Apple is studying how the future AirPods can allow specific spoken passwords, or your partner’s voice, to break through the noise cancellation settings. “Interruption for noise reduction audio devices” is a newly disclosed Apple patent application, which aims to solve this problem. Apple stated in the patent application that audio devices such as earphones and earplugs can include noise reduction function, in which the sound generated outside the audio device is detected and canceled by the audio device. In this way, it can provide a noise reduction environment for the wearer of the audio device and/or enhance the listening environment for the audio content generated by the audio device.
However, these noise reduction features of audio devices can prevent users from hearing unwanted external noise, but they can also prevent the wearer from hearing external sounds that the wearer may be eager to hear. For example, a user may want to be interrupted by one or more predefined contacts, or by a person who speaks a specified keyword to the user. These contacts are identified on the relevant electronic device as contacts who interrupt authorization.
The final effect is that AirPods will cut off the noise reduction so that you can hear the person you decide to allow to interrupt you. But this does not necessarily mean that AirPods itself must do all the processing to identify the person. Apple suggested that AirPods should at least do some processing to avoid false positives. The volume information collected by the headset or the arrival time difference information can be used as a factor to decide to give up noise reduction. Individual AirPods can be used to calculate the difference in arrival time, because each AirPods in a pair of AirPods receives external sound at a slightly different time. However, in most of Apple’s examples, it is recommended that this calculation also use the user’s iPhone.
