AirPods offer excellent active noise cancellation (ANC), but Adaptive Audio provides a smarter middle ground. Standard ANC uses microphones to generate anti-noise, effectively blocking consistent sounds like traffic hum. However, it can isolate you from important surroundings, making Transparency mode necessary for safety.
Adaptive Audio, available on AirPods Pro 3, AirPods Max 2, and newer models with the H2 chip, dynamically adjusts to your environment. It suppresses background noise while letting critical sounds like horns or voices through. This feature also includes Conversation Awareness, which lowers media volume when you start speaking.
To enable Adaptive Audio, use Control Center on iPhone or Mac, or assign it to a stem press via Settings. Note that it works best with Apple devices and isn't available on all AirPods models.
Source: Engadget · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing