AirPods are good for your (hearing) health

For years, we’ve heard that over-the-counter hearing aids were about to be amazing. They’d look like headphones and seem totally socially inconspicuous; they’d be able to help you tune the sound around you to exactly your needs in every situation. It’s a nice idea, but we haven’t seen much product to back it up. With a new software update coming to Apple’s AirPods Pro 2 earbuds next week, it all might be starting to come true.

On this episode of The Vergecast, The Verge’s Chris Welch takes us through his experience with Apple’s new hearing health features, including the surprisingly intense and emotional hearing test you can take right on your phone. We talk about the changing social norms of headphones, what it means that Apple is now processing practically every sound you hear no matter what, and whether features like these are coming to other brands and headphones soon.

But before that, we have another health and wellness topic to discuss: smart rings. The Verge’s Victoria Song spent months wearing and testing two handfuls of smart rings in order to see which one was the best. She shares her findings, the reactions she’s gotten to her recent story on the subject, and the new Oura ring that might just be the new best choice.

After all the wearables talk, we take a question from the Vergecast Hotline (call 866-VERGE11 or email vergecast@theverge.com!) on a topic we’ve all thought about before: why doesn’t someone just buy Nintendo? The Verge’s Andrew Webster explains why Nintendo is so hard to figure out, why any company would be thrilled to buy it, and why that’s probably never going to happen. Then, just for fun, we imagine a world in which Apple buys the company. Would it be a win for everyone involved? Or anyone involved?

If you want to know more about everything we discuss in this episode, here are some links to get you started, beginning with smart rings:

And on the AirPods’ hearing health features:

And on Apple / Nintendo: