Apple AirPods As Medical And Hearing Aids: To Get Hearing Health, Body Temperature Monitoring

Apple AirPods are gradually being positioned as medical devices and would function as hearing aids as well. The company is reportedly adding support for health-related features.

Apple's truly wireless stereo earphones could get "major" health features, allowing wearers to monitor their body temperature fluctuations and even get an estimate of their hearing abilities.

Apple AirPods To Function As Hearing Aids

Apple AirPods are one of the most popular, premium Truly Wireless Stereo (TWS) earbuds. The iPhone maker has embedded several technologies within the diminutive earbuds.

The sleek TWS earbuds from Apple would soon gain additional functionalities, which would place them firmly in the medical devices category, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman indicated. He claims Apple is working on adding "major" health features to AirPods, including a test to check how well the wearer can hear sounds.

Apple AirPods already allows users to take audiograms, but this function is offered by third-party apps. If Apple offers this function, it could make several third-party apps obsolete.

Apple is also repeatedly planning to position AirPods as a hearing aid. Apple can take this leap because the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) allowed over-the-counter hearing aid sales. In other words, the US FDA has allowed consumer electronics manufacturers to sell, and buyers to acquire, hearing aids from stores, without needing a prescription.

Apple Positioning AirPods As Health Monitoring Accessories?

Apple has been aggressively incorporating health-related hardware and features in its devices. However, the company has been slowly releasing features that support the hardware and offer information to users.

Last year, the Apple Watch Series 8 and Apple Watch Ultra gained support for temperature sensing. Apple hasn't unlocked the use of the hardware and sensor for general use. The company is currently allowing the use of temperature sensing only for fertility tracking.

However, the upcoming Apple AirPods could offer active health monitoring for all. Apple is working to add sensors to AirPods to add the ability to monitor the wearer's body temperature via the ear canal, Gurman claimed.

There are several popular thermometers, especially for children, which can take a reading of the body temperature through the ear canal. Upcoming AirPods too could gain this ability. With sufficient data due to prolonged use, they could alert wearers about any looming health risk.

It is important to note that none of the current generation of AirPods have any such temperature sensor. Moreover, it could take a few years for Apple to incorporate the necessary hardware.

Even though AirPods with a temperature sensor isn't here, Apple could soon swap out its own proprietary charging port for a standard USB-C port on the AirPods and AirPods Pro, concluded the report.