AirPods Pro 2 Hearing Aids not available in Canada

Zollotech has just reported in his review of iOS 18.2 that Canada has approved the headphone function of the AirPods Pro and it should be available within a couple of months. Great news. 😊

Both federal and provincial govts will need to deregulate the hearing aid industry. Short answer, don’t hold your breath.

Related article: https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/hearing-aids-over-the-counter-us-canada-1.6622197

The issue that needs to be clarified is whether Apple looks at GPS data to determine where you are located when you attempt to configure the AirPods Pro. I could log in to my US Apple ID using a VPN and then download the Sony app and configure my hearing aids—all that from my location north of Montreal. But I don’t know if the Apple process is the same. Remember that when you log in to a different Apple ID on one iPhone, you must first log out of your Canadian Apple ID. If you have the lockdown feature set, you have to wait an hour before being able to log in to your US Apple ID. It’s better to turn off lockdown mode before you begin this process. You can reactivate lockdown mode after you’re done.

I wrote to the Quebec Health Minister (Christian Dubé) today in the hope of accelerating the approval of the over-the-counter sale of hearing aids in the Province so that the citizens of Quebec can also benefit from the new hearing aid functionality that now comes with Apple’s AirPods Pro 2.

I sent an email to the Ontario Provincial Government inquiring when this feature would be available. The is the reply I got:

Good Afternoon,

Thank you for contacting the Assistive Devices Program (ADP).

Unfortunately, the Program does not have access to this specific information.

To receive more detailed response, you may wish to reach out to Apple Inc. or Health Canada directly.

Sincerely,

Assistive Devices Program

[Edited by Moderator]

I got same reply from Ontario Minister of Health. I sent this back: “Your reply neatly avoids my question. CASLPO is the problem, not the solution. CASLPO is an advocacy group for audiologists who charge outrageous amounts for hearing aids and related services and are opposed to over-the-counter hearing aids.

The question for the Minister of Health is very simple: Will you approve the Apple AirPods Pro 2 for use as hearing aids in Ontario? The users can install the required firmware upgrade (not yet approved by your Ministry) and calibrate the devices with Apple’s very efficient and user-friendly software. There is no need of oversight by CASLPO or their members.

Please answer the above question in plain language and not bureaucratic boilerplate. “

Can you tell me who you spoke with at Health Canada? I am currently dealing with a representative at SaskHealth and the person I am dealing with is fully in support of the hearing aid feature. I was on the phone for 20 minutes with this representative and he wants to gather more information. What he told me is that Apple does not want to be certifying each province individually and that Canada needs to get its act together as a country where a decision is made nationally and they certify the country. This sounds so familiar with what has emerged during the trade wars with the USA and the discovery that Canadian Provinces deny trade and opportunities across our own provincial borders. The SaskHealth person will fight on our behalf. He totally gets the benefits involved here, so if anyone has contact information regarding direct dialogue on this topic, please let me know so I can pass along. Also, after returning from a Europe switch my Phone and MacBookPro, both offer hearing aid assistance. My knee iPad Pro did not make the journey and does not offer hearing aid assistance. I tried this morning and that functionality does not exist on the iPad. I wish I’d taken it on the trip.

I flew down to Palm Springs on Dec17/24. While in the air, I noticed that the Hearing Test option was in the settings. While in California, I did the HT, got everything set up and the Hearing Aid function worked perfectly. I also had a set of hearing aids from Costco which were still in the trial period. Incidentally, before I went to the US, I had upgraded my AirPods Pro 2 firmware.

(The hearing aid test on the iPhone closely matched the test I had with the Costco audio person. I have mild to moderate hearing loss at age 79.)

When I got home (Kelowna), I was excited that the HA function was still working, but I was afraid to upgrade iOS (from 18.1). Recently I took the leap and upgraded to 18.5. It still works fine. I returned the hearing aids to Costco.

Hope this helps! (I suspect you could just drive to a border crossing and it would appear in the iPhone Settings.).

P.S. You can buy OTC (Over The Counter) hearing aids on Amazon.ca, so why can’t you use the AirPods in the same manner, (ie. no need to go to a hearing specialist for a test).

