How to Use Your AirPods as Hearing Assistants

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Enable Live Listening and use your AirPods as hearing aids

Co-authored by Josef Storzi and Nicole Levine, MFA

Last Updated: May 19, 2023

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Connecting the AirPods to an iPhone or iPad

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Enabling Live Listening

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Using Live Listen in a Conversation

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Q&A

This wikiHow teaches you how to use your Apple AirPods as a hearing assistant by enabling Live Listening. Live Listening removes the extra background noise from the sounds closest to your iPhone or iPad’s microphone, delivering only the speaker’s voice through to your AirPods. You’ll need iOS 12 or later to use Live Listening.

Things You Should Know

After connecting your AirPods to your iOS device, open your Settings
and tap Control Center
Tap Customize Controls and select Hearing. This makes Live Listening more readily available moving forward.
Tap the Live Listen icon within the Control Center, represented by an ear, and aim your phone's microphone towards the sound you want to hear.

Part 1

Part 1 of 3:

Connecting the AirPods to an iPhone or iPad

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If your AirPods are already connected to your phone or tablet, skip to Enabling Live Listening.
In a few seconds, the ″AirPods″ window will appear on the screen.^{[1]
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The word ″Done″ will appear once the AirPods are connected.^{[2]
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Part 2

Part 2 of 3:

Enabling Live Listening

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You’ll usually find it on the home screen.^{[4]
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It’s in the third group of settings.^{[5]
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It’s under the ″MORE CONTROLS″ header. You can now quickly access Live Listening from the Control Center.^{[7]
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Part 3

Part 3 of 3:

Using Live Listen in a Conversation

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If you’re using an iPhone X, swipe down from the top-right corner of the screen. Other iPhone and iPad users should swipe up from the bottom of the screen.^{[8]
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It’s the square at the top-right corner of the Control Center.^{[9]
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It’s the triangle with several rounded lines at the top-right corner of the screen.^{[10]
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All sound on your iPhone or iPad will now be routed through your AirPods.^{[11]
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It’s the ear icon at the bottom of the Control Center.^{[13]
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Live Listen is now enabled.
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Aim the bottom of your iPhone or iPad toward the sound or person you want to hear. Get as close as you can to the source of the sound. Now that the microphone is pointed at the source, your iPhone or iPad will strip out most other ambient sounds so you can hear the desired sound/conversation more clearly.^{[14]
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- Use your iPhone or iPad’s volume controls to adjust the sound to your liking.
To turn it off, return to the Control Center, tap the ear icon again, and then tap Live Listen.

Community Q&A

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Question

Can AirPods be tied together so they don't get lost?

Community Answer

Yes, they can be linked together to prevent them from being lost. Go to the "Find My" app and see when and where your AirPods were last connected to your device.

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