HACKER Q&A
📣 amichail

Why don't smartphones tell users with poor hearing to get hearing aids?


It should be easy to tell whether someone needs a hearing aid from their volume setting and ambient noise.


  👤 matt_s Accepted Answer ✓
People with hearing problems know they have hearing problems. I bet their spouses tell them all the time. Its a vanity/pride thing.

When bluetooth ear pieces were the thing some years back it looked less odd. I know someone that had a noise cancelling one and it just looked like someone that wore it to take an occasional call or whatever. If someone is walking around with air pods or the like in their ears you’d assume they are listening to music/podcast and it would be odd socially for someone to wear them out to a dinner party.


👤 h2odragon
That would be offering medical advice, and recommend a specific treatment. The FDA crawls up people and companies who do that without their permission.

Why can't smartphones be louder for those people? put it behind a "enable full audio range" setting to prevent accidental activation if you like.


👤 jleyank
Hearing aids are expensive. I read back then that the first iPhones were capable of lots of volume cuz Jobs had lost hearing. Germany had a limiter I thought. Cheaper to crank the volume. Or, just get their (grand)kids to stop whispering all the time /s.