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Apple's AirPods Pro hearing health features

(www.theverge.com)
282 points elsewhen | 13 comments | 22 Oct 24 00:25 UTC | HN request time: 1.389s | source | bottom
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an_d_rew ◴[22 Oct 24 02:35 UTC] No.41910659[source]▶
As a mid-50 year old who discovered two years ago that he has moderate hearing loss (50-55 dB HL), I will be forever grateful to Apple for doing this.

If anybody from the accessibility teams is reading this, please know that it is difficult for me to overstate my gratitude and my appreciation for the amount of work this must've taken.

Music sounds unbelievably better through my AirPod pros, and I didn't even know what I had lost until I heard it again.

I'm willing to bet that a lot of my middle aged compatriots don't even know how much their hearing has degraded… Get your hearing test tested, folks, while you still have it!

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analog31 ◴[22 Oct 24 02:49 UTC] No.41910729[source]▶
Yes, and protect your hearing while you can. Turn down your tunes.

Disclosure: Working musician. I wear musician's earplugs when playing in bands.

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1. Semaphor ◴[22 Oct 24 04:57 UTC] No.41911315[source]▶
> I wear musician's earplugs when playing in bands.

As a musician, you possibly have custom ones, but for anyone else who’s not an audiophile, you can get decent ones that mostly preserve the sound while lowering the volume for around $15-20. A godsend for concerts.

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2. analog31 ◴[22 Oct 24 05:37 UTC] No.41911492[source]▶
I actually just use the Etymotic ER20's. I'd rather have cheaper ones that I can afford to lose, and also have a pair in each instrument case.
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3. blendo ◴[22 Oct 24 07:59 UTC] No.41912183[source]▶
Yes, +1 for etymotic. I’ve used them for years.
4. euroderf ◴[22 Oct 24 12:50 UTC] No.41913707[source]▶
> A godsend for concerts.

Maybe necessary for movie theatres too. Contemporary volume levels are abusive (imo).

replies(1): >>41913976 #
5. SketchySeaBeast ◴[22 Oct 24 13:21 UTC] No.41913976[source]▶
Are they ever. I watched Alien Romulus in Imax, I'm not doing that again, it was painfully loud. I am an avid concert goer and I wear earplugs every time - Romulus without earplugs was by far the loudest thing I've been exposed to this year.
6. SketchySeaBeast ◴[22 Oct 24 13:24 UTC] No.41914000[source]▶
And, if you can't afford those, just get some orange foam ones - they have excellent protection, often greater than the audiophile ones, and, let's be honest, that bar or arena you're going to wasn't built with sound quality in mind.
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7. tim333 ◴[22 Oct 24 14:28 UTC] No.41914669[source]▶
Personally, also at the very cheap end, I like wax ones partly because you can vary the noise blocking as needed - put them in loosely or squish them in.
8. analog31 ◴[22 Oct 24 15:34 UTC] No.41915330[source]▶
I'm past the edit window here, but have a couple more thoughts. First, I'm just a jazz player, so my gigs can get loud, but not screaming stooopid loud. Second, I am almost always amplified on stage, meaning that the most delicate subtleties of optimal tone quality are lost anyway.

Many of the rock players are moving to in-ear monitors, which block everything but replace it with your monitor mix, received via wireless.

On the other hand, some band mates, and my kids, play classical. Their needs are a lot more critical in terms of perceiving their tone quality. A benefit of the fitted plugs is that you can get the capsules with less attenuation, which means you're still safe in something like a classical ensemble, but without losing too much.

9. QuantumGood ◴[22 Oct 24 21:51 UTC] No.41919098[source]▶
Under $20, nice: https://www.etymotic.com/product/etyplugs-high-fidelity-earp...
10. Semaphor ◴[23 Oct 24 13:17 UTC] No.41924773[source]▶
I mean, if you go to a concert and don’t really care about the music, sure. The sound will suck, far worse than just a venue’s subpar sound system.
replies(1): >>41935127 #
11. spopejoy ◴[24 Oct 24 13:07 UTC] No.41935127{3}[source]▶
Depends on the music. Metal shows are pretty much designed for treble-killing earplugs these days.
replies(1): >>41949766 #
12. Semaphor ◴[25 Oct 24 21:05 UTC] No.41949766{4}[source]▶
I guess that depends on the metal show, because I wholeheartedly disagree. But except kanonenfieber currently, I like little that is close to mainstream.
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13. spopejoy ◴[01 Nov 24 23:35 UTC] No.42022648{5}[source]▶
Haha, I'm the opposite, if I _don't_ have to wear earplugs I'm suspicious