Try copy and paste this url "x-apple-health://HearingAppPlugin.healthplugin/HearingTest" to trigger the hearing test in iOS Safari.

Voilà, Enjoy !

Look at the long list of countries where the Apple Airpod Pro hearing aid functionality is available. It includes many third-world countries but not Canada. This is nothing short of outrageous.

In Canada, corporate lobbies always win over consumers: the Big Three telecommunication companies are still charging an arm and a leg for internet and cell phone coverage, the big chartered banks are still charging high interest rates on credit cards and forcing a three-week pay cycle to change the due date every month and screw consumers with late payment fees, the audiologist and hearing aid lobby is still preventing consumers from purchasing over-the-counter hearing aids, 2 years after they have been made available in the US.

As I said, this is nothing short of outrageous.

FYI, I have tried to get the hearing features working in Canada by wiping my phone, setting up using a VPN, disabling location services and using a US account but it did not work. I guess they use your GPS location even if you don't allow it.

My next attempt will be a trip to the USA to see if that works.

Good response lakedogs_2000

I have also written last week to health Canada, it has been a week now with no response, I will now push my mp for answers, keep it up, this is a travesty. Many Cdns will benefit greatly from this low cost hearing assistance, most cannot afford the audiologist priced option.

I have updated my iPhone 13 Pro to IOS version 18.1 and the AirPods Pro firmware to version 7B21, the most recent version for IOS and the AirPods Pro firmware. In the configuration window for the Airpods Pro, I get Hearing Protection, but the Hearing Test and the Hearing aid functionality are nowhere to be found. ‘Many others have reported the same and realized that the reason is because we are located in Canada.

[Edited by Moderator]

No, this will not work. You have to upgrade to 18.1 to get the hearing

aid function. The hearing aid function will only show up on your phone

if you are physically in one of the supported countries.

Incorrect. The hearing aid function has been working since September 2022 and many people,have been using them. The difference was that Apple were not legally allowed to call them hearing aids.

I have been using them since September, I haven't upgraded to 18.1 because it will stop them working. Still on 17.7.1 and I did my hearing test with the Mimi app from the app store. Results were almost identical to my Costco Audiogram.

Some people here mistakenly label the AirPods Pro's transparency and noise cancellation functionalities as the hearing aid functionality. It’s like Live Listen, which has existed for a very long time, whereby you could use your iPhone to pick up sounds and relay them to your AirPods. These functionalities are fine but not the same as the hearing aid functionality.

The only way to get the hearing test and the hearing aid functionality is with IOS 18.1 and up and AirPods Pro firmware 7B19 and up, in a country that allows OTC sale of hearing aids.

There is a lot of misinformation being spread here about this.

You are incorrect on so many levels here and you are splitting hairs. You have been able to apply your audiogram to your AirPods since September 2022 and I notice you conveniently missed that bit off.

When you go to, say, a Costco audiologist, they will check your ears and give you a hearing test and then apply the Audiogram to the hearing aids they have decided will be good for you. It's exactly the same principle and as long as you have mild to moderate hearing loss Airpods should work well for you if you get on with them.

I do agree with you that you cannot use the Apple Hearing test but that is easily sorted by downloading the Mimi hearing test app from the App store to do your test.

OR you can use your AirPods so they are even MORE like REAL hearing aids by applying your professionally created Audiogram to the Airpods.

The AirPod Pro 2s are sounding more and more like real hearing aids to me! The only difference is that back in 2022 were not selling them as REAL hearing aids and they didn't have FDA approval.

By the way. My AirPods are running the firmware 7B21 and over the six weeks I have been using them with IOS 17.7.1 the firmware has changed three times with NO change in the function of them.

I tried to set up my AirPods Pro 2 with firmware 7B21 with an older iPhone 1ù2 with IOS 17.7.1 yesterday, and YOU DO NOT GET the hearing test and the hearing aid functionality.

That is incorrect. You do. I have them set up on my 15 Pro Max and they work extremely well for me.

Last week to prove that they still work I set them up on an iPad 2018 running on IOS 17.7.1.

Just sitting here typing away with my hearing aids (Airpods) in my ears listening to a podcast and they sound great.