Apple recently aired an emotional new holiday season ad promoting the hearing aid features of the AirPods Pro 2. Now, Sarah Herrlinger, Apple’s global head of accessibility, has shared more thoughts on the company’s efforts to create health features in an interview.
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Hearing aids are pretty sophisticated pieces of technology these days, capable of adjusting the sound they pick up to suit a range of different environments, from a noisy restaurant to a windy day outside. A button allows users to cycle between modes, but some go further, an app allowing the user to fine-tune things like the arc of sound captured, letting them hear what is being said by companions while blocking out extraneous sound.
In a video on CNN Money, a man whose hearing was badly affected by a brain tumor demonstrates how an app on his Apple Watch allows him to control his ReSound hearing-aid …
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Back at CES we gave you a preview of the first Made-for-iPhone Bluetooth LE hearing aid when GN’s Resound Linx started rolling out to select markets ahead of an official launch. Today the company announced that it’s now rolling out in global markets alongside the new ReSound Smart companion app. The hearing aid is the first under Apple’s MFi program using new Apple-developed Bluetooth LE hearing aid technology that introduces new possibilities for the product category.
ReSound LiNX, which the company notes is its “smallest wireless Receiver-in-the-Ear hearing aid” yet, works with the ReSound Smart App to allow users control over a number of settings and features via their iOS device:
While it’s been years since Apple made an appearance at CES in any official capacity, accessories that pair with its iOS devices have for several years dominated the show floor. This year was no different with most of the big trends– fitness and health tracking wearables, Bluetooth controllers, and home automation products– all designed and developed with the iPhone, iPad, and Mac in mind. Below we’ve put together a roundup of the most interesting wearables, cases, controllers and more that we found for iOS devices.
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Back in June we reported that Apple was getting ready to introduce new Bluetooth Low Energy hearing aid technology it developed to significantly improve the current crop of products on the market. Apple expected partners in its MFi program to introduce hearing aid and cochlear implant products using the technology this year, and last night we got a look at the first MFi hearing aid about to launch globally this quarter during the Bluetooth SIG event at CES 2014. GN’s Resound Linx is trickling out in select markets as we speak but a full global launch is about to happen sometime this quarter.
Not only is Resound Linx the world’s smallest hearing aid and the first Made for iPhone/iPad/iPod through Apple’s official program, the connection to an iPhone over the 2.4GHz frequency and Apple’s advancements in low powered Bluetooth tech for hearing aid products will also provide some other first of their kind features for the Linx. The hearing aid will essentially also function as a high-quality headset, allowing users to answer calls, listen to turn-by-turn directions, and much more on their iOS device. The most notable advancement, however, is the ability to fine tune the hearing aid experience through a dedicated iOS app:
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We already told you about a few big new features in terms of improvements to Bluetooth coming in iOS 7: Developers will now have a standardized controller framework for hardware game controllers and new features for BLE devices that will bring Notification Center support and always-connected apps. That’s not all Apple has planned for accessory makers in the near future, below developers have reached out to explain some of the other big new features that will be available to accessory manufacturers with iOS 7 and Mavericks…
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