Apple’s future headphones might eliminate right-left ear problem

By working on new smart over-ear headphones, seems like Apple might be trying to rid us of the hurdles of fiddling with left and right headphones every time we put them.

A recently approved patent titled ‘System and method for automatic right-left ear detection for headphones’ showed that Apple might be in works of a ‘reversible’ pair of over-ear headphones that will automatically change left and right ears depending on how the user puts them.

Engadget reported that the patent showed that the headphones will have a cluster of five microphones in each ear cup. Once it is placed on the user’s head, the microphones will compare inputs to figure out which way the person is wearing the headphones.

Apple’s latest iOS 12.1 bug lets anyone access users’ contacts

Then, the system will automatically adjust how it’s distributing sound, making sure that the voice is going to the correct ear. In short, Apple is aiming to make it impossible to put headphones on backward.

Furthermore, the patent also hinted that the headphones will use its mic system to pull off the beamforming technique similar to how Apple’s smart speaker HomePod does. That system makes use of one microphone to capture the sound of a person’s voice, and a second one to cancel out background noise that would otherwise disrupt the conversation, wrote 9to5Mac.

However, just like other patents, it is not sure if the product will ever come to fruition.