Apple is always looking to innovate more for its products with new methods to make them better and easier to use. A new patent filing from the company outlines a method that will automatically adjust the volume of Mac computers and the iPhone depending on how loud the environment is.

The patent application points to problems with users having to constantly change the ringer volume on their phone or the speaker volume of their notebooks to suit the environment. What Apple is proposing is a system that uses a sound sensor, likely the mic for a webcam, to determine the ambient sound level of a room and change the volume to suit the conditions.

The patent application was filed in July 2007 and so far the tech hasn’t shown up in any Apple products. This isn’t really a new idea, car radios have changed their volume automatically for years depending on road noise, and motorcycles can do this as well.

Via Electronista