Apple has an idea to improve its EarPod headphones that come with the iPhone.
A patent discovered by Apple Insider on Thursday shows a wireless Apple EarPod with noise-canceling technology that will help you listen to music and phone calls more clearly in noisy environments, as well as bone-conduction technology that will help others hear you better when you use the EarPods for a phone call.
Bone conduction technology picks up the vibrations from your vocal chords by way of the accelerometers shown in the patent diagram. That means that people you call while you're wearing the EarPods would hear your voice and your voice alone, as the accelerometers wouldn't pick up external noises, even in a noisy street.
It could also help Siri understand your commands a little better, as any external noise picked up by a conventional microphone can muddle your voice to a voice detection system.
Even an air conditioner's hum could affect Siri's ability to understand you.
The noise-canceling technology would also help you hear the other person more clearly as it'll cancel out external noises.
But don't hold your breath, as Apple files several exciting patents every year, and many of them never see the light of day in a finished product.
If Apple does release EarPods with these features, all that technology could be a little too expensive to include with a new iPhone, so they might be sold separately from the Apple Store like it does with the In-Ear EarPods.
