Apple AirPods Firmware To Be Updated: What Are Adaptive Audio, Personalized Volume, and Conversation Awareness?

Apple made a lot of announcements at the WWDC23 event. Hidden among them, was a gem about AirPods. These premium TWS (True Wireless) earbuds will soon be updated and gain features such as Adaptive Audio, Personalized Volume, and Conversation Awareness.

AirPods, Apple's flagship earbuds will gain powerful new capabilities to transform the personal audio experience, claimed Apple. With AirPods Pro (2nd generation) it will become easier to use across environments and interactions. Let's check out the new features and functions of the Apple AirPods.

Apple has developed a new feature called Adaptive Audio, which promises to balance Transparency Mode And Active Noise Cancellation (ANC). Needless to say, these features contradict each other.

The Adaptive Audio feature is a new listening mode that balances the aforementioned feature based on the conditions of a user's environment. Essentially, the feature will control the noise control experience while users move between environments and interactions that are constantly changing throughout the day.

Similarly, Personalized Volume will try to understand environmental conditions and listening preferences over time to automatically fine-tune the media experience. It uses machine learning to detect environments and tune the Apple AirPods for optimal listening experience.

People wearing TWS earbuds with ANC often have difficulty being aware of someone speaking to them. To address this common issue Apple has introduced Conversation Awareness.

As the name indicates, Conversation Awareness will lower the volume and enhance the voices in front of the user, all while reducing background noise. This should help AirPods users to better listen to people without taking their earbuds out, and return to the content they were listening to seamlessly.

Apple has added a new Mute or Unmute feature across all the generations of AirPods. Users can press the stem (Digital Crown on AirPods Max) to mute or unmute themselves quickly. This makes multitasking simpler, quicker, and more efficient.

Apple has promised updates to the Automatic Switching feature. It will reduce the connection time between a user's Apple devices and enhance the reliability of the connection for an uninterrupted audio experience. All the new AirPods features will be available as a free firmware update, confirmed Apple.