Apple gave me early access to their groundbreaking AirPods Pro 2 hearing aids, and the chance to talk to Vice President of Health Dr. Sumbul Desai and Director of Global Accessibility Policy and Initiatives, Sarah Herrlinger. Designed for adults with mild to moderate hearing loss, these over-the-counter hearing aids provide an easy way to explore your hearing health at a place and pace of your choice. A software update next week will make them available to the public, transforming AirPods Pro 2 into one of the most affordable and powerful hearing aids in the world.

Video Descriptive Transcript

Haben Girma, a Black woman in her thirties, holds an AirPods Pro 2 case as she speaks to the camera. On the table in front of her is a small box with engraved AirPods Pro 2 on the side, an iPhone, and a small Brailliant. Behind her are dark blue curtains.

Haben: The coolest new hearing tech is Apple’s AirPods Pro 2! It’s gonna give you the option to transform these into medical-grade hearing aids. Apple gave me early access. They also gave me the chance to talk to Vice President of Health, Dr. Sumbul Desai.

A woman speaks to the camera with a scenic view of Apple Park behind her. She has long dark hair, medium skin tone, and a gold necklace.

Sumbul: So we really wanted to build something that was intuitive, that felt like an extension of a user’s senses. Simple to use, reimagining the software across our engineering, design and acoustics teams to really democratize access to something that affects millions of people.

Haben: And Director of Global Accessibility, Sarah Herrlinger.

A woman speaks to the camera with a scenic view of Apple Park behind her. She has long blonde hair, light skin, and glasses.

Sarah: Adding this in as software allows us to take all of the benefits of AirPods Pro 2—The Grade A microphones, the great speakers, all those things that benefit someone as a hearing aid user—and use that platform to create the best hearing aids in the world.

Haben: We’re going to start with the hearing test.

The video alternates between showing the iPhone screen and showing Haben wearing the AirPods Pro 2 as she advances through the program.

Apple’s VoiceOver: Hearing assistance. Take a hearing test. Button (activation sound). Test your hearing. Hearing loss is common and can get worse over time. A five minute test can identify if you have hearing loss. If you have mild or moderate hearing loss, AirPods Pro can provide hearing assistance that makes voices, music, and the sounds around you easier to hear. Note if you’ve experienced a sudden change in your hearing, you should talk to a doctor. Get started, button.

Haben: I’m Deafblind. So I also have a Braille computer with me. One of the things I’m really excited about is that if you want to explore your hearing and you also have an additional disability like blindness or a physical disability, you can tap into Apple’s ecosystem of accessibility features.

Sarah: That’s the other thing that we always think about when we’re building for accessibility is everyone’s experience is unique, and people may have multiple disabilities that we need to be able to accommodate as well. So to your point, knowing that all of the settings for how to use your hearing aids also work with VoiceOver for someone who might be a member of the Deafblind community and want to get all of that information in an auditory manner is really important to us.

Haben: I’m at home. And I really, really like that you have the option to take this at a place of your choice. I’ve had some painful experiences where medical professionals take me away from my family and put me in this tiny isolation cell, and then throw a bunch of tests at me. That is stressful!

Sumbul: I’m sorry to hear that, but I know exactly what you’re talking about. Because sometimes the medical community, we can do better in terms of how we manage those experiences. And that was definitely top of mind for us when we thought about how do we create a hearing test that you could do at home that we can, you know, make it easy and simple to access, but actually make it delightful, too.

Haben: And this gives you the option to do it at a place of your choice, where you feel safe and comfortable and can process information at your own speed.

The video alternates between showing the iPhone screen and showing Haben wearing the AirPods Pro 2 as she advances through the program.

Apple’s VoiceOver: Find a quiet place where you can focus and take the test. Heading. Too much background noise can cause inaccurate results in your test. Show suggestions to reduce noise. Button. Next, button (activation sound). AirPods will check the fit in each ear and measure background noise. Heading. Music will play during the check. This is not the hearing test. Start the check. Button. In-progress. (Music) Do not remove AirPods.

Haben: Some people are very early on their hearing journey and may be wondering, do I have hearing loss? What do I do? How do I disclose? And that is an emotionally tricky place to be. Because the AirPods are so cool and visually recognized all over the world, having these hearing aids gives people the choice to control when and how they disclose.

Sumbul: And so when we were identifying the opportunity to help, we also looked at some data that showed us that about 75% of people diagnosed with hearing loss don’t actually get the treatment they need. And we saw an opportunity to fill a need. And to your point, we wondered if stigma was a big portion of that of, you know, not getting over the hump to go get the help you need because you’re concerned about that stigma. And so we decided to really take on this experience with the thought that knowing everyone’s hearing is different.

