AirPods causing tinnitus?

The only comfort in reading other’s experiences is that my suspicion are true. It is not a coincidence. I have listened to music my whole life. It wasn’t until I started using AirPods Pro 2nd gen (never used any other AirPods), that tinnitus is onset and loud. I’m pretty upset that now I have hearing damage. The sound doesn’t go away, and keeps me awake at night.

There seem to be a lot of same thing I listen to music on my wife no problem. And I got Apple AirPods and now I’m telling the same horror story as everyone else. The question is what can we do about it?

It’s 11/10/22 and I’ve had AirPods Pro second generation for about a week. Me and my partner tried them with noise canceling and she immediately took it out because of some noise that messed with her head, while trying to put it in. I noticed it too, but because it’s my first time trying noise canceling I thought that’s how it’s supposed to be. Like a high pitch sound that’s strong. And now I have tinitus !!!! Are u kidding me ? Apple you damaged my hearing and now I have to live with this ? Clearly there’s people talking about it and having same issues, how is this not surfacing and how r u still making these products ? I cannot believe this. I’m returning my AirPods Pro tomorrow this is insane!

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.

Hetep 𓊵, as you will see many of us in this description have had the same experience.

Some suggestions when you want to check your audio level in your headphones control center. Two of you’re listening to the audiobook of music or anything you want to have some kind of time and ****, so whatever you’re listening to turns off in 15 or 30 minutes. You certainly das you will see many of us in this description have had the same experience.

Some suggestions when you want to check your audio level in your headphones control center. Two of your listening to the audiobook of music or anything you want to have some kind of time and ****, so whatever you’re listening to turns off in 15 or 30 minutes. You certainly don’t want to plan half the night in your ear.

But isn’t it interesting how Apple doesn’t really tell us these things to look out for. The information is there on your phone but you gotta dig it out and then only usually happens after you have a problem.

Interesting point you make. We never had these problems with wired earbuds. Yours started with this wireless stuff. It must be something in there.

Oh, and I think most of the people on this thread with tend to agree.

The question is what is it and even more importantly, how do we overcome it.

After just using AirPods Pro for about an hour , after taking them out, I have high pitch ringing in both ears, tinnitus. This is maybe the fourth time I used them, but I experience this tinnitus the last two times. Last time I use them the tinnitus went away after about 24 hours. I also have a pair of over ear, isolation headphones from a different manufacture, and never have experience this. I’ve been using this kind of devices all my life, and always keep the volume at a reasonable level.

It always amuses me when I see posts like this in a forum stating "My Airpods caused my tinnitus" and that there something wrong with them, followed by it has to be true because there are 37 pages describing this issue over the past 3 years.

Considering the fact that literally millions of people are using Airpods with no issues 200-300 people complaining in a forum that Airpods have caused their ear issue is hardly compelling evidence. Chances are you have an underlying condition that may be aggravated by a frequency.

Seeing you are all such experts - pick any make of headphone and you will find a number of people once again blaming the headphones regardless of the make

Here's one I found with a random search

https://www.reddit.com/r/bose/comments/lnt4cd/qc35_ii_causing_tinnitus_like_ringing/

Bottom line is if you have a sensitivity to Airpods or any headphones simply don't use them!!

I’ve been using AirPod Pros (gen 1) for 2 weeks now, never at high volume, and just noticed the ringing in my ears when trying to meditate. Last night I went to sleep with them in to take advantage of BrainFM (which recommends using noise cancelling headphones). I had a great night’s sleep (felt rested and had the most deep sleep I’ve seen on my Oura stats). Was looking forward to trying it again until I noticed the ringing.

I immediately suspected the AirPods given the timing and because I’ve noticed that the ANC can feel a little fatiguing at times; it’s more noticeable than with my over the ear Boses.

I’ve loved the AirPod Pros but will probably try to abstain and hope for the best. Sharing my experience since it seems like so many others are in a similar boat.

