According to a clinical trial undertaken by the University of Iowa’s Hearing Aid and Aging Research Laboratory, the updated Ambient Sound feature significantly improved speech perception in those with mild-to-moderate hearing loss. Additionally, Samsung Medical Center ran a similar trial and found identical results. The enhanced feature adds two additional levels of passthrough amplification on top off the existing three levels in the settings of the Buds2 Pro. Users can also adjust the amplification volume for each earbud independently and they can enable the “Adapt ambient sound” tool to let the earbuds automatically adjust the ambient sound based on your surroundings. As for when users can get it, the South Korean company says the update with enhanced Ambient Sound will be rolled out progressively in the coming weeks. The earbuds retail for RM899 but for a limited time, you can get them on Samsung’s website for a promotional price of RM699 in conjunction with Parents’ Day.
Coincidentally, Apple announced several new software features coming to its AirPods lineup that focuses on enhancing transparency mode during WWDC. One of which includes Adaptive Audio, which blends transparency mode and active noise cancellation together and adjusts the settings based on the user’s surroundings. There is also Conversation Awareness which turns down the volume and enhances nearby voices when the earbuds hears the user start speaking, but this is limited to the 2nd Gen AirPods Pro. Through machine learning, Apple’s earbuds will be able to learn a user’s personal volume preferences over time through Personalized Volume. (Source: Samsung Press Release)
