Pixel, sitting on my lap while writing this article.
David Gewirtz/ZDNET
Our AirPods Pro 2 are mission critical for my wife and me. We both work from home, most often from our family room, with our little dog Pixel curled up on one or the other’s lap.
We each use our own set of pods so that whatever one of us is listening to or watching doesn’t interfere with the other’s work concentration. Focus is important for both of us, and the active noise cancellation in the AirPods Pro 2 (currently on sale for $189) really helps each of us keep on track.
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But no matter how perfect our little Pixel is, his behavior isn’t so perfect. He’s not thrilled with the plastic things we type on, so he often tries to kick them off our laps. And he yaps — a lot — at everything.
This 8-pound Yorkie Poo is the size of my shoe, and he’s convinced he’s a 50-pound German Shepherd, protecting the house from invasion by Amazon delivery folks, the kids walking home from school, the car doors that have the temerity to slam without his prior written approval, and the neighbors who walk their dogs on his street.
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I’ve had my AirPods Pro since 2021. I got my AirPods Pro 2 in late 2022. During that time, I’ve found that active noise canceling (ANC) works to muffle fan noise, washing machine noise, 3D printer noise, and even voices when my wife is on a Zoom call. While ANC doesn’t mute Pixel’s yapping, it seems to muffle the neighbor dog’s deeper woofs.
Automatic yap enhancing?
Last week, something new started to happen. Whenever Pixel yapped (he has this rather astonishingly penetrating high-pitched yap), my AirPods Pro 2 muted the audio, not his yapping sounds.
They did just the opposite of what I wanted, making it harder to hear what I was listening to. They seemingly magnified the interrupting noise.
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As it turns out, this annoying AirPods Pro 2 behavior is due to a “feature” called Conversation Awareness. The new AirPods 4 with active noise cancellation also have this feature. The idea behind Conversational Awareness is that if you’re speaking, these AirPod models assume you’re talking to someone in meatspace and mute whatever you’re listening to.
In my case, however, the AirPods Pro 2 seemed to have interpreted Pixel’s yapping as me speaking and muted my in-ear audio.
I have to admit that Conversational Awareness slightly bruised my ego. I have a fairly deep man voice, and Pixel has a very high-pitched Yorkie voice. You’d think the AirPods Pro 2 could tell the difference. But no.
New phone, new settings
Conversational Awareness was a feature introduced last year with iOS 17. I must have had it off until I replaced my iPhone 12 Pro Max with the iPhone 16 Pro Max last month.
When I got the new iPhone and transferred my data over, a bunch of my settings did not transfer over. While Conversational Awareness is turned off by default, it must have been switched on during the setup, which is why Pixel’s barking turning off my audio was a new phenomenon.
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I’m sure the Conversational Awareness feature is a convenience for many people, especially if you listen to music while interacting with people. But I’m most often watching or listening to spoken media, and having it muted every time the dog yips isn’t fun.
I think it wouldn’t be quite as annoying if the iPhone paused playback when muting the audio, but at least for YouTube and live TV, it keeps the audio going, so when the barking is over, I missed whatever the speaker was saying.
How to fix it
With your AirPods Pro 2 in your ear, go to Settings on your iPhone. This is mine, and I have to admit I’m frustrated. I’ve had my phone set up for a few weeks now, and the migration message (shown at 1) just showed up. I did the full migration on the day I got the phone. I’m hoping this message doesn’t now stick around for the life of the phone.
In any case, click whatever your name is for your AirPods Pro 2 to go to the AirPods Pro 2 settings (shown at 2). I assume it’s the same for the AirPods 4, but I don’t have those so I can’t be absolutely sure.
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On the AirPods Pro 2 settings page, scroll down to the Audio section. Turn off the Conversational Audio toggle. Sadly, the Loud Noise Reduction feature did not reduce the loudness of Pixel’s barking, but I leave it on in some kind of hopeful solidarity with all the other Yorkie parents out there.
In any case, once Conversational Awareness was turned off on my iPhone, Pixel’s alerts and notifications no longer muted my audio. I know this is true because we got an Amazon delivery at the time of writing, and I could hear the audio — and Pixel.
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I can’t be entirely sure what he said; I only know that once the ruckus was over, he climbed back onto my shoulder and let out a very satisfied-sounding sigh as he sank back in for another snuggle.
I’m not p0wn3d. Not at all.
Do you use Conversational Awareness on your AirPods Pro 2? Do you have the second-generation AirPods Pro 2 or AirPods 4? Have you upgraded to iOS 17 or 18? Let us know in the comments below. And, hey, if you know if that data migration prompt goes away, let me know below as well. Thanks!
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