A future pair of AirPods, AirPods Pro, or AirPods Max might use superior sensor expertise to determine the wearer’s environment after which customise the audio they play based mostly on that data.
That is based mostly on work that Apple has been doing to try to give its headphones and earbuds extra capabilities in line with a patent printed by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Workplace not too long ago.
Extra sensors? Sounds good to us!
The patent, beneath the quantity 20230104111 and first noticed by Patently Apple, means that Apple couldn’t solely apply the brand new sensor expertise to the AirPods lineup but additionally its as-yet-unannounced AR/VR headset. That headset is regarded as referred to as Reality Pro and will debut on the firm’s WWDC23 occasion on 5 June.
Apple’s principle seems to be a easy and sound one (pardon the pun!) and will enhance the way in which we hear every little thing from music to podcasts to video games and past. That principle is that by being extra conscious of their environment, AirPods may very well be higher geared up to make it sound like persons are listening to audio that’s truly there and within the room with them.
That might clearly be helpful when listening to music, however there are different makes use of as effectively. Think about listening to a podcast and it sounding just like the hosts are within the room with you. The identical might apply to issues like on-line conferences and cellphone calls as effectively.
The brand new capabilities would possible be an growth of the prevailing spatial audio perform that many already get pleasure from as we speak. Spatial audio is designed to higher replicate the supply materials to assist sounds look like coming from totally different areas in 3D area. This patent ratchets that up a notch by doubtlessly making these sounds seem like they’re in that very same 3D area however based mostly on the bodily location a person occurs to be listening in.
It stays to be seen how effectively that may work in the actual world in fact. And it is vital to do not forget that Apple patents a whole lot of issues that do not flip into transport merchandise or options. Simply because this patent exists doesn’t suggest we’ll get this sort of improved spatial audio, nevertheless it does at the very least imply that Apple has been wanting into it for a future product.
