Technologies

Headphone Conversation Awareness Mode: How It Works and Why You Need It

Taking off your headphones for a quick chat is practically Stone Age. Try conversation awareness mode to make things more seamless and truly hands-free.

Listening to your tunes, but your neighbor is feeling chatty? Ordering a latte but your hands are full so you can’t pause your podcast? Conversation detection, a feature on some headphones and earphones, can be a game-changer. Instead of removing your active noise-canceling earbuds or using your hands to pause the audio, this handy feature detects voices, pauses the audio and turns off the noise canceling.

That seamlessness between the cozy comfort of noise cancellation and the bustling real world is extremely helpful and easy to set up. There are, however, a few important things to note for the best experience with automatic conversation detection.

Most noise-canceling earbuds, including those from Bose and many other manufacturers, have a mode called Aware, Awareness or Transparency. This boosts ambient sound, often in the vocal frequency ranges. What I’m talking about here is a detection feature that makes switching to this mode automatic instead of having to manually select it.

You’ll generally see this feature on flagship headphones from Apple, Sony, Google and Samsung. Each one calls it something slightly different: Apple has Conversation Awareness, Samsung has Voice Detect, Google has Conversation Detection and Sony’s got Speak-to-Chat.

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How it works

Enable

Conversation modes are generally accessible in the settings for your headphone’s companion app. If your phone and headphones are both Apple or both Google, go into the phone’s settings and access this feature by tapping on your headphones. Always be sure to update all of your devices’ firmware. Apple iOS also provides access to Conversation Awareness via the Control Center that appears when you swipe down from the top of the screen.

Detect

The array of tiny microphones built into your earbuds or headphones for calls and noise canceling will detect your voice for an awareness mode. Many headphones have built-in accelerometers for features like head tracking and on-ear/head detection; these might also be used to pick up jaw movement to verify that it’s you speaking and not someone nearby.

Samsung has a separate but related Siren Detect feature that automatically turns on Transparency mode when a siren is detected, so you can hear what’s going on in an emergency. (Some brands do the opposite and crank up the ANC when a loud sound is detected.)

Auto-adjust audio

Once activated, awareness modes also either pause or lower the volume of whatever audio is currently playing. This behavior differs by brand. For example, Apple devices lower music audio but pause podcasts. Samsung, instead, lowers all audio, while Sony and Google devices both pause all audio. Ideally, you’d be able to choose the behavior, but currently that’s still rare. Apple adds Conversation Boost, which uses the mics and accelerometers to amplify the voice of the person you’re talking to via head tracking.

End chat and resume

Then, either through some technological wizardry or simply by sensing when you stop talking (adjustable on some brands, including Sony), the headphones detect that the conversation has ended and revert to the previous audio, at the same volume and in the same noise-cancellation mode. Many models are better than people at detecting the end of a conversation.

Any model with this feature will also let you toggle the conversation mode on/off manually with a long button press or similar action.

The fine print

Conversation detection is triggered by your voice, not someone else’s, so you may wind up asking people to repeat themselves when you notice they’re talking to you. This asking will trigger conversation mode. Depending on how a specific model’s detection works, it might require both earbuds to be in your ears for it to work.

Sometimes, conversation detection can be triggered inadvertently by coughing, singing along to music, or other random ambient sounds. It may also not work well in extremely noisy environments, such as construction sites and airplanes. Some models do let you adjust the sensitivity, which is something we’d like to see more of in firmware updates and future releases.

Frequent podcast or audiobook listeners should choose headphones that pause all audio for conversations, or at least handle it intelligently by distinguishing between audio types and pausing podcasts or audiobooks so you don’t miss anything. However, Apple and Samsung won’t pause videos from services like Netflix or YouTube; they just lower the audio.

As with all features that use sensors and mics, conversation detection will affect battery life to some degree, though it’s not a major drain.

The final verdict

Conversation detection modes aren’t for everyone, especially exuberant souls who talk to themselves at full volume, yell at the news or sing along with their tunes. If you reflexively take your earbuds out to talk to others, you also don’t need this feature — unless you want to change that habit.

In the future, I’d like to see more adjustability, but even how this feature is implemented in the current crop of headphones and earbuds, it’s an excellent upgrade to the seamlessness of digital life.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for April 8, #562

Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for April 8 No. 562.

Looking for the most recent regular Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Strands puzzles.

Today’s Connections: Sports Edition is a tough one. If you’re struggling with today’s puzzle but still want to solve it, read on for hints and the answers.

