Adaptive sound from Google Pixels: reduce noise for better listening
Pixel devices are often used by Google to add new features that will later be taken up on a larger scale like the Locked Folder in the Photos app. Since Android 11, the Google Pixels have known a feature that has gone a little unnoticed by the general public, but which has its interest: Adaptive Sound.
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On Android 11 and 12… But only on Pixels for the moment
We already knew the adaptive battery, the adaptive brightness or the adaptive colorimetry which consists in changing the heat of the colors according to the lighting (neon, incandescent or natural), but there is little adjustment for the sound under Android. Here the adaptive sound “Improves the audio quality of your phone’s speaker. It evaluates the acoustics in the vicinity using the microphone, then adapts the parameters of the sound equalizer to your environment ”. Tested on Android 12 (SPB4.210715.011) with a 5G Pixel 4a, the feature is also available on the Pixel 5. Note that there is a way to access it on the Pixel 3, 3a, 3XL, 4, 4a and 4XL, but it will take a little tweaking.
So, is it good?
We tried Adaptive Sound in different situations: listening to a podcast at the beach, making a call in a party room, or watching a YouTube video in a room that resonates like a bathroom, etc. The results are quite convincing, but vary depending on use and location. Calls are better with our Pixel 4a 5G whatever the situation while for music and videos it’s more complicated. When the ambient sound environment is homogeneous, it works wonderfully while it is less effective when noises come and go. Note also that at high volume Adaptive Sound does not work as well. One thing is certain, it is not worse and according to Pixel 5 users, this solves the problem of the lack of volume power that affects the top speaker, very (too?) Well hidden.
“Does it register there?” “
Finally, it is specified in the description that “All sound recorded by the microphone is deleted right after. It is processed on your device and never leaves it. Audio and background conversations are never sent to Google ”. Well there, we will have to trust Google even if we are rather tempted to believe them. If they have an interest in retrieving the Assistant’s requests when they have not been successful, here it is useless to record the ambient noises and the conversations. Finally … We will say that we trust them.
