A recent paper published in the journal iScience states that some “commercial earbuds can perform as well as hearing aids” which “could help a large proportion of people with hearing loss access more affordable sound amplification devices.” AirPods by Apple, for example, came out with “Live Listen” in 2016 which “allows people to use its wireless earphones, AirPods, and iPhone for sound amplification.” The team of researchers wanted to see if this feature could be used in place of hearing aids for hearing impaired individuals. They found that in a noisy environment, “AirPods Pro showed comparable performance to premium hearing aids when the noises came from the lateral direction of the participant.” However, the AirPods failed when the noise was coming from the front. While they are not perfect, this may be an option for some individuals who do not want to use hearing aids for whatever reason, one of which is the social stigma many people feel.