AirPods causing tinnitus?

It's so strange that this topic is still going on. Noise-cancelling headphones, including the AirPods, do not cause tinnitus. At least, not in the sense that everyone is using here. Noise-cancelling headphones are just emitting waves to cancel out the sounds. If it does a really good job, there is no sound. That does not cause tinnitus or damage your hearing. What is happening is that your brain does not get any input because there is no or so little sound. The only thing the brain has left is the slight tinnitus that ALMOST EVERYONE has. You never notice it because you don't know it is there, and always covered in background noise. Because it is the only "sound" there, your brain will amplify the sound. If the brain does that, you could start noticing it. Therefore, it is a bad idea to sleep with those things or create total silence. This will also happen if you're in a soundproof room, like those in some prisons.

People can indeed experience tinnitus after using Airpods or any good noise-cancelling headphones. It is not true that this damage is due to (dysfunctioning) Airpods. It is because of the lack of sound.

The ringing in my ears continues to persist 2-3 weeks after I noticed it but it’s becoming more manageable. I haven’t used them since it developed. I wasn’t able to sleep for the first week but I started leaving the tv on while sleeping which has helped block out the ringing, in addition to using a fan.

The only thing that has helped me is sleeping better as well as having background noise of any sort all of the time.

I’ve never had the problem before in my life until using them for 3 days for literally 2-3 hours a day for work calls and a few songs.

I had tinnitus after I started using airpods pro. I stopped using headphones for a while, and the tinnitus almost disappeared. I put the headphones back on and the tinnitus increased. I went to the doctor and he advised me not to use this model. he told me similar patients come. I decided I will not use airpods pro anymore. previous model was better and I can return. health is more important than everything

I reported to Apple last week that I got tinnitus after wearing their Air Pods a very short time. I used the original ones for years quite comfortably. But after 6 weeks of AirPod Pros (which I returned because they were uncomfortably big for my ears even with the small tip) and after just a few days of wearing 3rd Generation, I was pulling them out while on my walks. I heard something odd and the sound, even at the lowest level which I always kept it at, was doing strange things to my inner ear. Once I got into the house, I heard what I'd describe as extremely loud room tone. Subsequently I realized that was what others called ringing in their ears. I immediately returned those as well. It could have been a combination of the two models, but my problem was not noticeable till after I wore 3rd Generation. I never set up Noise Cancellation manually in the Pros, but it's entirely possibly I inadvertently set it up as I often carried the air pods around in my hand before putting them away or putting them on. By the time I got 3rd generation, which doesn't have noise cancellation, the damage was done and soon became noticeable. My ENT confirmed a little hearing loss, though not necessarily anything other than natural progression. But he said most people getting tinnitus from these air pods who he has seen as patients, had Noise Cancellation on. My call with Apple was recorded as "feedback." No one feels responsible for giving people a condition which may last their entire lives, often being quite disruptive. I almost never listened to music--instead, used them indoors on phone calls or outdoors listening to people speaking on news stations. I always made a point to turn commercial blocks off and listened at the lowest level...and still, I got tinnitus from them. That tells me these are not safe and when I read here what others experience from them, I would say there is a substantial portion of the population getting ear damage in some form or other directly from Apple's AirPods.

I had already posted twice over last year and this year, its time for an update: I don't believe the Airpods gave me tinnitus.

After trying the Airpods Pro in 2021, my T did increase yes, but it went back down, until I got anxious about other things possibly giving me T and it went up again. I sold my pros, and somehow got it into my mind that wireless earbuds are harming me. Suddenly, every wireless earbud I put into my ears increased my T. Everyone. Even ones that did nothing before. I stuck using wired earbuds for a year, until I faced my fears and tried wireless again. The first week was tough, but after a while the T remained at the same level. No effect. Last week, I was abroad and bought the Airpods 3. No ANC, just earphones. They did nothing to me. Until I started getting anxious and remembered this and other threads, and suddenly my T spiked again.

In my case, I think it is anxiety. Even when I wear the airpods in one ear only, the other ear whistles as well. This is anxiety and a nocebo effect. I don't think wireless earbuds are harming us.

After my partner gave me AirPods as a gift, I noticed increasing and consistent tinnitus, despite keeping volumes very low and living in a consistently quiet environment. It became worse whenever I used the AirPods.

I stopped using my AirPods entirely and the tinnitus disappeared after two months. When visiting relatives, I used them a few times on work calls and the tinnitus immediately returned.

The technology appears to be faulty. I believe Apple, its competitors and regulators need to take these complaints seriously, as evidence of a possible public health risk.

The sheer frequency of additional comments (5-6 per month) on this thread indicates that the air pods pose a significant hazard to ear health.

