# Galaxy Buds hearing aid feature reaches South Korea early next year

Source: https://idevice.com/galaxy-buds-hearing-aid-feature-reaches-south-korea-early-next-year
Published: 2026-11-04

> South Korea has approved the hearing test and hearing aid on the Galaxy Buds 4 Pro and Buds 3 Pro. They arrive there by software update early next year, and Samsung plans the US release this quarter.

Galaxy Buds owners in South Korea are getting a hearing test and a hearing aid built into their earbuds early next year. Samsung has medical device approval for both features from South Korea's Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, [per SammyGuru](https://sammyguru.com/samsung-secures-another-regulatory-approval-galaxy-buds-hearing-aid/), and they'll arrive on the [Galaxy Buds 4 Pro](https://idevice.com/earbuds/samsung-galaxy-buds-pro/roadmap/buds-4-pro) and Buds 3 Pro through software updates.

Photo: [Samsung](https://sammyguru.com/samsung-secures-another-regulatory-approval-galaxy-buds-hearing-aid/)

It's the second big approval for these features. The FDA cleared them over the summer, and Samsung plans to release them on the same two earbuds in the US in the fourth quarter of 2026. So American owners may well get them first, even though South Korea is Samsung's home market.

There's no separate app to learn. You open your phone's settings and go to the Galaxy Buds menu. The test checks each ear on its own with pure tones, a clinical-grade method, and then builds an audiogram, the chart of what each ear can hear. Samsung sorts the result into seven levels, from normal to very severe, and tells you what to do next based on where you land. It's registered as digital medical device software.

The hearing aid depends on that test. It takes your audiogram and turns up the sounds you have trouble hearing, using NAL-NL2, a clinical formula used as a standard around the world. It's meant for adults 18 and older with suspected mild to moderate hearing loss. You adjust the sound yourself, without an audiologist. The Samsung Health app shows your test results and how much noise you've been exposed to.

Samsung has been working toward this since 2020, when the Galaxy Buds+ got personal sound amplification. Regulators in two countries have now signed off on the medical version.

Only two models are named. The Galaxy Buds 4 Pro and Buds 3 Pro get these features, and the open-fit [Galaxy Buds On](https://idevice.com/earbuds/samsung-galaxy-buds-on/roadmap), which goes on sale in the US on November 6 for $229, isn't on the list.

If you already own either Pro model, you don't need to buy anything. Watch for a software update, this quarter in the US and early next year in South Korea. If you're shopping for earbuds partly because of your hearing, choose one of those two models over the Buds On.

## Sources

- [SammyGuru](https://sammyguru.com/samsung-secures-another-regulatory-approval-galaxy-buds-hearing-aid/) (SammyGuru)