Haben: A tenet of disability justice is nothing about us without us. So I asked Apple: What role did deaf and hard of hearing people play in the creation of these hearing aids?

Sarah: We have always believed very strongly in that disability mantra of nothing about us without us. It starts with hiring individuals with disabilities within our own ranks in order to make sure that as we are building any of our assistive technology, we’re not building for, we’re building with.

The video alternates between showing the iPhone screen and showing Haben wearing the AirPods Pro 2 as she advances through the program.

Apple’s VoiceOver: The fit is good and it’s quiet enough to test your hearing. Heading. Don’t remove or adjust your AirPods until you finish the hearing test. Next button (activation sound). Do Not Disturb will be on during the test. Heading. This helps prevent distractions. The hearing test will take about five minutes. Next, button (activation sound). The test will play tones at different volumes and frequencies. Heading. And will pulse three times. Play sample, button. Next, button (activation sound). During the test, listen carefully and tap the screen each time you hear a tone. Heading. Next, button (activation sound). It’s okay if you miss a tone, you will have another chance to hear it. Heading. Start test, button. Starting test. (Triple beep).

Haben: A lot of the tech we love today started out as disability tech and then soon became mainstream tech. For example, audiobooks started out as special books on tape just for blind people. But now lots of sighted people love audiobooks! I asked Apple: What inspired Apple to take hearing aids on this journey?

Sarah: One of the things we know is that building for accessibility can have great benefits for everyone. There’s a long history of our work that has been expanded into other areas within Apple products. When you think about something like double tap on Apple Watch, that the nexus of that started with Assistive Touch for Apple Watch, which was a feature we built in for individuals who are upper body limb different. Same with things like Type to Siri as a feature that started to support the deaf and hard of hearing community as they used Siri on iPhone, iPad and on the Mac. And it’s grown to something that can be used by many people in the world. So this is not something that’s been new to us. And in this case, you know, it’s been a great opportunity to look at the work that we’ve been doing around support for individuals with hearing loss through programs like the Made For iPhone hearing aid program that we started a decade ago. And as we built in features for that, we realized how some of those great, interesting elements like Live Listen or headphone accommodations could be valuable to so many users, whether they self-identified as having hearing loss or not. And so this is really just a continuation of that really long commitment to building in features to support individual user needs, but how those can then be expanded to become things that apply across much broader use cases.

Haben: More choices, personalized hearing tech for more people around the world.

Uber and Lyft frequently deny service to blind people with guide dogs. Help advocate for our civil rights by joining the National Federation of the Blind’s Rideshare Rally in San Francisco on October 15, 10 am to 3 pm, outside the Uber and Lyft headquarters. More info.

You can also share your experiences with rideshare service denials by posting written, audio, or video stories using #RightToRide.

Descriptive Transcript

Haben and her Seeing Eye dog Mylo stand by a parking lot, and behind them is a large building with a sign that reads City Museum. There’s a medieval-style tower, large climbing structures, and a school bus with its front wheels hanging off the edge of the museum’s roof.

Haben: I’m blind with a guide dog and waiting for an Uber. This is going to be the third one. The first two canceled.

And that’s actually super normal. Wherever I travel—right now we’re in Saint Louis, Missouri—my home is in California, and this happens all the time. We’re regularly canceled on because we’re disabled and have an assistance animal. So the community of people with guide dogs are protesting, and there’s going to be a gathering in San Francisco on October 15th outside Uber headquarters. If you can, please join us, or you can share your stories using the hashtag Right To Ride. #RightToRide.

This shouldn’t be normal. We shouldn’t have to get used to drivers canceling as soon as they realize we’re blind or have another disability and an assistance dog. My dog helps me navigate the world, increasing my access to visual information and audio information. So join the movement. October 15th. #RightToRide.

Bug rolls are popular on the Gold Coast.

Video description: Haben sits at a beachside restaurant, and on the table in front of her are two small sandwiches. They have a golden brioche bun, lettuce, sauce, and a fried patty.

Haben: Australian food is fantastic! And the names for the items are really delightful. This one is called a bug roll and bug roll is short for Moreton bug, sorry – Moreton Bay Bug.

Photo: About nine small, ten-legged, long-tailed lobsters. Their heads are wide and their body narrows as you move toward the tail. The reddish shells are speckled with dark dots.

Haben (voiceover): They’re small lobsters without pincers, and in other parts of the world we call them flathead lobsters or slipper lobsters.

(She touches the fluffy, golden bread.)

Haben: We have it fried in a bun with bug mayo.

(She takes a bite and smiles.) 

Haben: That’s really good!

(She takes another bite.)

Haben: The flavor has a bit of spice to it. There’s a sriracha sauce, in addition to the bug mayo. And then the lobster part—I mean the bug part—is crunchy and the bun is soft and buttery. So you get a mix of textures in addition to different flavors.

