SherlockEQ 0.9.0
SherlockEQ 0.9.0
This is the largest SherlockEQ release so far, and it moves the app substantially closer to a 1.0. Rather than one headline feature, it's a broad step forward: a new way for your hearing adjustment to adapt to how loud you're listening, a simpler and more honest equalizer, an optional in-app listening check, and a top-to-bottom pass on wording, safety, privacy, and reliability. What follows is a summary by area, not an exhaustive list of every change.
Hearing adjustment that adapts
Your audiogram-derived adjustment can now follow the sound. An optional Adaptive mode gives a little more help in quiet passages and eases off as things get loud, instead of applying a single fixed curve. New adjustments also ease in gradually over the first few weeks rather than arriving at full strength on day one, so an unaccustomed ear has time to settle. As always, this is a comfort adjustment you fine-tune by ear — a starting point, not a clinical fitting.
A simpler equalizer
The old set of overlapping EQ modes is now two clear surfaces: a Graphic equalizer on a hearing-oriented set of bands for quick shaping, and a full Parametric canvas when you want fine control. Presets are organized around what you're trying to achieve rather than by music genre, and the more specialized mixing-oriented displays have been retired to keep the screen focused. Nothing you set up before is lost — your profiles carry across, and any bands that don't fit the graphic grid stay editable.
An in-app listening check
A new, optional guided check estimates your hearing thresholds ear by ear using quiet test tones, then offers to turn the result into a starting hearing adjustment. It's framed throughout as an at-home estimate to tune by ear — not a hearing test, and not a diagnosis.
Clearer wording, and honest limits
A wide pass on language across the app. Audiogram-derived processing is described as a "hearing adjustment," not a clinical "correction," and medical-sounding claims are gone. Health & safety information is consolidated into one place you can always reach. Level and exposure readouts now say plainly when a value is an estimate — or simply unknown — instead of ever implying "safe," and the listening-dose estimate accounts for your system volume. The app also warns you when settings work against each other, such as a tinnitus notch fighting your hearing adjustment, or a headphone correction left on for the wrong output device.
A more consistent interface
The menu-bar popover is now a glanceable status-and-remote surface rather than a cramped copy of the whole app. Profile management, the Tinnitus tools, Adaptive Comfort, Safe Listening, and Settings were each reorganized to lead with what you're trying to do. Every adjustable value now shows its scope — whole-app, per-profile, per-ear, or today — and a broad accessibility pass improved VoiceOver, keyboard control, and Dynamic Type support.
Reliability, privacy, and performance
Many improvements under the hood: safer handling of your profiles on disk, more resilient audio capture and recovery around sleep, wake, and device changes, and tightened audio-thread work for glitch-free playback. On privacy, exported profiles no longer carry machine-identifying details, listening-dose values stay out of system logs, and the in-app privacy notes now describe exactly what does and doesn't leave your Mac — nothing you play is ever recorded or sent anywhere.
Not a medical device
SherlockEQ is not a healthcare or medical application. It does not diagnose, treat, measure, or monitor any hearing condition, tinnitus, or disability. For concerns about your hearing, consult a doctor, audiologist, or licensed healthcare professional.
Previous release
See the 0.8.1 release notes for what shipped in the prior version.