“South Africa’s hearing aid market might be in for a big shake-up: Apple’s AirPods Pro 2 hearing aid functionality is now available in South Africa. Apple’s AirPods Pro 2 were set apart from other Bluetooth earbuds in the market when US regulators last September approved their use as hearing aids, opening up a potentially lucrative new market for the California-based technology giant.”

Yes, with hearing aids costing from R10k to R100k, even Apple AirPods will seem very cheap by comparison.

The point of this functionality though is not just about amplifying sound (many ear buds can do that), but it is about assessing hearing loss and compensating properly for it.

It is amazing this has taken so long to get to market if I think about own long we’ve had super cheap reading glasses available in discount pharmacy stores. For many, they just want “good enough” to use.

See https://techcentral.co.za/apple-hearing-aid-feature-south-africa
#Blog, #AirPods, #hearing, #southafrica, #technology

A contact of mine (from #YACF ) has drawn up a webpage as an attempt to explain a few key things about deafness, hearing aids and 'hearing as a deaf person' in the hope it will help deaf and hearing people understand and communicate better and more kindl

https://barakta.org.uk/deaf_tips.shtml

It includes a lot of extremely useful information and advice - give it a read. You don't know when you'll next meet someone with hearing difficulties.

#deaf #deafcommunity #hearing #hearingloss #HearingAids

I had a hearing test yesterday - it took over two hours. The audio people have recommended OTICON hearing aids. So I’d like to know if anyone else has them, and what their experience is. The issue with my hearing is inside my head where sounds are transferred into my brain for analysis, rather than where the sounds come in. The aids recommended are little yokes that sit on top of my ear with a thin tube going into my ear canal. The downside is the scary cost.
So if anyone has experience of OTICON in particular, I’d like to read your take.
#Hearing #Deaf #Oticon #HearingAid

Disabled residents of Gaza face harrowing struggles as thousands await life-saving care and assistive devices. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2024/12/09/world/society/gaza-disabled-chaos-war/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #worldnews #society #middleeast #israel #gaza #israelhamaswar #palestinians #hamas #benjaminnetanyahu #iran #lebanon #hezbollah #disability #barrierfree #visuallyimpaired #hearing

Inhaltswarnung: State violence on children Zum Öffnen/Schließen klicken

Paul Simon says he is ‘beginning to’ accept his hearing loss https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/sep/12/paul-simon-hearing-loss-impacts-cause #music #hearing