At IFA 2020 today, Qualcomm has announced a brand new adaptive active noise canceling technology aimed at earbuds that offer integrated ANC features. The technology aims at improving how well active noise cancelation works in earphones. It does this by adjusting ANC in real-time based on factors like the fit of the earbuds in the user’s ears, as well as environmental factors such as ambient sound.
That means the technology will not only automatically make Active Noise Cancelation better on earphones that use the new Bluetooth Audio SoC, but it will also automatically adjust it as you’re using it. For example, when you’re sitting on your desk, and when you get up and walk around, the movement can cause changes to how the earphones fit your ears. With Qualcomm’s new tech, ANC will automatically adjust to even such changes in real-time.
If you’ve used a pair of in-ear earbuds with active noise cancelation, chances are you’ve gone through the sound test, fit test, and other similar tests that the earbuds recommend you go through before starting to use them. Most of these are aimed at ensuring that the eartips you’re using make a firm seal in your ear — a requirement for good active noise cancelation.
Qualcomm wants to get rid of all that. With its new Adaptive ANC tech, the company claims users will no longer need to perform fit tests and sound tests on their earbuds, or try out different eartips to get a better seal. Moreover, Adaptive ANC will automatically decrease in intensity when you’re in low noise environments and ramp up when the ambient noise increases. All on it’s own without the user needing to adjust noise canceling levels or anything of the sort.
The new technology is available on Qualcomm’s latest Bluetooth Audio SoC — QCC514x. However, the company hasn’t shed any light on when we can expect to see consumer-facing products using the new SoC. Hopefully that happens soon.
