Apple patents a technology for audio in VR headsets

Apple has obtained a patent for a technology that improves theSpatial Audio, not just for AirPods Pro but also for the VR viewer which could launch this year. This should allow for better immersion in the metaverse or any augmented or mixed reality experience.

Apple patents a technology for Space Audio also for a VR headset

According to Patently Apple reports, the Cupertino company has obtained a patent that could prove to be fundamental for theThe AR and VR headset that Apple is expected to launch this year. In fact, the technology described allows to transmit the audio to the headphones both by means of an optical signal and a radio frequency.

Recently Apple’s VP of Acoustics Gary Geaves he explained that: “wireless technology is fundamental for the type of audio content we are talking about. But also for the level of latency when you move your head. If it’s too much, when you move your head versus standing still, it might make you sick. So we’re focusing a lot on squeezing the best performance out of Bluetooth technology. And there are several tricks for maximizing and bypassing the limits of Bluetooth. But it seems fair to say that there would like more bandwidth and … I stop there “.

Credit: Patently Apple

So the possibility of switching from Bluetooth to radio waves could guarantee a better spatial audio sensation, especially in view of the arrival of an AR viewer, as shown in the drawings accompanying the patent. In fact, technology allows broadcast both ways, depending on whether it is more effective to transmit compressed data packets or not. The system would automatically choose which transmission guarantees less latency for that particular sonic interaction.

This allows for a potentially better and more immediate feeling of spatial audio. Something that becomes interesting especially with a VR viewer, as demonstrated by the same illustrations presented by Apple.

The novelty could come with both the new model of AirPods Pro that Apple is expected to launch in the second half of 2022, which with a possible AR / VR viewer. Which it seems that Apple wants to launch in 2022 but could also arrive in 2023 due to problems related to the supply chain. Either way, Apple wants to change music, forever.