Apple introduced several major devices at its September hardware event, including the iPhone Duo, new Apple Watch models and updated AirPods. Alongside the hardware announcements, the company also highlighted Audio Intelligence, a new collection of AI-powered audio features designed primarily for Apple Watch Series 12 users.
Audio Intelligence includes Sound Recognition, which can detect important noises such as doorbells, sirens, alarms and babies crying before sending an alert to the wearer. The feature is aimed particularly at users with hearing difficulties, but it could also prove useful in situations where people are wearing headphones or may otherwise miss sounds around them.
Another feature, Live Rewind, allows users to double-press the Digital Crown to access the previous 15 seconds of an ongoing conversation. Apple has also introduced Siri Recap, which can generate short summaries of conversations and automatically save titles and notes for later reference.
These tools could provide significant accessibility benefits for users who are hard of hearing, have memory difficulties or occasionally miss parts of conversations. At the same time, the idea of a wearable device continuously monitoring surrounding audio could raise privacy concerns among users.
Apple says privacy protections are built into the system. According to the company, Live Rewind recordings and Siri Recap content are protected with end-to-end encryption, preventing Apple itself from accessing the information. Audio processing is also handled through a Secure Exclave inside the Apple Watch Series 12’s S11 chip, with processed audio reportedly discarded immediately after use.