AirPods causing tinnitus?

I just found this thread. I opened my own thread here: AirPods Pro & Tinnitus - Reversable? - Apple Community

In it I laid out a timeline of events.

Tuesday: Got AirPod Pro 2s as a gift (was very excited to use them as I had been running a lot)

Friday: Noticed a ringing in my ears, but not that bad (like a 1-2)

Monday: Ringing was worse and not going away; called the audiologist (like a 3-4)

Friday: Audiologist found that I lost some upper ranges, but I'm in my upper 40s and not abnormal, everything else looked great.

Monday: Got off the phone with a friend after a 45 minute conversation. Took the AirPods out and the ringing shot up to a 7 . And that's when it hit me that it was AirPods causing it.

Tuesday: stopped using the AirPods completely and started to take Lipo Flavonoid

Wednesday (today). Back to 3-4. Hoping the trend continues and will be back to a 1 or lower by the end of the week (or two).

All in all, in a two week span these have really affected me for the worse. I know this thread is probably the 0.1% but Apple sells a lot of AirPods, so I'm sure there is a lot more that are affected.

Also, there is a Class Action Suite started. Look up Schmidt Law and you can sign up.

About 1 year ago, I'd started to experience a low frequency hum in my ears noticeable at night when going to sleep. I thought it must be a motor or perhaps some nearby neighbours pool filter running at a certain frequency.

Then a few months ago, the noise started to follow me around during the day and was a permanent condition.

I tried to pinpoint what may have been the beginning of the condition and thought it may be the iPod pros. I knew that since buying them, they were being used up to 4 hours a day for both phone calls and podcasts.

The hope was that in stopping using them, maybe the hum would go away. I still can't believe it but after only a week of stopping to use them, the hum has completely gone away. Its been about a month now.

Im sure this is rare and does not effect most 99.99% of users. I would never put those iPods pros in my ear again in the case that they trigger that hum again and that it becomes an irreversible condition for me.

I have the same problem. I suddenly developed nightly tinnitus episodes the first or second day that I began using the AirPod Pros. Any day that I use the ANC I will have at least one episode of tinnitus. I even noticed that the tinnitus was always happening at the same time

of evening, which was bizarre.

I’m now experimenting with using the AirPods without ANC. I’m at the end of day 2 and so far the tinnitus hasn’t acted up.

It’s strange and disappointing that there is this problem with the ANC on the AirPod Pros because I have a Bose aviation headset and a Sony over ear headphones, both with ANC, and I’ve never experience tinnitus even after heavily using both of them during a day.

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

Same here, my tinnitus begin after 6 month of daily usage (low volume) of AirPod Pro. It was 7 month ago, it's still there, so I think it's for life :/

But good news! If there is no cure for tinnitus, you can do A LOT on the perception you have on it. My first month was terrible (no sleep /anxiety), I bought a good book of a person who explain how to "rewire" your brain, so the tinnitus is not a threat any more, it can even be associate to a relaxing state. It worked well. It absolutely not bother my now, even at sleep time. Once you achieved to stop thinking of it, your brain will remove this useless signal, and you feel like exactly like it's not here.

My second tip: take care of your ears. If something feel wrong (like the AirPod Pro) or heart even just a little your ears, don't use it. I should have stop using AirPods sooner. Now i'm using wired headphone for work (audio call) without troubles.

There are a batch of APP manufactured before 2020 that are faulty. Get them replaced at the Genius Bar if it’s still in warranty. It’s a known fault. I dont use them with NC or transparency because i don’t trust them. Since I paid for the APP I’ll use them on ‘off’until they knacker out. This is the last time I’ll be buying AirPods of any kind.

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.

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.