Apple AirPods will reduce the volume for conversations. but is it rude?

This is great in theory: you won’t have to take off your headphones while exchanging a few words with someone. (This feature debuted last fall with the AirPods Pro models.)

It sounds small, but this it is an aggravation in everyday life: reaching the checkout line at the grocery store and putting my AirPods in my pocket — or dropping them in the bottom of my purse while talking to the cashier.

After I’m done checking out – and I’d love to put my AirPods back in my ears – sometimes I can’t because my hands are full of bags. I also missed a pair of headphones for days that got dropped among the crumbs and crumpled receipts at the bottom of my cavernous bag. Yes, life is a struggle; I am as amazed as you are that I can still get out of bed every morning.

So in theory it would be great to have this feature that would automatically turn down my music while I order a coffee.

But… is “Conversational Awareness” all good? It’s not, you know, sort of discourteous to keep your AirPods on while talking to someone – even if the volume is turned down?

Yes, yes it is. It’s rude, and so are you should avoid doing this if possible. Now that the feature isn’t just on the high-end AirPods Pro models and is included in the more affordable, noise-cancelling AirPods 4, we’ll likely start seeing more people walk among us while using the feature — ordering coffees , asking for subway directions, talking to the office.

I’m not entirely sure what the near future will look like though. One of the other great features that the new AirPods Pro 2 now have is a hearing aid function that can help diagnose hearing loss and then help people who would otherwise have trouble hearing voices clearly. So how do you tell if someone is wearing AirPods to help them hear, or if they’re just plain rude? I’m not sure!

So maybe it’s the norm to wear AirPods even when talking in real life should change – and will help normalize the use of AirPods as hearing aids. We’ll see what happens!