Researchers at Taipei Veterans General Hospital conducted an experiment that involved 21 people, hearing aids, and AirPodsstandard hearing aids. They also met four of the five criteria required by the official ANSI/CTA–2051 hearing aid standards. This could be a very big deal, because, until recently, the US regulated hearing aids as medical devices, which kept their prices high and meant only around 20% of the people who needed hearing aids could afford them. Now, with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) having established new rules, you can buy hearing aids over the counter. As a typical hearing aid costs ten times the price of AirPods Pro, this rule change should open the market to all kinds of alternative providers, Apple, Sony and Bose included.
