iView: How Live Listen on AirPods Can Improve Your Life
Yesterday, I placed my iPhone down near a softspoken friend sitting across the room and heard him loud and clear through my AirPods. Later in my living room, I kept my iPhone next to the TV and listened to the news broadcast via my AirPods while preparing food in the kitchen. In both instances, I made use of the new iOS 12 Live Listen feature originally available only for Made for iPhone hearing aids.
How Does Live Listen Work?
With Live Listen, you can use your iPhone or iPad as a directional microphone that picks up audio and plays it through your AirPods. That means I could put an iPhone in a room with young children playing and keep tabs on them from elsewhere in the house, limited only by the AirPods connection range. As someone with a hearing impairment, I no longer have to burden my family with a blasting TV. Thanks to Live Listen, I can place my iPhone near the TV speakers and keep the volume normal for everyone else. Live Listen also works well in noisy rooms; I just place the iPhone near the audio source I want to hear. Set up & Use Live Listen
Setting up and using Live Listen is easy with Control Center. Go to Settings > Control Center. Tap Customize Controls. Scroll down and tap the plus icon to the left of the Hearing icon. To use Live Listen, make sure your AirPods are on and working. Open your Control Center, and tap the hearing icon. Tap Live Listen Off, and it becomes Live Listen On. Now place your iOS 12 device in front of the sound source, such as the TV or a person. Start listening through your AirPods.
For best results, point the iPhone or iPad microphone toward the sound source with the device as close as possible. (The iPhone mic is at the bottom. On the iPad, the microphone is two little holes on the top edge. You can test the microphone location by making several recordings and listening for clarity.) Limitations of Live Listen
The biggest problem with Live Listen is hearing double. Often, I'll hear a sound in the room, and then will hear it again slightly later and louder through the AirPods. Adjusting the device volume and, if possible, the volume of the originating sound helps.
The other challenge is getting it to work the first time. I tried Live Listen both on my iPhone XS Max and the original iPad Pro. In both cases, I tried to enable Live Listen via Control Center and nothing happened. Restarting fixed the problem on my iPhone. After restarting and trying again on the iPad Pro, I got the message, “Unavailable for current route.” That meant it couldn't find the AirPods. I re-paired my AirPods, and it worked. Since then, I've had no problems with either device. If you're having similar troubles, you can restart your iPhone or iPad by holding the on button and a volume button until the power off option appears. For older units, just hold down the on button. In all cases, the slider appears. Drag the slider to turn off the device. Then press and hold the on button until the Apple logo appears. To re-initialize the AirPods, go to Settings > Bluetooth > tap the “i” by AirPods> Forget This Device. Restart the iPhone. Then go to Settings > Bluetooth > Other Devices > AirPods > Connect. All iOS devices that support iOS 12 also support Live Listen. Have a Hearing Breakthrough!
Given the cost of hearing aids, using an older iOS device and AirPods as a dedicated solution might be an excellent (under $200) investment.