If you want to quickly lower the volume of your Sony WF-1000XM5 so that you can hear more of the ambient sound from the surrounding environment, then you can try using the Quick Attention Mode. If this feature does not appear to be working correctly, then you can check out this troubleshooting article from Seeking Tech to see how you can fix your issue.
Quick Attention Mode vs. Ambient Sound Mode
Before we begin, we would like to explain the difference between the Quick Attention and Ambient Sound Modes of the WF-1000XM5.
If you activate the Quick Attention Mode, then the volume of the audio playback will decrease while the volume of the ambient noises will increase.
For the Ambient Sound Mode, the volume of the audio playback will remain the same while the volume of the ambient noises will increase.
So, if you need to pay full attention to the ambient noises, then the Quick Attention Mode is the better option out of the two.
Fixing the Quick Attention Mode issues
1. For the first potential fix, you should make sure that you are activating the Quick Attention Mode correctly.
In order to do so, you need to press and hold the touch sensor located on the left earbud. You need to keep holding that sensor until you want to disable the mode. Once you take your finger off, the earphones will return to its previous audio balance setting.
You can check out an official video showing how this mode works below:
2. Keep in mind that Quick Attention Mode won’t completely mute the audio playback volume. So, if you have the volume extremely high beforehand, then the sound output may still be distracting even if you have the mode activated.
To resolve this issue, turn down the volume before you activate the Quick Attention Mode. You can do so by quickly tapping the touch sensor on the left earbud four times.
3. The earbud tip you are using may not be big enough for this mode to work properly. In this case, you can try experimenting with different sizes to see which one is the best at blocking out ambient noises.
The WF-1000XM5 comes with SS, S, M and L earbud tips.
4. You should also make sure that you are wearing the earphones correctly; otherwise, the ambient noises won’t be completely blocked out, causing the Quick Attention Mode to be less effective.