AirPods may automatically adjust audio based on the ear tips you’re using, a new patent suggests

Don’t you just hate it when you change the ear tips on your AirPods and the music suddenly starts to sound horrible. All your fine-tuned EQ settings are no longer relevant, and you have to start all over again. It may seem like a far-fetched scenario, people rarely change cushions or tips on their headphones or earphones, but Apple is still concerned about the matter.

According to the latest patent, titled “Identification of Cushioning Members in Personal Audio Devices,” Apple wants AirPods and AirPods Max devices to be able to identify the different earbud tips or over-the-ear headphone cushions and adjust the audio accordingly.

"For example, an equalizer setting can be selected or modified based on the identification data," reads an excerpt of the patent application. "Hearing-protection settings can be modified, including, e.g., limiting the speaker volume of the earpiece, modifying an active noise cancellation profile for the earpiece, and so on."

How is this identification going to work? The patent mentions a tag system for different earbud tips and headphone cushions. A special tag sensor on the device would be able to read these tags and change the audio settings of the headphones.

"When the cushioning member is attached to the earpiece, the identification tag is brought into proximity with a tag sensor in the earpiece and the earpiece can read the identification tag to determine identification data for the cushioning member."

Apple is searching for different ways to make these tags passive, in other words, that they don’t require power. A possible solution would be to use passive NFC tags or some kind of miniature RFID tags.