The new iPhone 16 smartphones and Apple Watch Series 10 smartwatches are chock full of new and enhanced health, fitness and safety features. At the same time Apple is updating the AirPods Pro 2 so they can be used as over-the-counter hearing aids. A new feature, called Hearing Protection, will also be unlocked.

The earbuds carry many of the same qualities previous models do, including active noise cancellation, transparency mode, and up to 30 hours of battery life, but now it can function as a hearing aid.

Did hearing aids just get cooler? Like in “Ooh, look at the old dude wearing AirPods" cooler? Maybe. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has given Ap