(Image credit: Apple)

Apple could soon be dishing out AirPods that not only hear your surroundings but see them too.

A new paper has been published which explores what it calls VueBuds. Researchers at the University of Washington have shown off the prototype earbuds which come equipped with tiny cameras.

The idea being explored is that AI can be better integrated into daily life - seeing what we see - without the need to hold up a phone or wear AR glasses.

Rumours of Apple working on AirPods with cameras have already started doing the rounds. Could this be the future for Apple AirPods and, indeed, all high-end future earbuds?

How do VueBuds work?

The researchers took a pair of Sony WF-1000XM3 earbuds and fitted cameras to detect surroundings. These were able to see with a useable 98 to 108 degree field of view. By stitching the two images together it made for a mere one-second response time.

The processing can be kept on the connected device with the option to delete images - which can be taken with a recording light - immediately.

The cameras are roughly the size of a grain of rice and use very low-power to get a low-res greyscale image. This not only makes for a minimal battery drain but also keeps data compact for transmission over Bluetooth.

The researchers said that since AR and VR haven't seen mainstream uptake, this offers another way to add visual smarts to AI assistants, hands-free. It also helps to address privacy concerns with the local processing.

The Apple rumours centre on the company exploring the use of infrared cameras in AirPods, to enhance spatial awareness in a way that could help unlock more useful AI features.

In one example, given by the researchers, a person could look at a food label in another language and have it read out in their ears using their native tongue.