I am not a doctor but I think the air-tight seal created by some of these devices (especially air pods pro) causes moisture built up in the ears and then eventually results in problems like tinnitus.

The only solution I have found on this so far is not to keep wearing them for a long duration. I have started actively removing them as soon as I am done with them (usually 15-30 mins use) and my tinnitus has completely gone away!

I use headphones for watching movies etc now, only occasional extended use of air pods.

The only problem I have with apple and other companies now is their marketing strategy of portraying these devices as usable for long times in a stretch, which is evidently bad for ear health!

I think if they want to do it, that should be with a warning.

Hope this helps everyone going through the problem.

Since posting, I've quit using my AirPod Pro Gen2's cold turkey. Thankfully my annoying ringing sound has died back down. I still have some very slight ringing but it's not so loud that it distracts me like it was before. I may try to keep using them in transparent mode now just to see if the ringing gets loud again now that I know it's a temporary thing. Regardless I'm never using the ANC again.

Hi sora2key.

I read you had problems with your "Airpods". Which model of them?

I'm also pretty sure they GIVE me tinnitus but in my case it's only the Airpods Max that give me that.

I have all the models of Airpods. But all "in_ear-models" I seem to be able to use without problems. But when I started using Apple Airpods Max, my tinnitus problem appeared. I have never had a problem with tinnitus in my life.

Summery: in my case it is ONLY the Airpods Max that give me tinnitus.

Apple have to fix this bug. I believe like several of you that it is the 'listening' of microphones and the 'sounding' of speakers that causes this. It is simply 'wrong frequencies' being sent into our heads.

One or two weeks without my Airpods Max - makes my tinnitus go away.

I wore my gen 2 airpods today while in a coffee shop, and while walking through my neighborhood, on quiet streets as well as streets with car traffic. I had noise cancellation on for most of the time.

When I got home and removed the airpods, I noticed a persistent ringing in my right ear. The ringing has persisted for about 2 hours now.

After 30 minutes of persistent ringing in my right ear, I contacted Apple Support about this issue. Obviously, there wasn't much the advisor could do, but they were very kind and willing to try to help.

The advisor had me do a factory reset on my airpods and try to see if the issue was resolved. I did the factory reset and reconnected my airpods as requested, but I let the advisor know there was nothing I could do to see if the problem was resolved, since the ringing in my ear had not yet subsided.

They also asked me to remove the gummies from the airpods and put them in my ear to see if the problem persisted. This time, I told them I was uncertain how to follow the instructions, since I could not confirm anything, as the ringing in my ear was still present. They said that was okay that I didn't do those steps, and instead they shared a link with me to set up an appointment at the apple store.

I will go to the appointment to see if there is something wrong with my airpods. I will also let Apple know - using the case number provided by the advisor - if and when the ringing in my ear stops.

If the ringing in my ear continues longer than 2-3 days, I will reach out to Apple anyway and let them know the ringing still persists.

My worry is that the ringing is due to prolonged exposure to sound that I could not detect while wearing the airpods with noise cancellation enabled. I am worried that either an external sound I was not able to detect or the noise cancellation itself may have caused permanent damage to my hearing.

If the ringing in my ear goes away, I think my hearing is less likely to have suffered permanent damage. However, whether the ringing persists forever or not - especially if it persists for a long time - Apple should know the details and be engaged in the situation immediately.

I am sure that Apple cares a lot about their customers and wants to keep their product from damaging people's hearing permanently or temporarily. I think it is important for us to share all the details with them as soon as possible.

Like I said, I intend to keep Apple updated on the ringing in my ear. Hopefully they can work with me to advise and help me in the event my hearing is damaged due to the airpods.

Here is the main point:

I want to emphasize that I did not hear any abnormally loud sounds while wearing the airpods. I also want to emphasize that noise cancellation was on for most of the time, and for a good portion of the time I was not listening to audio with the airpods. I was merely enjoying the quiet offered by the noise cancellation, like a lot of people in this thread.

I think the issue to worry about is that there might be frequencies of sound I cannot detect while wearing the airpods with noise cancellation enabled - either external sounds or sounds produced by the airpods during noise cancellation - which are harmful to my hearing even if I cannot discern them to be overly loud.

If that is the case, Apple may need to emphasize to its users that noise cancellation feature is not the same as active ear protection, and that using airpods noise cancellation in place of active ear protection can actually mislead you to expose yourself to sounds that can damage your ears, either instantly or over a long period of time.

There's a good chance if you stop using them altogether, the tinnitus will subside. It took about two weeks for mine to go away with zero use. I occasionally still use mine for Zoom calls but keep the volume very low and limit the amount of time to under an hour. The ringing I had was not severe but it would wake me in the morning which was annoying and alarming. I'm very disappointed that Apple hasn't addressed this as well. I've grown to trust their products and this issue is a major betrayal for loyal customers like me. Good that you're under a doctor's care, but I'm confident your problem is directly linked to the Airpods.

