How to Improve AirPods Sound?

I’ve never had any complaints with the sound quality, although many say it falls far short of the norm. But it turns out that it can be improved. And this is done according to the characteristics of your hearing. Let’s see how.

Audiogram for AirPods

In order to determine the susceptibility of your hearing to the loudness of sound at different frequencies, you need to do an individual audiogram. It is with the help of this that it will be possible to understand the sound image of your world. Simply put, when compiling an audiogram, sounds will be played at different frequencies and at different volumes. And you have to note whether you hear them or not.

Unfortunately, the audiogram cannot be applied to all headphones. The full list looks like this:

• AirPods Max.
• AirPods Pro.
• AirPods (2nd generation).
• AirPods (3rd generation).
• Headsets.
• Powerbeat Pro.
• Beats Solo Pro.
• Sennheiser HDA 200.
• Sennheiser HDA300.

If your headphones are on this list, you can proceed to the next step. You must select an application to compile an audiogram. Many advise using the program Mimi hearing test but I didn’t like it. I suggest you use an app called Hearing test. It is quite easy to use and allows you to create a high-quality audiogram in minutes.

• • Download the HearingTest app from the App Store.
  • Connect your earphones to your smartphone and find a quiet place without extraneous noise.
  • If you have AirPods ProI advise you to also activate the noise reduction.

• • Launch the app and allow it to access the microphone and record audiograms in the health app.

• • Select age and gender.
  • Set the volume to 100%.
  • Start listening to sounds at different frequencies and at different volumes and notice whether you hear them or not.

• After listening to eight different sounds, the app will trace each ear and save the audiogram to the Health app.

Keep in mind that an audiogram recorded on a smartphone is not a diagnosis. An iPhone paired with headphones is not professional equipment. If there are any deviations during the recording, you should consult a doctor.

Sound Settings – AirPods

After these steps, you should reconfigure the headphones to reproduce the sound according to your hearing. For that, proceed as follows:

• • Open Settings.
  • Go to the “Universal access” section.
  • Select “Audio visualization”.

• • Click on “Helmet adaptation” and activate it.
  • In this section, open the “Custom audio setting” item and follow the on-screen instructions.
  • On the corresponding page, select a recently recorded audiogram.

• If you’re using AirPods Pro or Max, you’ll have a transparency mode setting where you can adjust it to such a level that you won’t even notice you’re wearing headphones.
• Click “Done” and you can start listening to your favorite music.

After following all these steps, AirPods Pro opened for me in a completely different way. The sound became much deeper and there was a feeling of total immersion. To say that I was very surprised is to say nothing. It seemed to me that the potential of these headphones was already completely exhausted. Turns out I was completely wrong.

It is very interesting to hear how after such settings they will sound AirPods 2 or 3. These headphones don’t have active noise cancellation and they need a lot more sort of pumping. The audiogram probably won’t help much. AirPods Max. The sound in them and without it is at a fairly high level. In addition, they are not plugs, but large aerial “ears” which, even without these settings, immerse the user in the music much more than the classic TWS.

To iOS16 Apple, in addition to this feature, has also added custom spatial audio. We talked about this in a separate article. If you combine sound tuning using an audiogram with this innovation, you will get an absolutely amazing result.