AirPods causing tinnitus?

These descriptions match my experience of tinnitus after using AirPods. However, I also got an ear infection before the onset of tinnitus. After wearing noise-canceling AirPods pro regularly for about 9 months, I got an ear infection which produced a buildup of clear liquid in both ears. This cleared up, but I was left with tinnitus which has yet to abate after close to a year. I haven't had an ear infection of any sort since I was a kid. It's hard to believe that the AirPods had nothing to do with it - I wore them more than I've worn any in-ear (or over-ear) headphone for my entire life.

Question to all guys with T from airpods. Is it a very high pitched noise, around 12/13Khz?

You can check your tinnitus frequency by measuring it with a tone generator: https://www.szynalski.com/tone-generator/

DO NOT operate the tone generator at a high volume!

RichardGDL wrote:

I’ve suddenly started hearing the high pitched tone after a month of using AirPod Pro. Is apple aware of these reports and doing anything about it?

This is a user-to-user forum. No one here would be privy to Apple's internal processes.

I have the same problem as everybody else on here. It’s difficult to establish a cause and effect but it seems pretty obvious to me. I took mine to the Genius Bar for diagnostics and the pods were part of the early models that had this so-called crackling sound associated with them not sure if that’s the culprit but at least those are being replaced. I hope I don’t have to live with this my whole life

Helo Jomi_

My recommendation is not to use them anymore. I had a similar experience ever since I purchased the pros and its infuriating. The convenience is not worth the insanity. Reverting to Bose over-ear headphones.

I would stay away from them at all costs. Try something else like something from Sony. Air Pod Max left ringing in mine. Never using apple again until they fix this crap. Had my Max for 1 week and then woke up to ringing 🤦‍♂️.

I’m experiencing the exact same thing -I never liked or owned in-ears before AirPods Pro.

Then I got APP April 2021 and used them in the 30-40% volume range for many hours every day.

I don’t want to hear anything about me using them too much because there’s no warnings or guidelines about this from Apple. In fact, the whole loud sounds exposure thing inside Settings that tracks my headphones volume tells me that I’m way below what could possibly be damaging.

Now I’ve had this ringing or roaring sound in the 12-13k range. It actually sounds very much like what you hear when the APP are cancelling noise but no audio is put out to them from the iPhone.

I’ve stopped using them altogether and the tinnitus still persists after two weeks or so. It’s really annoying and is only tolerable when other sound is playing.

I can’t believe I paid $249 for tinnitus.

Please tell me this goes away eventually?

Just need to note the more research you do just in these forums alone, it is really disturbing the number of people who have this same exact issue. And these are just the people who are posting here. How many others have this issue and have not found this forum.

I purchased the AirPods Pro 2 weeks ago.

After the first couple of uses the ringing in my ears started and over a few more uses has become more and more obvious that something was wrong. I stopped using them a few days ago and it seemed that the ringing subsided so yesterday afternoon I decided to use them for an hour long walk. Within a few minutes the ringing returned and close to 24 hour later is still happening.

I never listen to music at loud volumes or for periods of time longer than 1 hour which is the length of time my daily walk circuit takes me to complete. I would say I've used them a total of 10 hours so far.

What's up with this Apple? Didn't you test your product thoroughly before making it available to the public or are we your test subjects?

I have lots of other Apple products and this is the first one that I feel has let me down and reduced my quality of life.

I recently bought the APP in July and have noticed ringing in my right ear. It also feels like a pressure build up like I’ve been on a plane. I got them replaced today to airpods manufactured later than 2020, yet I noticed it again when I got home so it’s a design defect. Thankfully the ringing goes away after a few hours but there’s definitely a big issue with the APP ANC. I never listen to music on high volume because my partner is deaf and I need to be able to hear my partner always. I’ve now stopped my 16 year old son wearing his.

I have experienced the same issue with ringing in my ears after using the Airpods for several months. I have stopped using them 3 weeks ago and I still have the ringing in my ears. It's most noticeable when I go to sleep.

Sorry to hear that. I’ve tried vitamin b12 supplements in the past and on a doctors advice. It worked. I’m a violinist so got tinnitus for two months once. If you’re not b12 deficient it may or may not work. Good luck.

I have tinnitus now after using them for about 4 weeks, went to see a specialist doctor who couldn't figure out any other reason than it might being the airpods pro. The doctor didn't confirm it is caused by the airpods, but also didn't deny it. He said I should try using Tebonin which helps with bloodflow and is commonly used to treat tinnitus.

Has anyone who posted got rid of the tinnitus/ringing?

I am wondering if it has anything to do with the noise cancellation technology. my understanding is that long-term tinnitus is usually the result of certain hearing cells dying forever and the brain interpreting their non-dendritic signals as a ringing.

Has to be. I fell asleep with my Airpods Max and I ALWAYS use noise canceling and my music is never loud. But this time i fell as sleep watching a movie and when the movie was done all sounds stopped. So how did I wake up with Tinnitus? Something to do with boise canceling. And the noise canceling on these headphones were amazing. Sad to say that I’ll never where them again. Sold them right after that. Didn’t even have them for 1 week. Apple also posted an article saying that 25% of there users will experience tinnitus. Thats a fat number assuming most people prefer apple products.