Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Wearables
  3. News

Meta’s smart glasses can now filter human voice in chaotic spaces

Meta's new trick for smart glasses essentially filters noise and amplifies the human voices for clearer communication in chaotic places.

Add as a preferred source on Google
A person wearing Ray-Ban Meta smartglasses.
Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

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. 

Recommended Videos

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

Nadeem Sarwar
Nadeem is the Managing Editor at Digital Trends.
The Pixel Watch 5 just leaked in full before Google’s August 12 event
Google’s next smartwatch could rely on Gemini and health features over new hardware
Pixel Watch on Wrist

Google’s Pixel Watch 5 may be an even smaller hardware upgrade than previous reports suggested. Marketing material and a technical document obtained by MyMobiles (in collaboration with @OnLeaks) reportedly show the same Snapdragon W5 Gen 2 processor, 3,000-nit display, charging speeds, and battery-life estimates as the Pixel Watch 4.

The main hardware change appears to be 64GB of storage, twice as much as last year. Google is also expected to ship the watch with Wear OS 7 and slightly larger batteries. Gemini and updated health features could end up doing most of the heavy lifting on the upcoming smartwatch.

Read more
Australia just set a horrific example for creep behavior with low-cost smartglasses
Accessories, Glasses, Adapter

We've reached the point where AI-powered smart glasses are no longer just expensive gadgets for early adopters. Now, they're cheap enough to end up in a shopping cart alongside kitchenware and school supplies. That's exactly what's happening in Australia, where Kmart's new Anko AI Camera Glasses have completely sold out across the country. Priced at just AU$89, the wearable undercuts Meta's Ray-Ban smart glasses by a huge margin while offering many of the same features, including photo capture, HD video recording, AI assistance, music playback, and hands-free calling.

The rapid sellout suggests there's real interest in affordable smart glasses. But it has also reignited a conversation that refuses to go away: What happens when wearable cameras become so inexpensive that almost anyone can buy one?

Read more
Apple’s next big health bet could be turning glasses and headsets into fitness companions.
A focus on fitness could help Apple separate its glasses from Meta’s approach
Apple Vision Pro

Apple’s long-rumored smart glasses are already running late as the company tries to avoid the privacy concerns that come from putting cameras on someone’s face. At the same time, Apple may be planning to turn them into something far more useful than a typical pair of smart glasses.

According to Bloomberg, Apple is exploring ways to turn its future glasses and Vision headsets into health and fitness companions. Their cameras and sensors could eventually track movement, analyze workouts, and help users improve how they exercise.

Read more