(She moves her hand holding the roll, about to take another bite.) .)

When hiring for executive roles at disability organizations, isn’t it better to select the most qualified leader regardless of whether they have a disability?

Disability experience should be part of the qualification criteria for these jobs. These jobs involve representing the disabled community and speaking for the disability community. For example, the head of a blind organization should have a deep understanding of Braille, different screenreaders, cane travel, guide dogs, disability rights laws, alternative techniques commonly used, and the barriers facing blind people. Sighted people have the privilege of choosing how and when to engage with the blind community. By contrast, blind people live this every minute. When the clock strikes five, we’re still blind. When we go on vacation, we’re still blind and often encounter accessibility barriers that require us to keep advocating even while on vacation. So when disability organizations review job applications, the lived experience of disabled candidates deserves more weight.

Join the campaign to increase blind leadership: unitedblindleaders.org #UnitedBlindLeaders.

Join the campaign to increase Deafblind leadership: Deafblindleadershipnow.org #DeafBlindLeadershipNow.

Descriptive Transcript

Haben Girma and Jane Britt are sitting on a balcony overlooking a beautiful Eucalyptus tree. Haben has a Braille computer on her lap, and Jane has a colorful cane with a marshmallow tip by her chair. Haben speaks with an American accent and Jane speaks with an Australian accent.

Haben: Haben speaking. I’m here with Jane Britt, an Australian disability rights advocate. And we have an issue here that matters to people all over the world. And that’s disability leadership. What do you want people to know about disability leadership?

Jane: What I think is really important for people to know, and it doesn’t matter where you are in the world, is that there are so many people that are blind or visually impaired or indeed have any disability who have the experience, the expertise, as well as the lived experience they can bring uniquely to the role of disability leadership. And it doesn’t matter whether someone is trying to be a chief executive officer or be a non-executive director sitting on a board somewhere.

Haben: So for a lot of people, it’s a job. But when you have the lived experience, it’s something you’re thinking about all the time. When it’s 5 PM, you’re still blind. When you’re on vacation, you’re still blind. So you’re very invested in accessibility. We are having the same situation in the United States: a disability organization called Helen Keller National Center is Deafblind-centered. It’s a training center for Deafblind people, but they’ve never had a Deafblind executive director. And that’s really frustrating. So disabled people and allies are campaigning in the US for our Helen Keller National Center to have a Deafblind executive director. It’s called Deafblind Leadership Now. Is there a hashtag for the campaign to have blind leadership in Australia?

Jane: Yes, it’s United Blind Leaders and we do have a website where we are currently updating it, and be on the line for the campaign. We are aiming to increase the pool of leadership across the country in a number of manners, including, through a podcast series as well as through different leadership initiatives. So I think watch that space, there’ll be a lot more forthcoming. The one thing I would say too is that I think leadership is also important for disability, that you can’t believe what you don’t see in front of you. If you’re not seeing someone else who’s a leader for a young child to aspire to be anything they want to be. If you’re not seeing someone in front of you that maybe has the same disability or something similar, it’s very hard to see yourself in that role.

Haben: And I appreciate how social media helps us find other disabled people to learn from. I remember researching Deafblind leaders, and it’s one of the ways I found you Jane, through social media posts, people sharing online. So I hope more disabled people do that.

Jane: I hope so too. I certainly have found a really close and supportive community through there, and a lot of people with disability that I have never encountered before. I think as we spoke about earlier today , that I grew up in a country town where I didn’t really see people with disabilities. So now having this ready access at our fingertips, through social media and a global reach as well, is fantastic.

Haben: I hope more people will go to the website. Raise your voice. Write statements, make videos, and support disability leadership in Australia and the United States and everywhere around the world.

Trying Vegemite for the first time. A blend of vegetable extracts, B vitamins, and beer production leftovers, the spread packs a strong punch! Australians have eaten Vegemite for over a hundred years now. 

Descriptive Transcript

Seated at an outdoor cafe, Haben has a plate with toast covered in a dark brown paste.

Haben: When I arrived in Australia: several people have been asking, “Have you tried Vegemite?” So I’m finally going to try Vegemite! And we have toast here – sourdough toast with butter and Vegemite.

(She brings the toast close to her nose.) 

Haben: It smells kind of yeasty and salty.

(She takes a bite.)

Haben: That is fascinating! It kind of makes the butter more flavorful.

(She takes another bite.)

Haben: There’s a sour flavor to it too. So kind of several layers of flavors from sour to yeast and salt. I’m also feeling more awake! 

(She holds a hand up to her heart and laughs.) 

Haben: Something about the flavor, the salt and the yeast, feels like an energy boost. Probably also the butter interacting with it too. And also maybe just the flavors being very new. I’m glad I tried this!