Google Pixel 6

Adaptive Sound feature appears to be rolling out now to Pixel 6 devices

Damien Wilde | Nov 9 2021 - 8:10 am PT

It seems as though Pixel 6 devices are now getting access to the Adaptive Sound feature that was once exclusive to the Google Pixel 5.

For those unaware, the Pixel 5 has an under-display speaker rather than a traditional earpiece. This means that the screen vibrates to generate audio, and in practice, it can be a little bit quiet compared to other devices.

To help combat this, the Adaptive Sound feature uses your on-device microphone to assess surrounding audio levels and acoustics and adjust the equalizer to produce better quality sounds. It works quite well but can’t fully resolve the hardware limitations on the Pixel 5.

When the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro launched, they did not include Adaptive Sound within the “Sound and vibration” menu, but it seems as though it is now quietly arriving. Spotted by Mishaal Rahman, we are also seeing the option on several of our own Pixel 6 and 6 Pro devices. Adaptive Sound looks as though it has expanded over the past 24 hours to a lot of owners as per responses to the original report.

Given how fresh this is, it’s hard to tell just how much of a difference it will make to the listening experience on the Pixel 6 or 6 Pro. Both smartphones have good speaker setups, but with software tuning and EQ this could offer some notable improvements. If you’re seeing any notable difference on your Pixel 6 or 6 Pro with Adaptive Sound enabled or you don’t yet have the option on your device, be sure to let us know down in the comments section below.

To check head to Settings > Sounds and vibration > Adaptive Sound. If you see the option it will be disabled by default.