AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation: Why isn’t anyone talking about the engineering miracle they are?

You’re probably reading this article with your phone in hand or your laptop on your coffee table. And Blood, sweat and tears Our engineers work tirelessly to bring you the buttery smooth products you love today.

Before it got into your hands, engineers were likely pulling their hair out, yelling profanities, and working furiously to solve mind-bending hardware challenges, but there was always that “Eureka!” moment that geniuses have. spark Light bulbs, we bring you ready-to-use gadgets that you can easily use today.

For example, I’ve spoken with engineers who are wrestling with the difficult challenge of balancing heat output from powerful components with portability, a recurring issue in devices like headsets, gaming laptops, and phones.

We spoke with two of the developers behind the new AirPods 4 and got a sneak peek into how the new earbuds, especially those with active noise cancellation, came to be.

First, a little background on the AirPods 4.

Apple recently announced the new AirPods 4 in two versions. Without it Active noise cancellation ($129) and Active Noise Cancellation ($179).

You might shrug and think, “So what? What’s the problem?”

Before the AirPods 4, if you wanted ANC functionality, you had to buy the more expensive AirPods Pro series earphones. The entry-level non-Pro AirPods series (which the AirPods 4 are based on) also offered great sound, but… zero Australian National Congress.

After all, the entry-level AirPods series has an open-ear design that makes ANC tricky to use: The AirPods Pro have silicone ear tips that seal the ear canal to facilitate the ANC tech, but the non-Pro AirPods don’t. But somehow, Apple managed to make it work with the AirPods 4.

I’ve tried them out on an airplane myself, and they’re pretty good. So the question remains: how did Apple do it? I decided to ask the AirPods team directly.

AirPods 4’s ANC was an issue

“There are an incredible number of factors that need to be balanced,” Eric Treschi, Apple’s director of product marketing for AirPods, told Mashable about the AirPods 4. “Battery size, which translates to battery life; sound quality, including noise cancellation.”

Needless to say, Treschi added, our ears are so sensitive that it’s difficult to fit all those internal components into a small form factor like the AirPods 4. Without it It provides comfort to the average user.

but, Genuine The challenge, according to Treski, was to ensure that the active noise cancellation didn’t affect the music you were listening to.

In other words, without getting too into the details, active noise cancellation works by the device “monitoring” outside noise and emitting inverted sound waves, or what Treski calls “anti-phase,” to neutralize or cancel out the outside noise.

Say you’re listening to “Espresso” by Sabrina Carpenter. The challenge is to make sure the anti-noise signal filters out the background noise without compromising the ambience of the song or reducing the sound quality.

But Treschi said the AirPods team was able to get around this issue using “algorithms and filtering” and the help of the H2 chip, the processor that the new AirPods 4 earbuds borrowed from the AirPods Pro series.

That’s not the only thing the AirPods 4 borrows from the Pro family.

“One of the microphones [the AirPods 4’s] “ANC comes from our ‘Pro’ products,” said Kate Bergeron, Apple’s vice president of hardware engineering, adding that the fourth-generation earbuds have high-quality microphones that are perfectly suited to the open-ear design.

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The AirPods 4 form factor means they leak more, for lack of a better word, than the AirPods Pro, so the H2 chip has to work harder to perform ANC than in the Pro models, but it still gets the job done.

“Without a really good microphone, you’re going to hear a low-noise hiss,” Treski added. “That’s why we have good microphones.”

The microphones that enable ANC monitor what you’re hearing 200 times per second, and a process called “adaptive EQ” immediately corrects any sound distortion caused by noise cancellation or other factors.

Having listened to “Espresso” a lot on my ANC-enabled AirPods 4, I can confirm that the H2 chip and microphones work as expected: sound quality is impeccable, and the ANC is great.

But ANC wasn’t the only hurdle Apple had to overcome.

Transparency mode is no easy task either

“Transparency seems so simple and straightforward,” Treski says. Unlike ANC, Transparency mode amplifies ambient sound around you, so you can hear the surroundings. that It’s difficult to implement, right?

Wrong!

“It’s very difficult because it has to sound natural,” Treski says, “and you have to take into account not only the noise in the environment, but also your own voice when you’re speaking.”

On top of that, Transparency Mode needs to perform this task flawlessly with extremely low latency, otherwise there will be a huge discrepancy between what you hear and what you see visually.

Despite these challenges, Apple has managed to tweak Transparency mode to seamlessly blend the sound coming through your AirPods with the sounds of your surroundings, resulting in a smooth flow between your voice and the sounds around you, creating a more natural experience that’s like you’re not wearing earphones at all.

How did Apple discover what’s best for the “majority”?

AirPods are a perfect fit for some people, but for others, like me, they aren’t.

I thought I was just one of those people with “unusual ears.” Bergeron assured me that’s not the case: “When you look at human ears, they’re completely different in every way, physiologically,” she said.

“We’re going to hear, ‘The Pro isn’t for me,’ or, ‘The AirPods 3 aren’t for me,'” Bergeron added. “We want to learn from the challenges people have.”

To educate itself, Apple conducted extensive research to find a shape for the AirPods 4 that “fits most people.”

As mentioned during Apple’s “Glowtime” keynote announcing the AirPods 4, Apple used advanced techniques including 3D photogrammetry and laser topography to analyze thousands of ear shapes, collecting more than 50 million data points to improve the earbud design.

“Using our own tools, we came up with a relatively efficient way of scanning people’s ears so that we could build up a database. [and continue to find the ‘best fit’] On an ongoing basis,” Bergeron said.

After I put the AirPods 4 in my ears, I was relieved to find that they didn’t fall out of my ear canals and fall out. Even when I shook my head vigorously from side to side, the AirPods 4 stayed in place, as if they were desperately holding on in a rainstorm.

What’s next for AirPods?

Out of curiosity, I asked what plans Apple has for the next generation of AirPods, including the AirPods 5 and AirPods Pro 3. As expected, an Apple representative declined to answer.

But Treski ended the interview with some thought-provoking comments.

“When you think about Apple Intelligence and Siri and how they’re becoming one, it just makes sense,” Treski said.

“And that’s really the journey we’re on, to continue to expand on that. And that’s why Siri Interactions is also a great opportunity to bring Apple Intelligence to the table.”

By the way, Siri interaction allows you to decline a call or text message, or respond to it by simply shaking your head to say “no” or “yes.” This is available on both AirPods 4 and AirPods 5. Without it ANC and and Australian National Congress.

The AirPods 4 lineup starts at $129 and is available for pre-order now, with the headphones expected to hit stores on September 20th.