5 days Ago By Omair Pall
When Rithwik Jayasimha, a 24-year-old tech enthusiast, learned that Apple had introduced a hearing aid feature in their new AirPods Pro 2 earbuds, he was thrilled by the possibilities. His grandmother, who had long struggled with bulky, expensive hearing aids, would now have access to a much more user-friendly solution. Eager to help, Jayasimha purchased a pair of AirPods for her, excited to set them up.
However, his excitement quickly turned into frustration when he realized the feature was unavailable in India. Despite the feature being approved in more than 100 countries, including the U.S.
, where it received FDA approval in September, India had not yet authorized it. Jayasimha spent the day trying to figure out how to make the feature work but found no solutions. Undeterred, he reached out to his friends, Arnav Bansal and Rithvik Vibhu, who were equally passionate about the issue.
Both friends, whose grandmothers also used hearing aids, shared his frustration. Apple released a hearing aids feature for the AirPods Pro a while ago. I bought a pair for grandma, but then realized that the feature was geoblocked in India So we at @_lagrangepoint decided to unblock it.
It ended up involving a leaky microwave and building a Faraday cage: pic.twitter.com/G7E3Bl6f7W — Rithwik Jayasimha (@thel3l) November 12, 2024 The three friends, known for their technical skills, gathered in a lab in Bengaluru’s Koramangala to devise a solution.
Their idea was simple yet challenging: how could they trick the AirPods into thinking they were in a country where the feature was enabled, like the U.S.? Through their research, they discovered that the AirPods did not use GPS to determine location.
Instead, the device detected nearby Wi-Fi networks to pinpoint its location. This realization led them to the idea of blocking the AirPods from detecting local Wi-Fi signals and feeding it false information, making it think it was in the U.S.
rather than India. Drawing on their love for technology and their self-taught expertise, they built a makeshift "Faraday Cage" using a combination of aluminum foil, copper mesh, a microwave, and an ESP 32 chip (a device supporting both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth). The Faraday Cage, named after scientist Michael Faraday, blocks electromagnetic signals.
The microwave was crucial to their plan, as it operated at a frequency that matched Wi-Fi signals, essentially jamming the device’s connection to local networks. With the AirPods successfully tricked into thinking they were located in San Francisco, the feature was unlocked. The boys then presented the AirPods to their grandmothers, delighted to see how much easier the new technology was to use.
Unlike traditional hearing aids, which required visits to an audiologist for adjustments, the AirPods allowed them to adjust the sound settings themselves in real-time, making them more convenient and user-friendly. What began as a personal project soon caught the attention of others. After sharing their success online, the boys received numerous requests from people wanting help with their AirPods.
To date, they’ve helped over 30 individuals unlock the hearing aid feature on their devices, and some have even visited their lab for assistance. While Apple has not yet reached out to the trio, they remain hopeful that the hearing aid feature will soon be approved in India. In the meantime, they continue to explore other technology-driven solutions under their lab, ‘Lagrange Point.
’ Their projects include water-cooled suits to help delivery workers combat heatwaves and clothing designed to make dressing easier for people with Parkinson’s disease. Their latest challenge is developing devices to detect microplastics in water and food. Through their creativity and determination, Jayasimha, Bansal, and Vibhu have not only solved a personal issue but have also helped many others, all while continuing to explore ways in which technology can improve everyday life.
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