Hearing

Person with hiking backpack wearing hearing aid and looking down at an iPhone in their hand

Explore tools designed to enhance the sounds you hear or help you stay connected without hearing a sound.

UpdatedMade for iPhone hearing devices

Hearing aids and more, made specifically for your Apple devices.

Available on:

iPhone, iPad, Mac

Apple has worked with top manufacturers to create hearing aids, cochlear implants and sound processors designed specifically for Apple devices.1 These advanced hearing devices provide outstanding sound quality, offer many helpful features, and are as easy to set up and use as any other Bluetooth device. Instantly apply your audiologist’s environmental presets as you go outdoors or enter noisy locations, like restaurants, without having to rely on additional remotes. When using Made for iPhone hearing devices, you can also have Siri announce notifications from your iPhone, iPad or Mac.

Set up Made for iPhone hearing devices on:

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NewMusic Haptics

Experience music on iPhone with vibrations synchronised to the rhythm of a song.

Available on:

iPhone

Music Haptics syncs the iPhone Taptic Engine — which creates your device’s vibrations — with the rhythm of songs so you can enjoy music with taps, textures and refined haptics.2 Music Haptics works with millions of songs across the Apple Music catalogue.

Set up Music Haptics on:

iPhone

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Audio settings

Customise the audio preferences on your devices to fit your needs.

Available on:

iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, Apple TV, AirPods Max, AirPods Pro, AirPods, EarPods, Powerbeats, Powerbeats Pro, Beats Solo Pro

Audio innovations for AirPods Pro help you stay connected in noisy environments, enhance your overall audio experience and make it easier for you to use them across devices. With Conversation Boost, computational audio and beamforming microphones focus AirPods Pro on the voice of the person directly in front of you — helping you distinguish their speech from background noise.

Set up Conversation Boost on:

Whether you’re listening to music, watching a movie or talking to a loved one, Headphone Accommodations lets you customise your audio to best suit your hearing needs. Amplify soft sounds and adjust certain frequencies based on your preferences. You can also go through a series of listening tests that help you set up as many as nine unique profiles.

Set up Headphone Accommodations on:

Stereo recordings usually have distinct left- and right-channel audio tracks. Mono Audio can help streamline the differences by playing both audio channels in both ears. You can adjust the balance for greater volume in either ear, so you won’t miss a single note of a concerto or a beat of your favourite song.

Set up Mono Audio on:

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UpdatedSound Recognition

Listens for specific sounds and notifies you when they are detected.

Available on:

iPhone, iPad, CarPlay

Sound Recognition listens for certain sounds and uses on‑device intelligence to notify you when they are detected. This feature recognises 15 different sounds — or you can train your device to listen for electronic sounds that are unique to your environment, like the beeping of appliances in your kitchen, specific types of alarms or doorbells. On HomePod, Sound Recognition can also detect the sound of a smoke or carbon monoxide alarm. And now Sound Recognition supports CarPlay too. Your iPhone will listen for and detect sirens and horns. You’ll receive a notification — onscreen in your car if you’re using CarPlay — when a particular sound is detected.3

Set up Sound Recognition on:

Update:

Support for CarPlay. Sound Recognition is now compatible with CarPlay. It can recognise sirens and horns, and alert the driver onscreen when these sounds are detected.

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FaceTime

Recognises and highlights you when you’re using sign language in group calls.

Available on:

iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV

With high-quality video and a fast frame rate, FaceTime is a great way to communicate using sign language on iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple TV. It can detect when you are using sign language in Group FaceTime calls and automatically make you prominent.

Set up FaceTime on:

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Live Listen

Use your device’s microphone to amplify sound in noisy settings.

Available on:

iPhone, iPad, AirPods Max, AirPods Pro, AirPods, Powerbeats Pro, Beats Fit Pro, Made for iPhone hearing devices

Live Listen is an assistive listening feature that helps you have conversations in loud places. Just turn on the feature and move your device towards the people you’re talking with. Audio is picked up by the device’s microphone and sent to your wireless headphones or Made for iPhone hearing devices, so you can hear what they’re saying more clearly.4

Set up Live Listen on:

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Sensory Alerts

Get your notifications through sound, vibrations, a flashing light or all three.

