How Apple plans to make wet AirPods work better – Times of India

Apple has filed a patent with the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) detailing the use of ultrasonic technology in AirPods Pro and AirPods Max, as per a report by Patently Apple. The tech may allow Apple to make the AirPods Pro and AirPods Max work better when wet or while wearing gloves. The tech giant is reportedly thinking of doing that by introducing an ultrasonic touch sensor on the true wireless earbuds.
The idea behind it could be the inability of the capacitive touch sensors on the device to sense the touch when wet due to water, rain, sweat, etc. or when being used with gloves. Apple plans to remedy that by using an ultrasonic touch sensor instead which need not require any extra structure to fit on the device. How it could work is by implementing the transducers or the electrodes far from touch areas, aiming at touch sensing from a long-range/ In that way, the active touch areas with antennas and other electronics will be located farther from the ultrasonic touch sensor, which precludes the possibility of the latter interfering with the former. Also, since the ultrasonic sensor wouldn’t be in contact with the touch-sensitive area, it is less likely to get affected when the touch-sensitive area gets in contact with water, gloves or any other insulated object.
Apple could include ultrasonic technology with future versions of AirPods. However, it is just a patent now and the tech has to pass several tests before being confirmed for inclusion on a commercial model of the AirPods.