A patent Apple recently filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) reveals potential future features of the AirPods. It aims to make the music more immersive and natural by taking into account the acoustic properties of the environment.
Headphones dynamically adjust various parameters to simulate an acoustic environment. Theoretically, using available sensors, microphones, and digital signal processing units, headsets should be able to recognize locations such as cars, trains, rooms, and offices.
The algorithm then adjusts the sound pressure, simulates the acoustics of the environment, and adjusts the acoustics of the source audio or video file. As you can see from the schematic, the spatial sound feature also plays an important role.
As with most patents, this one may or may not become an actual product, so time will tell.
via (in Chinese)
