The first pre-orders of the Apple Vision Pro will arrive in users' hands very soon, but it seems that Apple is making plans for headphones like the Vision Pro to respond to the posture of the person wearing them.
A recently published patent (via Patently Apple) refers to “stepped posture awareness,” a method by which headphones and smart specs can determine users' posture and then make necessary adjustments to the way they sit. the content is presented.
So, for example, a 3D virtual environment could be adjusted slightly depending on how the user is standing or sitting, and surround sound effects applied to audio streams could also be changed to be as immersive as possible.
The patent also mentions performing calculations based on the strain the headphones could exert on the person wearing them; This information could be used to warn users if their posture is putting too much pressure on their body parts.
Future updates
It's a pretty complex patent, and the usual caveats about patents apply here too: there's no guarantee these ideas will ever be implemented in a product, but they offer an interesting glimpse into what Apple engineers are thinking.
In the hands-on time we had with the Apple Vision Pro, we didn't notice any head or neck strain, although these sessions were fairly brief. We will conduct a full test of the spatial computing device as soon as we can.
Something similar to what is described in the patent could be delivered to the Vision Pro through a future software update. Alternatively, it may be held back for future versions of the headphones, which we've already started hearing rumors about.
Apple also expects more app developers to release dedicated versions of their apps for Vision Pro in the future – companies like Netflix are currently holding back because it will take a while for Vision Pro to hit the mainstream.
