Smart glasses, such as those sold by Meta Ray-Ban, aren’t particularly well-suited for conversations in public places. A key part of the problem is that their mic and speaker assembly is not up to the same standard as a pair of dedicated earbuds like the AirPods. Thankfully, a software-driven trick is fixing the challenge of talking in chaotic places for Meta smart glasses users.
What can it do?
The solution is called Conversation focus, and it’s not rolling out for all users who registered for the Early Access program to test experimental features. The new feature essentially focuses on a target audio signal and filters out the rest of the environmental noise.
“Conversation focus amplifies the voices of people you are facing for better communication in noisy places,” explains the company on a support page. All you have to do is say a voice command, like “Hey Meta, start conversation focus,” and the feature will kick into action.
Broadly, Meta claims that once the feature is activated, you will hear the voice of he person in front of you get amplified. The company notes that the system works best when the distance between two people is less than 1.8 metres.
Temper your expectations
Conversation focus works across two levels — standard and boosted. In boosted mode, voice amplification is sharper, and it is suited for particularly noisy spaces. Users can adjust the voice amplification by sliding their fingers on the touchpad integrated in the side arms.
But the feature has its own set of limits. Meta says it is not designed for “extremely loud environments.” Additionally, if you trigger another feature that requires mic access, such as talking to the onboard assistant, conversation focus will be paused.
It is available for the Ray-Ban Meta and Oakley Meta HSTN smart glasses in the US and Canada, and as mentioned above, it’s limited to early access users. The feature’s rollout was first spotted by UploadVR. If the idea of conversation focus sounds familiar, it’s because AirPods also offer a similar convenience called Conversation Awareness.