Overview
- Apple turned on its clinical‑grade Hearing Aid and five‑minute Hearing Test for AirPods Pro 2 and 3 in Alberta, British Columbia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Saskatchewan on Monday, October 26, 2026.
- To use the features consumers must have AirPods Pro 2 or 3 on the latest firmware paired with an iPhone or iPad running iOS 27.2 or iPadOS 27.2, and macOS Sequoia is required for Hearing Aid on a Mac.
- Reports differ on reach: iPhone in Canada says the five‑minute Hearing Test is available across Canada while Apple and other outlets confirm the Hearing Aid feature remains limited to the five provinces that permit over‑the‑counter devices.
- Apple says both features were validated in a company‑sponsored October 2024 study, are intended for adults with perceived mild‑to‑moderate hearing loss, store audiograms in the Health app, and protect data with device encryption and iCloud end‑to‑end encryption when two‑factor authentication is on.
- The province‑by‑province rollout reflects local regulation of OTC hearing aids and could expand soon if Ontario’s promised legal change goes ahead, which would make software‑based hearing aid access easier for many Canadians and may increase early detection and treatment of hearing loss.