When Rithwik Jayasimha, a 24-year-old tech enthusiast, learned that Apple had introduced a hearing aid feature in the new AirPods Pro 2 headphones, he was excited about the possibilities. His grandmother, who had long struggled with bulky and expensive hearing aids, now had access to a much more user-friendly solution. Eager to help, Jayasimha bought a pair of AirPods for herself, excited to set them up. However, his excitement quickly turned to frustration when he realized that the feature was not available in India.

Despite the feature being approved in more than 100 countries, including the US, where it received FDA approval in September, India had yet to authorize it. Jayasimha spent the day trying to figure out how to make the feature work, but couldn’t find any solutions. Undeterred, he contacted his friends, Arnav Bansal and Rithvik Vibhu, who were equally passionate about the issue. Both friends, whose grandparents also used hearing aids, shared their frustration.

Apple released a hearing aid feature for AirPods Pro some time ago. I bought a pair for my grandmother, but then I realized that the feature was geoblocked in India

So we at @_lagrangepoint decided to unlock 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 find a solution. Their idea was simple but challenging: How could they trick the AirPods into thinking they were in a country where the feature was enabled, like the US?

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 AirPods from detecting local Wi-Fi signals and giving them false information, making them think they are in the US rather than India.

Drawing on their love of technology and their self-taught expertise, they built a makeshift “Faraday Cage” using a combination of aluminum foil, copper mesh, a microwave oven, and an ESP 32 chip (a device that supports both Wi- Fi as well as Bluetooth). The Faraday cage, named after scientist Michael Faraday, blocks electromagnetic signals. The microwave was crucial to their plan because it operated at a frequency that matched Wi-Fi signals, essentially blocking the device’s connection to local networks.

Since the AirPods were successfully tricked into thinking they were in San Francisco, the feature was unlocked. The boys then presented the AirPods to their grandparents, excited to see how easy the new technology was to use. Unlike traditional hearing aids, which required visits to an audiologist for adjustments, AirPods allowed them to adjust sound settings themselves in real time, making them more convenient and easier to use.

What started as a personal project soon caught the attention of others. After sharing their success online, the guys received numerous requests from people wanting help with their AirPods. To date, they’ve helped over 30 people unlock the hearing aid feature on their devices, and some have even visited their lab for assistance.

While Apple has yet to reach 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-based solutions in their laboratory, “Lagrange Point”. Their projects include water-cooled suits to help delivery workers fight heat waves 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 problem, but also helped many others, all while continuing to explore ways technology can improve everyday life.

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