A future pair of AirPods, AirPods Pro, or AirPods Max could use advanced sensor technology to figure out the wearer's surroundings and then customise the audio they play based on that information.

That's based on work that Apple has been doing to try and give its headphones and earbuds more capabilities according to a patent published by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office recently.

More sensors? Sounds good to us!

The patent, under the number 20230104111 and first spotted by Patently Apple, suggests that Apple could not only apply the new sensor technology to the AirPods lineup but also its as-yet-unannounced AR/VR headset. That headset is thought to be called Reality Pro and could debut at the company's WWDC23 event on 5 June.

Apple's theory appears to be a simple and sound one (pardon the pun!) and could improve the way we hear everything from music to podcasts to games and beyond. That theory is that by being more aware of their surroundings, AirPods could be better equipped to make it sound like people are listening to audio that is actually there and in the room with them.

That could obviously be beneficial when listening to music, but there are other uses as well. Imagine listening to a podcast and it sounding like the hosts are in the room with you. The same could apply to things like online meetings and phone calls as well.

The new capabilities would likely be an expansion of the existing spatial audio function that many already enjoy today. Spatial audio is designed to better replicate the source material to help sounds appear to be coming from different locations in 3D space. This patent ratchets that up a notch by potentially making those sounds appear like they're in that same 3D space but based on the physical location a user happens to be listening in.

It remains to be seen how well that might work in the real world of course. And it's important to remember that Apple patents a lot of things that don't turn into shipping products or features. Just because this patent exists doesn't mean we'll get this kind of improved spatial audio, but it does at least mean that Apple has been looking into it for a future product.