Health Canada on Wednesday issued Apple licenses for the hearing aid and hearing test features available on the AirPods Pro 2. Apple is now permitted to launch these features in Canada, and that will likely happen in the coming months.
With the clinical-grade hearing aid feature, AirPods Pro 2 can amplify the sound around you. The feature is intended for adults with perceived mild to moderate hearing loss, according to Apple. There is no additional cost to use the feature in countries where it is available, as it is rolling out through free software updates.
Meanwhile, the five-minute hearing test allows adults to identify if they have hearing loss by measuring their ability to hear different frequencies of sound. Afterwards, the results will show a hearing loss classification and recommended next steps.
The hearing health features first launched in the U.S. and select other countries in late October. The just-released iOS 18.2 update for the iPhone expanded the hearing test feature to France, Italy, Luxembourg, Romania, Spain, Cyprus, Czechia, and the UK, and both the hearing aid and hearing test features to the United Arab Emirates.
There is also a hearing protection feature on the AirPods Pro 2 that is already available in Canada.
All of the hearing health features on the AirPods Pro 2 require firmware version 7B19 or newer. Firmware updates are installed automatically on AirPods while they are charging and in Bluetooth range of an iPhone, iPad, or Mac connected to Wi-Fi.
The hearing aid and hearing test features could launch in Canada with the release of iOS 18.3 in January, or with iOS 18.4 in April.
