that Apple's AirPods Pro can act as primitive hearing aids thanks to new iOS14 accessibility settings.

Many people have AirPods, and many people have hearing loss that is annoying but not unmanageable. Hearing aids are expensive, and though Apple has not replaced them, they have made it possible for some people not to need them. I hope this post brings attention to a devilishly obscure setting that may help someone.

Apple added a very hidden setting called headphone accommodations to iOS 14, which can boost quieter sounds that come through your headphones. Normally, this only applies to phone calls, podcasts, and anything else you play directly from your phone.

However, on the AirPods Pro, you can use this screen to turn up the transparency mode so that the audio from your surroundings is significantly louder than reality. You can get to this screen a couple of ways, but here's the easiest:

Settings > Accessibility > Audio/Visual > Headphone Accommodations

If you're wearing AirPods Pro, a Transparency option will appear at the bottom of this screen. This is where you can essentially turn up the world.

Real world usage: I have mild hearing loss that leaves me struggling to hear people across short distances, or quiet people in general. This setting consistently helps me hear people and things more clearly. Sometimes loud sounds can disrupt the hearing on one side for an uncomfortably long time, but it recovers.

I think Apple is halfway to reinventing the hearing aid. Of course they can't advertise the AirPods as replacements, and in some ways they're really not ready for that yet, but I can't be the only person who finds this massively helpful.