Neil Hughes
Apple's AirPods lineup will gain several improvements later this year. This includes a new Conversation Boost feature to help people with mild hearing challenges. It also features integration with the Find My network to locate lost items and support for Spatial Audio on Apple TV in tvOS.
Announced at Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference on Monday, the new Conversation Boost feature for AirPods is designed to help people with mild hearing challenges engage in conversation. It leverages computational audio and beamforming microphones to make it easier to hear.
Apple also revealed that AirPods will work with the expanded Find My network, which includes AirTag. Using a secure Bluetooth beacon, AirPods will relay their location to Apple's network and back to the Find My app.
AirPods in Find My will have proximity view so that users will find their specific location more easily. And users can send a "chirp" to the headphones that will also help locate them, available when AirPods are in their case or without.
Another new feature is a separation alert, which will prompt users if they leave their AirPods somewhere.
AirPods will also gain support for Spatial Audio in tvOS, giving watchers a full surround sound experience without disturbing the rest of the house. With Spatial Audio on Apple TV, users will simulate Dolby Atmos on streaming content without an elaborate speaker setup.
Spatial Audio features are also coming to FaceTime with iOS 15, while Apple Music will support Dolby Atmos.
Finally, AirPods and iOS 15 will also announce notifications to users when their headphones are on. This will integrate with the new notification control and customization settings in iOS 15.
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William Gallagher
Christine McKee
AppleInsider Staff
Chip Loder
Malcolm Owen
3 Comments
Can’t wait to see how well FindMy works with AirPods Pro! But I think I’ll still keep my AirTag attached for redundancy
FindMy already works with the AirPods Pro. I can see mine right now are sitting at home in the app. They also have the "chirp" feature as well. Since they don't specifically say AirPod Pro in this article, I think it means the features are now coming to the "not pro" airpods. I think the spacial audio with tvOS and the announce notifications features are new to AirPod Pro's - it can already do spacial audio on an iPhone and announce messages.
Conversation Boost “sounds” like it’ll be a game changer for millions of folks. Hopefully it’s integrated with AppleWatch’s crown for dialing volume up/down, and/or background noise, without having to look away from person speaking.