There's a bit of setup you'll need to do, but once it's done, you can place your phone on a table closer to the person you're talking to and it will send audio to your AirPods.
On your iPhone go to Settings > Control Center > Customize Controls and tap on the green "+" symbol next to the Hearing option. Then, when you need to use the feature put in your AirPods and open Control Center on your iPhone and select the Hearing icon followed by Live Listen. Turn off the feature by repeating those final steps in Control Center. more