Available on:

iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch

Your device lets you know when something’s up, in a way you’ll notice. Choose visual or vibrating alerts for incoming Phone and FaceTime calls, new text messages, new and sent mail, and calendar events. You can set an LED light flash for incoming calls or have your iPhone display a photo of the caller. If you’re on your Mac, have it flash its screen when an app needs your attention. Or if you’re on the go, turn on the Taptic Engine on your Apple Watch to give you a gentle tap every time a notification comes in.

Set up Sensory Alerts on:

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Real‑Time Text (RTT)

Text to communicate during a phone call, right from your Apple device.

Available on:

iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch

Real‑Time Text (RTT)

Use your iPhone, iPad, Mac, or Apple Watch to make and receive RTT calls.5 Standard texting involves composing an entire message and tapping Send, but RTT provides instant transmission of a message as it is being composed (as well as support for braille displays). Transcripts for RTT calls are saved in your call history.

Set up RTT on:

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UpdatedClosed Captions

Synced text transcriptions of a video’s speech and non-verbal communication.

Available on:

iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV

Closed captions are a text transcription displayed on screen in sync with a video’s dialogue and action. In addition to transcribing speech in a scene, they also capture non-verbal communication, music and sound effects. Supported in apps like the Apple TV app, closed captions are available in more than 40 languages for movies, TV shows, videos and podcasts — just look for the CC icon. Customise captions with different styles and fonts, including styles that are larger and outlined for better legibility.

Set up Closed Captions on:

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Transcriptions

Gives written transcripts of podcasts, recorded audio, voicemails, live calls and HomePod Intercom messages.

Available on:

iPhone, iPad, Mac, HomePod

Transcripts offer full-text versions of whatever you’re listening to, making everything more accessible and immersive than ever. Get a full transcript of your favourite podcast on Apple Podcasts right on your iPhone or iPad.

Set up Podcast transcriptions on:

In the Home app, you can use Audio Transcriptions for transcripts of HomePod Intercom messages.

Set up Intercom transcriptions on:

HomePod

Record audio in the Notes app, and generate live audio transcriptions that you can search through or combine with other comments, checklists or documents. And read voicemails and live transcriptions from calls in the Phone app too.6

Set up Notes app transcriptions on:

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Noise app

Tracks sound levels around you and alerts you if they’re unsafe for your hearing.

Available on:

Apple Watch

The Noise app tracks decibel levels of the ambient sounds around you, helping you identify when sound levels in your environment, or from your headphones, could negatively affect your hearing. When you configure the Noise app on Apple Watch and connect compatible headphones, Control Centre shows you if the sounds playing through the headphones reach unsafe levels.7 And all your information is stored securely in the Health app on iPhone for easy access to your data whenever you need it.

Set up the Noise app on:

Apple Watch

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UpdatedSiri

Interact with Siri through text.

Available on:

iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, Apple TV, HomePod, AirPods, CarPlay

Siri, your digital assistant, can help you with the things you do every day — all through your keyboard. Type to Siri makes it easy to get the help you need right away, even on your Apple Watch. Interact with Siri using the keyboard and text field on Apple Watch. Ask questions, set up reminders, issue commands and more.8 Made for iPhone hearing devices can also use Siri to announce notifications for iPhone and iPad. You can customise Siri to speak at a slower or faster rate depending on your needs and preferences.

Set up Siri on:

Updates:

Double-tap to type to Siri. With a double-tap on the bottom of your iPhone or iPad screen, you can type to Siri from anywhere in the system when you don’t want to speak out loud.

Go deeper with additional resources.

Go deeper with videos from Apple.

Learn tips, tricks and how-tos for hearing features from Apple Support on YouTube.

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