Apple earbuds will soon be able to double as hearing aids, but those and others can already help you hear dining companions. Here’s how to use them.

Hate Noisy Restaurants? Stick This in Your Ear.

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2024-10-19 16:30:05

Apple earbuds will soon be able to double as hearing aids, but those and others can already help you hear dining companions. Here’s how to use them.

Many users overlook the AirPods settings that can help bring conversations into focus. Credit... Photo Illustration by Marissa Alper for The New York Times

Booking a table for two at Tao Downtown, I hesitated when I got to the box asking whether I had a special request. I did, but I wasn’t sure how it would go down. Would I be the first customer in history to ask for a noisy table?

This is not a normal ask, but I had my reasons. Recently I’d been trying to find out whether the way to hear and be heard in a dining room filled with booming speakers and screaming diners might be as simple as wearing a pair of earbuds. To put it to the test, I needed something I usually try to avoid: a hellishly loud restaurant.

As you may have heard, Apple announced last month that it would soon introduce new software enabling its AirPods Pro 2 earbuds to act as over-the-counter hearing aids for mild to moderate hearing loss, adjustable to your own ears. (You will be able take a simple exam from Apple on your device, or upload the findings of one given by an audiologist.)