Forgotten functionality really takes your AirPods to the next level

Apple’s AirPods have an arsenal of nice functionalities. One slightly more famous than the other, but all equally valuable. OMT editor Jeroen Kraak thinks he has found a gem and shares it with love.

The second-generation AirPods Pro have been on the market for some time and are a lot of fun for us at the editors. Partly thanks to the impressive sound quality and good noise reduction, we can hardly do without it. Although we must admit that the latter does have a disadvantage.

The ideal feature for AirPods with noise cancelling

Thanks to the noise reduction of your AirPods, you hardly hear anything around you anymore. This is especially the case with the Max and the Pro 2. However, the latter does have a transparency mode, so you can hear conversations around you, but of course you don’t always have that on when you’re concentrated at work or enjoying your music.

The noise reduction of the AirPods is so good that you really shut yourself off completely from the world around you. The Max headphones and the second-generation Pro are particularly strong in that area. It has its pros and cons of course.

The latter is especially the case as soon as you do not receive certain sounds, while you actually want to. The transparency mode offers the solution in this case, but does not do its job automatically by default. Fortunately, I have now found a convenient setting for that.

The setting in question is called sound recognition and is actually specifically intended for hearing impaired users. Nevertheless, you can also use it if you want to capture certain sounds with your AirPods.

How does it work?

To use it, first go to Institutions and then to Accessibility. There you scroll down to the heading To belong. Then you will find the function Sound Recognition.

When you are in that menu, you have to check the option first and your iPhone will install the feature.

Now when you press sounds, you will see a whole list of all kinds of sounds that the feature supports. For example, you can set which sounds your iPhone should warn you about, which is very handy. If you have your AirPods on, you will simply hear these warnings.

These can be alarms, but also a dog or cat. You will even receive a notification if you hear a crying baby or a knock on a door. Ideal if you walk in your own home with noise reduction on. So you know what is happening around you. If you want quick access to this, add the option to it Control panel.