Take your temperature or correct a hearing impairment. This is what Apple wants to allow with its next AirPods. At least that’s what the always very well-informed journalist Mark Gurman says in his “Power On” newsletter published in Bloomberg.
The journalist assures that Apple plans to give its headphones a big boost. In addition to an expected link with the Vision Pro helmet (whose spatialized audio leaves the user’s ears free for the moment) or announcements made during WWDC 2023, the objective would be to add medical device functions to these devices.
According to Mark Gurman, the manufacturer is developing a new hearing test. By sending sounds and tones, AirPods could detect how their users are listening. All in order to identify upstream, and therefore prevent, any hearing loss.
More reliable temperature than Apple Watch
Apple could thus position its headphones in the niche of hearing aids. A market estimated at 10,000 million dollars a year, says Bloomberg. This new function would thus be added to the Live Listen or Conversation Boost devices, which already allow a person to be heard better.
Although the various models of AirPods are not currently registered as hearing aids with the US Drug Administration (FDA), the company has hired experts from companies that make hearing aids.
The other way for the brand to redefine the use of its headphones is to integrate sensors into them. They must allow products to sense and indicate the temperature of the person using them. These data from the ear canal would be more reliable than those taken from the wrist by Apple Watch Series 8 and Ultra watches, when the wearer is sleeping.
Mark Gurman estimates that these features should take months, if not years, to set up. However, he says one change should come much faster: the move to a USB-C charger.
Like the next generation iPhone, Apple’s proprietary Lightning cables should be phased out in favor of the universal model. Initially, it is the charging cases that will be marketed with this new port. But the change must be made to all audio products of the brand.
Source: BFM TV
