This is around the time of the year when Apple has traditionally released its holiday advertisement for television. Perhaps one of the most talked about holiday ads Apple produced, called “Misunderstood” was first shown on television during the 2013 holiday season. That year, there was plenty of talk about smartphone addiction and Apple’s ad revolved around a teen boy who owned an iPhone.
That kid was visiting his grandparents along with the rest of the family for Christmas but he seemed too attached to his iPhone and appeared to be ignoring his family. Then, out of nowhere, he gathers the family around the television set and we finally see why the young lad had been so focused on using his phone. After hooking his iPhone up to the television, he plays them the video of the family he had been recording. The entire family loves it and the kid, who five minutes before was heading to military school, gets a warm hug from his dad.
This year’s ad is also a tearjerker partly telegraphed by the title of the ad, “Heartstrings.” The ad starts with a family opening holiday presidents when it becomes apparent from the audio that one person in the family has a hearing problem. Words sound muffled to him and he can’t understand what his daughter is saying or hear her messing around with her guitar. As she grows older he still can’t hear her playing her guitar, or saying goodbye to him on her first day at school.
One day, while his daughter is playing guitar, his wife tells him to listen. He opens a small carrying case containing a pair of AirPods. As soon as he puts them in his ears, he can hear clearly as his daughter plays the Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young song “Our House.” The ad then says, “The new hearing aid feature on AirPods Pro 2.” Last month when Apple pushed out iOS 18.1, it included three new features for the AirPods Pro 2, Hearing Test, Hearing Aid, and Hearing Protection.
With the hearing test, you can learn some insights about your hearing. Even if you don’t notice a problem, you can find out whether you are missing out on certain frequencies. If that’s the case, you can adjust the settings on your AirPods Pro 2 to hear enhanced audio on phone calls and media. The AirPods Pro 2 are now considered a clinical-grade hearing aid. With machine learning, real-time adjustments can be made throughout the day.
The AirPods Pro 2 also features hearing protection to protect your ears from loud noises. According to Apple, even at a rock concert “the improved high dynamic range multiband compressor helps protect your hearing while keeping the music sounding natural and vibrant.”
If you know someone who suffers from less than severe hearing loss, the AirPods Pro 2 could be a game-changer. If you haven’t yet completed your holiday shopping, you might give this person the gift of sound for the holidays.
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