Apple Patent Hints at 'Bone Conduction' Headphones

Apple Researching on Bone Conduction Technology

Patent awarded to Apple recently indicates that the company has been researching on the use of bone conduction technology in enhancing voice call quality in its EarPod headphones. The US Patent portrayed a diagram specifying a pair of wired earbuds having an internal accelerometer that tends to distinguish between the voice of the user and ambient noise by just sensing the vibrations in the bone structure of the user.

The technology is said to be in contrast to prevailing bone conduction headphones like the AfterShokz Bluez which seem to transmit sound through cheekbones so one hears the music rattling around in the head. Apple has also been awarded another patent for a `liquid resistant acoustic device’ with a mesh umbrella which could possibly produce a waterproof speaker port for forthcoming devices.

An identical component tends to exist in the Apple Watch. A patent has developed portraying that Apple is considering experimenting with waterproofing features for a forthcoming iPhone build and a second patent could lead to EarPods that tend to have the prospective of noise-cancelling through an integrated accelerometer and a bone conduction procedure.

Patent – Liquid Resistant Acoustic Device

The patent for liquid resistant acoustic device tends to define how a standard headphone jack could comprise of an `umbrella section’ in the prevention of internal damage to a device. Being filed way back in July 2014, the protective measure seems to sound comparable to the O-ring of Apple Watch, in its speaker unit that provides an IPX7 rating for the Watch. Many reports have recommended that the Cupertino Company has been considering water-proofing its 2017 iPhone duplication and the invention defined in the patent could become a part of the construction of the forthcoming iPhone or iPad.

 Though there seems to be many discrepancies on the invention, the solution grips on improving the standard protective mesh layer found in most headphone ports with an `umbrella’ so that probable damage to the internal acoustic device components or to the mesh can be alleviated. Still interesting is another patent that had been filed in March 2013 which tends to define hands-free headphone system centred on an internal accelerometer that has been designed to enhance recorded sound quality.

Accelerometer Retained in Earbud – Utilised in Detecting Vibration of Vocal Chords

The patent which had been spotted by source that  had stated that an accelerometer which has been retained inside an earbud could be utilised in detecting vibration of the vocal chords of the user based on vibration in bones as well as the tissues of the head of the user. This with the aid of an on-wire microphone tends to filter out non-vocal acoustics for the receiver.

A single variant also records the probable use of an inertial sensor as against an accelerometer though most of the listed versions seem to aim on separating `voiced speech as well as unvoiced speech, with the previous being familiar and improved by bone construction.

Irrespective of seeing a `bone conducting’ set of EarPods hitting the market anyone who seem to have been on the receiving end of a inaudible,, distorted hands-free conversation could find some peace in the fact that improvement seems to be at least reflected upon for hand-free quality call.