South Africa’s listening to assist market could be in for an enormous shake-up: Apple’s AirPods Professional 2 listening to assist performance is now accessible in South Africa.
Apple’s AirPods Professional 2 have been set other than different Bluetooth earbuds available in the market when US regulators final September accredited their use as listening to aids, opening up a doubtlessly profitable new marketplace for the California-based expertise large.
Tech journalist Nafisa Akabor revealed lately on her Recharged web site that the listening to assist function is out there for South African iPhone and iPad customers.
“The listening to assist function particularly applies to the AirPods Professional 2 mannequin, with both USB-C charging or the Lightning connector, working the newest firmware model 7B21. Your iPhone or iPad additionally must be up to date,” she wrote.
Listening to well being settings, which embrace an elective listening to check, might be discovered within the AirPods Professional 2 submenu within the iPhone’s settings. The performance solely works along with iOS 18 or iPadOS 18.
In response to the Apple web site, listening to assist performance for customers in any jurisdiction outdoors the US is barely made accessible to customers as soon as native well being authorities have made comparable approvals. South Africa shouldn’t be included within the record of already-approved markets on the positioning. A fast search via the South African Well being Merchandise Regulatory Authority’s medical system database returns no outcomes for the AirPods Professional 2 both.
Priced to go
That being mentioned, there’s a big underserved market in South Africa’s hearing-impaired neighborhood that the AirPods Professional 2 earbuds have the potential to service. Talking to TechCentral final September, De Moist Swanepoel, professor within the division of speech-language pathology on the College of Pretoria, mentioned that the price of listening to aids ranges from R10 000 to a staggering R100 000.
Within the public sector, the gadgets are freely accessible, however sufferers are often delay by the lengthy ready record. And within the personal sector, many are priced out of the market, with medical aids hardly ever overlaying the complete price of listening to gadgets. The AirPods Professional 2 can be found in South Africa for R5 499.
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“The listening to assist performance is groundbreaking in that it doesn’t simply measure well being but additionally offers an intervention. There’s vital anticipation to see how this function can be rolled out in varied nations, particularly since, for the time being, solely the US has a proper over-the-counter listening to assist class,” mentioned Swanepoel. – © 2025 NewsCentral Media
