AirPods Pro 2 Gaining 'Adaptive Audio' Feature That Dynamically Adjusts to Your Environment

[MacRumors]

Apple today announced three new features coming to AirPods Pro 2 in the fall: Adaptive Audio, Personalized Volume, and Conversation Awareness. Additionally, the entire AirPods lineup is gaining new and improved features to make calls and Automatic Switching easier to use.

Starting with Adaptive Audio, this feature dynamically blends Transparency mode and Active Noise Cancellation together to deliver the best audio experience in the moment. Apple says that it can tailor the noise control while you move through your environment.

This way, loud or distracting noises surrounding you will be automatically reduced, while other noises will still be audible. Apple gave the example of leaf blowers getting reduced but sudden traffic noises coming through on the user's AirPods.

Similar to Adaptive Audio, Personalized Volume uses machine learning to fine-tune your listening experience by understanding environmental conditions and listening preferences.

There's also a new Conversation Awareness feature that will lower your music and focus on voices around you when you start talking. Adaptive audio helps when you're on a call as well, reducing noise around you while you speak.

For all models of AirPods, Apple is making it easier and faster to move between your Apple devices with updates to Automatic Switching. Additionally, a new mute and unmute feature is coming to AirPods 3, AirPods Pro, and AirPods Max that allows you to quickly mute/unmute yourself by pressing the stem, or Digital Crown on AirPods Max.

Article Link: AirPods Pro 2 Gaining 'Adaptive Audio' Feature That Dynamically Adjusts to Your Environment

 

[dapa0s]

So what models get this?

 

[macfiendyo]

Loving this announcement out of everything.

 

[Zeke92]

This was already suppposed to be a feature.

 

[klasma]

Only on the Pros?

 

[HiRez]

Do these work with Gen 1 AirPods Pro?

 

[kalieaire]

I hope this works better than the current setup w/ transparency engaged. You'll actually get hearing damage at concerts since it can't attenuate audio in this mode.

Noise Cancelling mode works fine though.

A combination of the two would be ideal, though at the same time, I understand that there are some limitations in terms of form factor, audio processing capability, and battery density esp since airpods are considered disposable.

 

[0xjf]

This was already suppposed to be a feature.

Not quite. The feature you're thinking of was to suppress loud sounds while in transparency mode.

 

[oofio2461]

AirPod OS is a thing now? Why didn't they add this from the start? I'm guessing the Pros will only get this because of Noise cancellation.

 

[Benz63amg]

Is this going to be available on the regular non-pro AirPods as well?

 

[iFunk]

👍🏽👍🏽

 

[Devnul0]

As long as regular full noise cancellation is still an option. Last thing I want is their "AI" deciding that the noises I'm trying to silence are the ones it's going to pass through.

 

[pelegri]

Last thing I want is their "AI" deciding that the noises I'm trying to silence are the ones it's going to pass through.

Hearing aids make this type of decisions all the time. (So do our brains, but our brains are really smart )

I recently had to use my AirPods Pro as hearing aids while my normal ones were serviced. You can upload your audiogram to adjust different frequencies and boost the gain. They did fairly well as hearing aids except for background noise - this feature should help on that. And battery life, much shorter than a hearing aid.

 

[pelegri]

This is very good. One more step towards having an AirPod useful as a hearing aid.

 

[Devnul0]

Hearing aids make this type of decisions all the time. (So do our brains, but our brains are really smart )

I recently had to use my AirPods Pro as hearing aids while my normal ones were serviced. You can upload your audiogram to adjust different frequencies and boost the gain. They did fairly well as hearing aids except for background noise - this feature should help on that. And battery life, much shorter than a hearing aid.

Oh, sure! I'm not denigrating the feature at all, I just want to make sure it's possible to still use traditional ANC that's not going to decide, in a noisy environment where I'm wearing them in order to enjoy quiet, to suddenly start letting certain sounds through that it thinks are "important".

 

[FelixDerKater]

Many thanks to Sony for developing this.

 

[Mousse]

This way, loud or distracting noises surrounding you will be automatically reduced, while other noises will still be audible. Apple gave the example of leaf blowers getting reduced but sudden traffic noises coming through on the user's AirPods.

I need this for watching movies.

 

[GigabitEthernet]

How many times have they tried to make automatic switching work now?

 

[_Spinn_]

This will be great if it works as well as advertised.

 

[DavidLeblond]

The stem mute/unmute feature makes sense, I don't know why it didn't do that already. What I want is for the ability to map pressing the stem to pressing the enter key on Apple TV when using the Air Pods to watch TV that way I can skip ads/intros/whatever without having to fish for my remote.

 

[xxray]

This might be the exciting feature announced today for me. This will be so useful every single day. I’m so glad to hear automatic switching will be improved too.

Edit: Just realized this is only for the Pro 2 models, not the original Pros or Max. Well, got excited for nothing. Great.

 

[Razorpit]

I need this for watching movies.

They need something like this for text. Why does Apple choose the smallest font for all their text boxes? 50 inch tv and 3 paragraphs are smashed in to 3% of screen real-estate.

 

[developer13245]

Paid actors really do a lousy job blowing leaves.

 

[hybra]

Paid actors really do a lousy job blowing leaves.

Because they're there just to make noises

 

[name99]

I need this for watching movies.

Just FYI Apple TV has a companding option:

Change audio settings on Apple TV

On Apple TV, you can adjust audio settings to reduce loudness, enhance dialogue, send audio to other speakers, and more.

support.apple.com

Look for the "Watch Apple TV without disturbing others" section.

A decent speaker system (ie some sort of soundbar probably also has this sort of option, for example my LG soundbar does) but it's often difficult to find in their terribly design on-screen menus or app...