Customise headphone audio levels on your iPhone or iPad
Amplify soft sounds and adjust certain frequencies for your hearing needs with Headphone Accommodations in iOS and iPadOS 14 and later.
Headphone Accommodations works with these headphones:
AirPods 2 and later
AirPods Max (all models)
AirPods Pro (all models)
Apple EarPods (with 3.5 mm Headphone Plug or Lightning Connector)
Beats 360
Beats Fit Pro
Beats Solo Pro
Powerbeats
Powerbeats fit
Powerbeats Pro
Powerbeats Pro 2
When using automatic device switching with your headphones, your custom audio settings will transfer between your iPhone, your iPad, your paired Apple Watch (on watchOS 7 or later), your Mac running macOS Sequoia or later (depending on your model of AirPods), and your Apple Vision Pro.
If you enable Hearing Assistance with your AirPods Pro 2 or AirPods Pro 3 on iOS 18.1 or later, your Headphone Accommodations settings will be overridden.
Set up Headphone Accommodations
Check that you have the latest version of iOS or iPadOS.
Go to the Settings app, tap Accessibility, then select Audio & Visual. Tap Headphone Accommodations, then turn on Headphone Accommodations.
Choose how you want to apply your custom audio settings:
Turn on Phone to apply these settings to phone calls, FaceTime calls and any third-party video call apps.
Turn on Media to apply these settings to music, films, podcasts, audiobooks, Siri, voicemail and Live Listen.
Customise your headphone audio settings:
Use Customise Audio. You’ll listen to audio samples and choose which ones sound better to you. Then you can apply the custom settings suggested based on your choices.
Use Customise Audio
Reset any current audio configurations to their default settings:
Go to the Settings app. Tap Apps, then select Music. Tap EQ, then choose Off to turn off Music EQ.
Go to the Settings app. Tap Accessibility, then select Audio & Visual. Adjust the Balance slider. Set the audio volume balance to the centre.
Connect your AirPods. Go to the Settings app, then tap Bluetooth. Tap the Info button
next to your AirPods, then tap Audio & Routing. Tap Equaliser, and set it to Recommended.
Connect your headphones. Make sure you’re in a quiet environment.
Go to the Settings app. Tap Accessibility, choose Audio & Visual, then tap Headphone Accommodations.
Tap Customise Audio.
Follow the instructions on your screen. When finished, tap Use Custom Settings to apply the custom settings suggested based on your choices. You can switch back to standard settings at any time.
Adjust audio settings manually
From the Headphone Audio screen, you can also adjust tone and amplification settings manually. Tap Play Sample to hear an audio sample with your current settings. You can change these settings while listening to the sample to compare them.
You can also adjust the audio volume balance between left and right channels:
Go to the Settings app. Tap Accessibility, then choose Audio & Visual.
Adjust the Balance slider.
Customise Transparency mode on your AirPods Pro
Headphone Accommodations supports Transparency mode on AirPods Pro, making quiet voices more audible and tuning the sounds of your environment to your hearing needs.
When Transparency mode is turned on, your Headphone Accommodations settings may change how you hear your own voice or increase your environment’s noise level. You may need to adjust these settings to find the setup that’s most comfortable for you. You can start from a milder setting by adjusting the sliders for Amplification, Tone, Ambient Noise Reduction and Own Voice Amplification. Then gradually increase to the setting that’s most helpful for hearing people’s voices or natural sound around you.
To customise Transparency mode settings:
Check that you have the latest version of iOS or iPadOS.
Put your AirPods Pro in your ears and connect them to your iPhone or iPad.
Go to the Settings app. Tap Accessibility, then choose Audio & Visual.
Tap Headphone Accommodations, then turn on Transparency.
Tap Customise Transparency.
To adjust the audio-volume balance between left and right channels, adjust the Transparency Balance slider. You can also adjust Transparency mode settings by tapping the Hearing button
in Control Centre.
Use Conversation Boost on your AirPods Pro
To automatically detect if a conversation is happening in front of you and focus your AirPods Pro on the person speaking to you, turn on Conversation Boost.
Check that you have the latest version of iOS or iPadOS.
Put your AirPods Pro in your ears and connect them to your iPhone or iPad.
Go to the Settings app, then tap Accessibility. Select Audio & Visual, then tap Headphone Accommodations.
Make sure Headphone Accommodations is turned on.
Make sure Transparency is turned on.
Tap Customise Transparency.
Turn on Conversation Boost.
You can also turn on Conversation Boost by tapping the Hearing button in Control Centre.
Use Custom EQ with your AirPods
You can use a three-band equaliser on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac to personalise the sound signature of your AirPods 4 or later, your AirPods Pro 2 or later, or your AirPods Max 2.
Learn more
Adjust audio settings on your iPhone
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