Mine started in March. It's still here.

I have to say that it improved a bit, some days is less loud than others, but it's here.

I've tried to check with audiologist, dentist (to exclude it is caused by bruxism), physiotherapist (to exclude it is caused by muscles) and I'll meet another more specialized audiologist at the end of October.

Since then I did the following things to try to help:

1. No more AirPods (of course)
2. No more loud noises, I got some earplugs to keep with me just in case I'm exposed to loud noises
3. Healthier diet (no alcohol, no coffee, less salt... you can find some suggestion on what to eat online easily)
4. App - there are some apps on the App Store designed for tinnitus, they don't resolve the issue, but sometimes, when you can't stand it, they help a bit.

I'm trying all I can, honestly I hope my life won't be like this forever.

I’ve been wanting to respond and maybe provide some reassurance to folks and how I have gotten better than I was with the tinnitus. It was horrible at first and took a long time to diminish with some effort. I sent the AirPods back and was able to get a refund. I tried using over ear headphones and earbuds but both made the tinnitus worse after the ringing had started. I haven’t used ear buds (unfortunately) for a couple of months. I used masking (free Widex Zen app) to be able to sleep when it was really bad. This was recommended by my audiologist who also confirmed no hearing loss. Then I decided to try not having silence around me because that’s when I noticed it most. It seems like we can retrain the brain to ignore this signal but only by training it to be distracted by other, non harmful sound. So I listen to audiobooks on a small wearable Bluetooth speaker much of the time if there is not some other background noise. After many weeks of this I can say that my ringing in the left ear is only noticeable at times. It is much, much better, but I don’t know if I’ll be able to wear earbuds again. Hope that helps somebody.

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I've owned Apple AirPod Pro's for about a year now. I primarily use them for work conference calls (3 - 4 hours every day). I also listen to music sometimes (classical or movie soundtracks), but not at high levels. About a month ago, I developed tinnitus in both ears. I have a very high pitch ringing sound in my right ear, which varies in intensity and a lower pitch varied ringing in both my ears. I've been to my primary care provider, an ENT and had my hearing tested. My ears and hearing are perfectly normal, except for the tinnitus. At its worst, I couldn't sleep for four days. It was horrible. So I stopped using the AirPod Pro's all together for several weeks and my tinnitus significantly improved, but it hasn't gone away entirely. In particular, the varied ringing I hear in both ears almost completely went away (it drastically reduced in volume) and the very high pitch ring in my right ear seemed to come and go. I had days where it was gone entirely. With things improving, I recently started using the AirPod Pro's again for work conference calls (2 - 3 hours per day). My tinnitus is now back again, just as it originally started. I'm not looking for medical advice, but I wanted to share my experience since others are having similar issues. For me, it's not hearing loss induced tinnitus since my hearing is perfectly normal. In my opinion, there does seem to be a correlation between wearing the AirPod Pro's and increased tinnitus symptoms. Since everything has been checked out by doctors and audiologists, I do think the AirPods Pro's either caused or majorly contributed to the ringing I'm currently experiencing in my ears. I do think perhaps it's something with their ANC technology. I love Apple products, but I won't be wearing the AirPod Pro's anymore. I do hope at some point Apple addresses this issue since there are a number of people reporting same or similar problems. For those suffering from tinnitus, there are some great tracks on YouTube that really help mask the ringing sound. I'm happy to share the ones that I've found helpful. Best of luck!

I didn’t get my tinnitus from airpods but if you come here distressed about the constant ringing in your ears, I can certainly give advice having lived with this for 20 years. First, protect your ears and stop using airpods or anything you think is contributing to the ringing. Second, accept that you may have to live with tinnitus forever or until there is a cure which is unlikely. Third, if it’s distressing to hear ringing in your ears, know that although tinnitus might be forever, the distress will not be. You will eventually tune it out. Your brain adjusts. I don’t hear ringing unless I want to, meaning if I give attention to it like I am now since I’m writing about tinnitus, it can seem quite loud. But after I’m done writing this, it will go back into the background as usual. It can take a couple of months for this to happen but it will happen, I can guarantee it. So take care of your ears and don’t worry if you are right now. It will get better. Also, if it makes you feel better, go to a doctor but they were not helpful to me. A thorough hearing test may help to determine what frequencies you can no longer hear and here lies what the theory is, that the brain replaces that frequency you can no longer hear with ringing. Once again, take care of yourself. Getting a fan or a white noise generator helps or listen to music/environmental sounds (without AirPods). Hope this helps.