If you’ve spent time shopping for earbuds or headphones during the past several years, you’ve probably seen that many brands advertise a feature called transparency mode. First popularized by Apple’s AirPods Pro, today you’ll see it advertised by brands including Bose, Sony, Samsung, and more. To the uninitiated, the words “transparency mode” can seem a bit opaque. What exactly is transparency mode? What has it got to do with audio playback? Moreover, what makes it so useful that every brand now feels the need to advertise it?
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Simply put, transparency mode allows you to hear what’s going on around you, even when you’ve got your headphones on or your earbuds in. It uses microphones on the earbuds or headphones to pick up the noises around you and pipe them into the earpiece alongside whatever other audio is playing. You can therefore listen to a podcast while walking through a busy street or jam out to your favorite tunes at work without missing the things your coworkers say to you. If you’ve ever seen someone ordering coffee with two earbuds still firmly planted in their ears, you probably saw transparency mode in action. However, there’s much more to say about this nifty little feature – here’s what transparency mode is, how it differs from similar technologies, and how it might help people in the future.
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