Hi thofli, thanks for detailing your situation. I have experienced exactly the same - I have just been using it for a week after not using for 3 months and my tinnitus got worse again. I hope yours got better since you don’t use AirPods Pro. However, wanted to check if you contacted Apple re the problem or still do not use them and ringing has gone? I’ll appreciate your response.

Modemmom wrote:

Do you work for Apple? You are really defending the AirPods pretty heavily here.

This is a user-to-user forum. Apple’s participation is minimal. The only people from Apple you’re likely to see posting are the Community Specialists. They are labeled as such.

Perhaps JimmyCMPIT just has a different opinion than you do.

Just adding my own experience. I have had the AirPod pro gen 2s for about a month and using them for conference calls at work. Ive had a very mild form of tinnitus with a high frequency whine for years, but after using the AirPods it’s gotten louder. I was using transparency mode and anc, and after either, the whine in my ears was much louder. I’ve previously used wired iems ($20 chus), Jabra 85ts, and Sony xm2s with no issue.

im going to try and return the pros and take a break from in ear headphones to see if it helps.

Hello All,

I thought I would add my voice to this conversation. Made the eco-system switch from Android to all Apple. I purchased an iPhone 14 Pro, and a set of AirPod Pro Gen2's, on November 14th. I started casually using them with ANC and Transparency ( did not honestly realize until this forum, that I could turn both options off). Anyway, up until about two weeks ago, my hearing was fine I think, then out of the blue, I noticed a high pitched ringing in my left ear, and a dull lower pitch in my right. I can only surmise, via the web, that this is indeed tinnitus. Today is 12/30/2022 and I am on day two of not using my airpods. Needless to say, I am very concerned. I am hoping the ringing settles down, or goes away. When I am in silent rooms, the ringing is quite severe. It certainly makes it difficult to focus on tasks.

I also want to point out, that I was aware that I had minor hearing loss prior to using these air pods. I suffered horrible ear infections as a kid, and have scarring in my ear drums from it. Also I worked in construction and in concert venues for a while..because yeah I was young dumb guy back then. Still my hearing loss is not awful. I consider myself cautious whenever I believe I will be in a siutation where there is high volume or noise.

I am curious about others experiences, in a more thorough way. For every one suffereing the same symptoms, did you always have ANC on? Same for Transparency? Have you tried turning it off to see if that improved the situation?

Do not like the idea that a pair of $250 "earbuds" could cause hearing damage.

One more real life tale to keep this thread going…

I produce music and am used to long sessions with mostly in-ear headphones at various volumes (as well as an occasionally noisy lifestyle) and have never had a problem with tinnitus. Finally switched from my regular wired earphones to airpods pro 2 and, after ONE intense day of use (mostly using ANC on two 4hr coach journeys), here I am 4 days later at 2am reading this thread as I also now have a distinct double-pitched ringing in mostly my left ear, as well as an increase in pressure around my face like when on a plane (all symptoms previously reported in this thread).

The thing is I got quite a bad cold a few days before that and was hoping that the ringing is more the result of a sinus infection as surely one day of airpod use wouldn’t be enough to trigger tinnitus… That would also explain the face pressure. Debating whether to return the pods immediately or wait it out till my cold/sinus infection fully clears up and hopefully this ringing along with it! But it’s worrying to say the least. Speaking of which I have been pretty stressed out this last month and as someone stated before, they think their tinnitus is solely anxiety-related so i find this another potential and interesting factor. But it was almost certainly the 1-day airpod session that triggered it as it occurred immediately after.

Hope everyone else is doing ok with it.

Same. I only listen to podcasts walking the dogs. What can be done to reverse it? If I stop using them for a period of time will it go away? Can I return my AirPods or file a claim? A shame. I loved them but this sound is making me crazy.

I’ve just recently noticed the excessive ringing in my ears. It’s getting worse and worse by the day especially when it’s time to go to sleep. I googled only to find out so many people are experiencing the same thing using AirPods. Oddly it’s only in one ear which is the ear I wear my airpod. I’m afraid this issue will persist long term and cause more damage. Apple should definitely be held accountable. This is not ok!