Connections: Sports Edition is published by The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by The Times. It doesn’t appear in the NYT Games app, but it does in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can play it for free online.

Read more: NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of Beta

Hints for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Working out.

Green group hint: Cover your face.

Blue group hint: NFL players.

Purple group hint: Leap.

Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Yellow group: Exercises in singular form.

Green group: Sporting jobs that require masks.

Blue group: Hall of Fame defensive ends.

Purple group: ____ jump.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections: Sports Edition answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is exercises in singular form. The four answers are crunch, plank, situp and squat.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is sporting jobs that require masks. The four answers are catcher, fencer, football player and goaltender.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is Hall of Fame defensive ends. The four answers are Dent, Peppers, Strahan and Youngblood.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is ____ jump. The four answers are broad, high, long and triple.

Technologies

The $135M Google Data Settlement Site Is Live — See If You’re Eligible

Use the settlement website to select your preferred payment method, and you may end up $100 richer.

You can now file a claim in the $135 million Google data settlement. The case centers on claims that Android devices transmitted user data without consent. Specifically, the class action lawsuit Taylor v. Google LLC contends that Google’s Android devices passively transferred cellular data to Google without user permission, even when the devices were idle. While not admitting fault, Google reached a preliminary settlement in January, agreeing to pay $135 million to about 100 million US Android phone users.

The official settlement website for the lawsuit is now live. The final approval hearing won’t occur until June 23, when the court will consider whether Google’s settlement is fair and listen to objections. After that, the court will decide whether to approve the $135 million settlement.

In the meantime, if you qualify and want to be paid as part of the settlement, you can select your preferred payment method on the official website. There, you can find information on speaking at the June 23 court hearing and on how to exclude yourself or write to the court to object by May 29.

As part of the settlement, Google will update its Google Play terms of service to clarify that certain data transfers do occur passively even when you’re not using your Android device, and that cellular data may be relied upon when not connected to Wi-Fi. This can’t always be disabled, but users will be asked to consent to it when setting up their device.

Google will also fully stop collecting data when its «allow background data usage» option is toggled off.

Who can be part of the settlement?

In order to join the Taylor v. Google LLC settlement, you must meet four qualifications:

Be a living, individual human being in the US.
Have used an Android mobile device with a cellular data plan.
Have used the aforementioned device at any time from Nov. 12, 2017, to the date when the settlement receives final approval.
You’re not a class member in the Csupo v. Google LLC lawsuit, which is similar but specifically for California residents.

The final approval hearing is on June 23, so you can add your payment method until then. The hearing’s date and time may change, and any updates will be posted on the settlement website.

If you choose to do nothing, you will still be issued a settlement payment, but you may not receive it if you don’t select a payment method.

How much will I get paid?

It’s not currently known exactly how much each settlement class member will receive, but the cap is $100. Payments will be distributed after final court approval and after any appeals are resolved.

After all administrative, tax and attorney costs are paid, the settlement administrator will attempt to pay each member an equal amount. If any funds remain after payments are sent, and it’s economically feasible, they will be redistributed to members who were previously and successfully paid. If it’s not economically feasible, the funds will go to an organization approved by the court.

Technologies

Samsung’s Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 Might Come in 5G and 4G Cellular Models

If the rumor proves true, the 5G Galaxy Watch Ultra would rival the 5G-enabled $799 Apple Watch Ultra 3 that debuted last fall.

Samsung’s next high-end Galaxy Watch could support faster 5G speeds, but if this leak is true, it will depend on where you live. The rumored Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 might come in 5G and 4G cellular models, with availability for each smartwatch depending on the country.

According to the Dutch website Galaxy Club (and spotted by SamMobile), Samsung’s servers may have revealed a series of model numbers that point to 5G, 4G and Wi-Fi-enabled editions of the next Galaxy Watch Ultra, which would succeed the original model that debuted in 2024.

A representative for Samsung did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Galaxy Club website speculates that the 5G edition would be sold in the US and Korean markets, while the 4G edition would sell in the rest of the world. In the US, a 5G version of the Galaxy Watch Ultra would rival the 5G-enabled $799 Apple Watch Ultra 3, which debuted last fall. The 4G edition would have broader compatibility worldwide, since the earlier network is far more established.

It will likely be a few months until we hear anything official about the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2. Samsung typically unveils its new watches in the summer alongside its Galaxy Z Fold and Z Flip foldable phones. Last year, Samsung unveiled the Galaxy Watch 8 and the Galaxy Watch 8 Classic, but otherwise left the prior 2024 Ultra in the lineup for those looking for a larger 47mm smartwatch.