent health hearing features over the course of 2023 and 2024.
Per Bloomberg’s latest “Power On” newsletter, Mark Gurman has stated that he believes Apple will “upgrade the AirPods to become a health tool in the next year or two,” adding “the ability to get hearing data of some sort.”
Apple has already incorporated several hearing-focused features into the AirPods over recent years, such as Live Listen and Conversation Boost. Gurman has noted that these features are not yet FDA approved or designed to function as a hearing aid replacement. Given Apple’s recent health objectives, Gurman stated that he expects the AirPods might take on these sorts of functions “more officially” in the near future.
According to noted analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple has previously highlighted the company’s intention of adding biometric health monitoring capabilities to future AirPods models. Apple patent filings have described an earbud-based fitness monitoring system that integrates an advanced biometric sensor to detect physiological metrics including temperature, heart rate, perspiration levels, and more, through skin contact and via built-in motion sensors. Apple’s vice president of technology, Kevin Lynch, has also hinted that AirPods could be a source of additional health data in the future.
The new hearing health capabilities might not be contingent on new AirPods models being released, and could possibly be pushed out to existing devices through firmware updates.
Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.