Apple patent is for pressure sensing earbuds that adjust to your ears

Future AirPods and other headphones/earbuds from Apple may adjust themselves to your ears. Apple has been granted a patent (number 10,063,960) for “pressure sensing earbuds and systems and methods for the use thereof.”

Per the invention, the earbuds can include one or more pressure sensors to determine the size and shape of a user’s ear. The pressure signals can be relayed back to a processor, which may use them to dynamically optimize the volume levels delivered for frequencies over the audible range for a particular user.

The headsets/earbuds mentioned in the patent filing can include non-cable components such as a jack, headphones, and/or a microphone and one or more cables that interconnect the non-cable components. Other headsets can be wireless. The headphones–the component that generates sound–can exist in many different form factors, such as over-the-hear headphones or as in-the-ear or in-the-canal earbuds. 

Of course, Apple files for — and is granted — lots of patents by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. Many are for inventions that never see the light of day. However, you never can tell which ones will materialize in a real product.