106 MACWORLD APRIL 2020
PLAYLIST AIRPODS PRO & APPLE’S AUDIO-PROCESSING REVOLUTIONACCESSIBILITY FOR ALL
AirPods aren’t hearing aids. And I’m not
entirely sure Apple wants to enter the
hearing-aid market, though given the
company’s constant discussion of the
importance of medical and health
initiatives and device accessibility, I
wouldn’t put it past them. With the advent
of hearing-aid deregulation in the United
States, it’s not impossible that Apple could
apply the lessons it’s learned about audio
processing and integration with other
Apple devices to improve the audio of
people with mild to moderate hearing loss.
But let’s leave formal hearing aids
aside for a moment. One thing I’ve learned
in the last few years is that accessibility
features almost always have unexpected
benefits.
Likewise, I think
Apple has an
opportunity to
augment the
hearing of
AirPods users,
whether they
consider
themselves
hearing impaired
or not. There are
probably a lot of
us who would
welcome a
dialogue-
enhancement mode for use at noisy
parties that would try to filter out all noise
except for the human voices in the
foreground. I’d love a filter that would let
me hear public-address announcements
but eliminate background chatter.
This isn’t easy stuff, and it requires a lot
of technology to achieve it, but the
AirPods Pro make me feel that Apple is
already moving down this path, and fast.
Right now I view my AirPods Pro as a great
set of noise-cancelling earbuds to use
while listening to music or podcasts, but
they’re also augmented-reality devices for
my ears. In some ways, they’re Apple’s first
dedicated AR product. Transparency
mode’s goals are modest, but its future
potential comes through loud and clear. ■Apple has an opportunity to augment the hearing of AirPods users.