When you sit in front of your computer and the speakers are directly in front of you, there is no need to pump out audio at max volume. However if you’re seated further away, like on the couch, then maybe you’ll need to crank it up a bit. While adjusting volume isn’t really that inconvenient, a recently discovered Apple patent might make things easier.

It seems that Apple has filed for a patent for a system in which based on your position in the room, future Mac computers could be smart enough to be able to adjust the audio accordingly. So for example if you’re seated near, then maybe volume levels might be turned down, but if you’re further away then volume levels could be turned up.

However apart from just positioning, the patent also talks about how audio could be adjusted based on the activity at hand, like during a video conference call where many people might be trying to talk over each other at once, which can be rather noisy and hard to hear. Or it could even be used to adjust microphones in a room where it might try to focus on the user who is talking at the moment even if they might be seated further away.

Of course given that this is a patent there’s no telling if Apple ever plans on implementing it and making it a reality, but it is an interesting development all the same.

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