The Apple AirPods Pro 2 could be controlled by clicking your teeth
The AirPods Pro 2 could be more futuristic than we thought
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TheApple AirPods Pro 2could come with unusual controls, the likes of which we’ve never seen before, like the ability to adjust your music playback by touching your face, shaking your head, and even clicking your teeth together.
These futuristic-sounding controls were described in a patent filed byApple, which was discovered byPatently Apple.
The patent describes earbuds that are designed to detect input actions within a structure, with examples of these structures including the inside of your ear canal, your head, or any body part.
As Patently Apple puts it, “the user may contact an exterior surface of their body, such as the skin on his or her face”, with further examples of input actions including “a user clicking [their] teeth together or clicking [their] tongue”, as well as shaking their head or moving their arms up and down. Pretty weird.
Futuristic buds
The possible ways to control theearbudsdon’t stop there. The patent also describes input actions from producing vocal sounds and subvocalizations (vocal sounds that are below the threshold of human hearing).
These input actions aren’t limited to interactions with the user’s own body, either. Thewireless earbudscould also be controlled by the user contacting another object, such as tapping a table, or even squeezing thearmof another person (though we wouldn’t advise doing the latter with a stranger on your commute).
This isn’t the first time that Apple has looked into unconventional methods for controlling itstrue wireless earbuds.
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In August, Apple was awarded a patent that describes theability to control true wireless earbuds with futuristic ‘in-air gestures’.
These game-changing features could feasibly come to the rumored Apple AirPods Pro 2, the follow-up to the tech giant’s popular noise-cancelling wireless earbuds.
Industry analyst Ming-Chi Kuo – who has been proven right in the past – has predicted that a new version of theAirPods Prowill arrive in 2022, following a new version of the2019 AirPods, the so-calledApple AirPods 3.
It’s important to remember that patents are no guarantee that the technology described within will ever come to light – and Apple’s use of physical controls on the over-earAirPods Maxsuggests that the company isn’t completely sold on the efficacy of more futuristic control methods.
Olivia was previously TechRadar’s Senior Editor - Home Entertainment, covering everything from headphones to TVs. Based in London, she’s a popular music graduate who worked in the music industry before finding her calling in journalism. She’s previously been interviewed on BBC Radio 5 Live on the subject of multi-room audio, chaired panel discussions on diversity in music festival lineups, and her bylines include T3, Stereoboard, What to Watch, Top Ten Reviews, Creative Bloq, and Croco Magazine. Olivia now has a career in PR.
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