Apple patents noise-cancelling wireless earphones

This week, Apple's patent application for earbuds with noise-cancelling sensors was published.

According to a patent application published Thursday (filed back in February) and spotted by Apple Insider, Apple has filed a patent for wireless earbuds that cancel out noise using sensors and bone conduction technology.

The patent outlines Apple's plans to create wireless earphones (earbuds) with a multitude of sensors that monitor sound vibrations (the user's voice, wind, external noises etc.) using bone conduction -- enabling the device to correct and improve sound quality and levels continuously. In theory the earbuds would be able to detect even unvoiced speech, and would use movement sensors to know when the buds were in place in order to optimize battery life.

Apple filed a similar accelerometer-assisted noise cancellation patent back in September 2014, but has yet to bring the technology to the market.