If a few days ago we learned about a patent that points to the future AirPods with an interactive screen in the case, today we look again at a patent, this time detected by ITHome (in Chinese), which points to another function that in Finally incorporated into the headphones can mean a huge improvement in the experience of listening to music with them, as it constantly adapts to the environment in which they are used.

As a general rule for this purpose we already have classic equalization function, with which, if we wish, we can use different profiles to adapt to different environments, in each case amplifying those frequencies that we believe need to resonate more strongly than others. However, the iPhone’s capabilities are somewhat limited in this regard, as iOS only offers you a list of settings, not allowing you to create custom profiles (something I’ve never really understood).

Yes, there are iPhone apps that integrate their own equalizer, some of them are very complete. Of course, not compatible with Apple Music or Apple Music Classical, as well as offline modes of other services. In short, the possibilities are limited and for that reason we cannot always find an equalization setting that suits the environment in which we listen to the music properly, which can spoil the experience as a result.

This can be substantially improved if Apple finally decides to use the technology covered by this patent and subsequently for AirPods to recognize the environment and adapt the playback parameters to it. The headphones appear to use microphones to do this, possibly in conjunction with other sensors and possibly with data obtained from the iPhone. This information is used to try to identify the acoustic properties of the environment and with this information the final signal is rendered by the headphones, offering a fully tailored surround sound output.

The combination of ambient sound and the use of surround sound sounds (never better said) wonderful, so while we’re talking about a patent that may end up in a drawer, it could be exactly the type of technology that Apple usually touts, and that could become a sensational claim to attract more users. And yes, indeed, I mean above all possibilities of combining this technology with Apple Music Classicalbecause this could be an argument in favor of using AirPods to listen to classical music.