According to some rumors, Apple's over-ear headphones are as smart as the HomePod – BGR

Apple's HomePod has not yet dominated the industry in the same way as its phones and tablets, but the underlying technology that powers the smart speaker is unmistakably impressive. Therefore, it is not surprising that the company is considering using the same beamforming technology (which allows the speakers to automatically adjust to the size and shape of the room) in its next in-ear headphones. -auriculaires.

In a new Apple patent released this week (via 9to5Mac), the company describes two potential uses of beamforming in its helmet, the first of which would make the helmet reversible by automatically detecting which flag is placed on which ear. Apple describes how it would work technically in his patent:

Embodiments of the invention generally relate to a system and method for automatically detecting the right-to-left ear for headphones. Specifically, in one embodiment, the headset includes two identical earpieces and includes at least three microphones for capturing acoustic signals. In another embodiment, each of the atria may be coupled to an atrium detector that receives the microphone signals from at least one of the atria and determines which of the atria is worn on the right ear of the user.

The other possible use case would be to let the headset understand when you are in communication and automatically block the background noise with a process called "voice beam training" that responds to the user's mouth :

[A] processor […] can be used to form a vocal tract to the user's mouth in order to capture the user's speech and form a sound beam away from the user's mouth to capture the noise of the environment.

Rumors that rumors about Apple's in-ear headphones began to appear earlier this year have been confirmed by a Bloomberg report in July. The helmet should be launched in 2019.

Image source: AP / REX / Shutterstock