One of Stuff‘s favourite audio brands, Jabra, transitioned away from headphones and started making hearing aids. That’s a path that Samsung is now following, though the South Korean company isn’t decimating its commercial product lineup to do so.
Instead, Samsung has revealed that its Galaxy Buds lineup is getting a Hearing Aid feature. One important enough to justify its proper noun status, apparently. The feature has cleared regulatory hurdles in the States, and other markets will also see the medical feature roll out in the future.
Galaxy hearing aids
According to the company, its recent FDA clearance allows it to market some Galaxy Buds devices as over-the-counter hearing aids. These will be rated for “addressing perceived mild to moderate hearing loss.” The buds are, apparently, also able to help with diagnosis. This is via a five-minute Galaxy Buds Hearing Test function that Samsung is also rolling out.
“Using clinical-grade, pure-tone audiometry, the software tests each ear individually to pinpoint the user’s specific hearing deficits. It then generates an audiogram with accuracy comparable to a professional audiologist’s evaluation. The results categorize the user’s hearing as normal or one of four stages of hearing loss: mild, moderate, severe or profound.”
Once that’s sorted, depriving your poor audiologist of some revenue, the Buds themselves can step in to correct (some) cases of hearing loss. It’s an evolution of existing features, notably Samsung’s Personal Sound Amplification Product (PSAP). PSAP has been around since the Galaxy Buds+.
The in-ear headphones will amplify certain frequencies, including whispers and distant noises, when the Hearing Aid feature is turned on. The feature also “supports additional advanced features typically found in premium hearing aids, such as noise elimination and beamforming, which help focus sounds in front of the user and suppress background noise.”
The US is cleared for the feature. So are “select approved markets” later this year. The catch, besides the geographical limitations? The Galaxy Buds 3 Pro and Buds 4 Pro are the only supported headphones with the new medical(ish) function.
