Conversation Awareness on AirPods Pro interrupting your music? Here’s why you may want to turn it off

Apple highlights three features make up the new Adaptive Audio capabilities for AirPods Pro 2 with iOS 17.

“Adaptive Noise Control” is what “dynamically adjusts the external noise you are exposed to.” “Personalized Volume” adjusts your media’s volume “in response to your environment,” and there’s “Conversation Awareness” which switches to transparency mode and lowers your media volume when you start talking.

While the automatic nature of these three features and how seamlessly AirPods dynamically adjust feels like magic, fortunately, Apple has included separate controls for using Adaptive Noise Control and Conversation Awareness (and Personalized Volume too). That means Adaptive Audio isn’t an all-or-nothing feature.

What can interrupt music and videos with Conversation Awareness?

I’ve been very impressed with Conversation Awareness so far and often, I leave it turned on. However, there are a couple of scenarios where you’ll probably want to turn it off:

A slick aspect of Conversation Awareness is it knows when you’re talking with someone versus being near others who are talking.

That means your AirPods only switch to transparency mode and lower your volume when you join a conversation. So you can leave the feature on for things like public transit, close workspaces, etc. without it interrupting your music/content.

How to turn off Conversation Awareness on AirPods Pro 2

Adaptive Audio is only available with AirPods Pro 2. You’ll need the iOS 17 beta (full guide) on your iPhone along with the AirPods beta installed (full guide). With this being a developer beta, install it at your own risk.