Apple's AirPods Pro hearing health features

> Transparency mode in many of today’s earbuds sounds totally natural and lifelike, yet I still constantly remove my buds to show someone they’ve got my undivided attention. That way of thinking has to change when popular earbuds start pulling double duty as hearing aids. It’s a powerful way to reduce the stigma that’s all too common with hearing aids, but this shift will take time.

This will never be not true. You're fighting human nature. The vast majority of people don't need hearing aids and those who do you'll likely know they need a hearing aid if you're having regular or more personal conversations.

If you're getting your order taken at Starbucks, you can totally have ears in even today.

Societal views change. Moving from the Jabra Jawbone to AirPods it seems like it went from “that asshole business guy” to “literally everyone” in no time. When I was young, talking on a Bluetooth headset while walking down the street was worthy of derision. Things have changed a lot since then.

When was the last time you heard someone get called “four eyes” for wearing glasses? Mockery used to be common but society can improve and it seems like accepting people with disabilities as fully human has been improving even if we still have room to go.

we're saying the same thing - if you have a disability it's totally fine.

You know who in your life has the hearing impairment, but the vast majority do not have this disability thusly "taking your ears out" is respectable.

The glasses analogy only works if general society has hearing impairments, but that's not the direction we're going as the human race, so we won't see this.

To go back way further, wasn’t Sony worried about the Walkman initially because the only people who wore headphones at the time out and about tended to use them for hearing aids at the time?

That’s what I remember hearing.

Obviously that changed when they got super popular. Your AirPods comparison is fantastic I had totally forgotten the phenomenon of “blue tools”.

One of the problems is that, currently, having earbuds in is a social signal of "please leave me alone and don't try to strike up a conversation with me", such as e.g. you might see someone on a train with earbuds in, and you know that means they don't want to be bothered.

> If you're getting your order taken at Starbucks, you can totally have ears in even today.

Prior to hearing aid features, I’d say this is actually quite rude even if you “can.” I don’t think the service workers taking your order appreciate this very much.

I have a feeling that mostly went away not because society got any more considerate, but rather because glasses became much more commonplace, due to the explosion in prevalence of nearsightedness.

>Mockery used to be quite common...

Happily, 'banter' still is. And - watch out world - the Ami's are getting used to it. A very, very, tiny little bit.

“Ami’s”?

Isn't the proposed mechanism the same here?

The stigma will/should go away, because more people will keep their earbuds in; because they will use them as hearing aids.

> because they will use them as hearing aids.

But we're saying most people don't require hearing aids and thus will never reach mass market and thus the stigma won't disappear.

Americans?

Yeah. There was a period when the Borg look was widely seen as representing “At any moment someone more important than you could call me.”

Why? I’m giving an order and basically getting an ACK.

Almost everyone needs hearing aids. It's just a matter of when.

Ooh, I like "four ears". When I splurge on AirPods I'll encourage my family to call me that until they get used to them.

It would be nice if they could change to skin color in transparency mode. ;)

Because you’re interacting with another human being who is there helping you. I’m guessing you’ve never worked retail/service before. People treat retail/service workers like shit all the time. To wear an AirPod while ordering is another distancing layer that dehumanizes the other person.

Isn’t that approaching the problem from the other direction? Hearing aids have some stigma because they’re not as widely needed as glasses before old age, but that’s not the primary reason why AirPods sell so the numbers are completely different. In my generation most of us have been talking about older Boomers relatives who’ve resisted visible acceptance of aging and pretty much everyone has been optimistic that they’ll use AirPods and wear an Apple Watch because those don’t telegraph “I’m elderly” the way hearing aids or one of those dedicated fall monitors do.

You said it yourself it's for a specific group of people.

Society will still think it's rude if someone they know who doesn't have a hearing problem under 40 doesn't take their ears out when trying to have a material conversation with them. It doesn't matter how many old people have airpods in. Because again - the younger group generally doesn't need it.

Taking your ears out is a sign of respect and showing attention like the article says.

Why are we so bent on fighting human nature?

I always take out headphones when interacting with service workers, but I'd say at this point a solid 80% of them have their own airpods in even when taking orders or in a directly customer facing role. I think the social stigma has just changed over time.

I haven’t witnessed that dynamic: the people leaving their AirPods in tend to be young in my experience and it doesn’t seem to be seen as rude unless you’re ignoring the other person.

I’m not seeing people working with their own AirPods in. I would not think very highly of such an employee.