AirPods causing tinnitus?

I have really bad tinnitus as well. I think the AirPods might have been a factor since I had no hearing issues before I started using them. It took a while to develop but I really have not been going out to hear music since the pandemic, except for one outdoor concert. I didn't notice any change to my hearing one day after the concert. Now, I have constant tinnitus where it sounds like humming in my ears all the time. The humming wakes me up at night when everything else is quiet. When I have music, the tv or a podcast on, I don't notice the humming. I'm not using my AirPods anymore. I'm using a speaker or over the ear headphones.

I remember reading years ago that AirPod like devices could cause hearing issues. However, I heard. no more about it, so assumed that it wasn't true since so many people were now using them. I'm wondering now if the tech world (not just Apple, but Bose, etc. ) managed to stop the criticism.

Hetep & Respect 𓊵👀 everyone, i have had the beats after apple bought them. Not a problem till I got the beats fit Pros. Like most of you, tinnitus it’s in my left ear.

i’m sorry to see so many other people have the same problem. Same chips from same Company. But it is also good to know that I am not along. I see the automatic replies on my iPhone.

I am trying herbs and a tinnitus meditation app from the App Store. It has helped a little but I still have that ringing in my left ear.

beWell

I went to an audiologist and he said that people don't get tinnitus from ear bud type listening devices unless the volume is way up.

I think my tinnitus may actually be from the covid vaccine and I'm not anti-vaccine. I didn't notice a problem until after my last covid vaccine in October.

I know for a fact now that my tinnitus is caused by the AirPods, tested it out.

Didn't wear them for a week at one point, ringing lowered, then one night with a loud A/C unit turning on since it heated up a bit, I placed them on for the night with their ANC to cover that noise.

The next morning woke up with the ringing back at its worst once again.

Stopped using it for another few days after I realized that they seem to affect me, the ringing went down again. I’m waiting for the ringing to go away for a while, and as others have mentioned, the right ear rings more than the left.

I have hypersensitivity on my ears, I’m surprised I didn’t catch this initially. I work with music and lately I haven’t been able to hear pitches like I used to causing me to get discouraged on my work.

I think I’ll be reaching out to Apple about this soon. Thank you for starting this thread.

The Exact same thing happen to me! I never have tinnitus in my life until I used my wife's AirPods! I only used them twice. The first time I used them for and about 35 minutes while comparing them to my Sennheiser over-ear noise canceling headphones that I'd been using for about a year, my tinnitus lasted about 3 hours. Then I used them again about 2 weeks later on a 90 minutes bike ride, my Iphone ear protection was set to 65db and I got tinnitus again! and this time it never went away! Its been 3 months now. I question my wife about her experience with them, she gets temporary tinnitus every time she uses them also. So are $250 AirPods are just collecting dust now. Apple should reimburse us and investigate the circuitry in their product. I never had any problem with tinnitus with Bose or Sennheiser noise canceling products only with AirPods, why?

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.

They are the AirPods Pro 2, the latest ones it seems.

I talked with Apple support and they helped me out!

They found out that it was one of the defective parts apparently when they got produced in 2020 I think?

👁️ got my replacement AirPods and have yet to test them over time.

When I have active noise cancellation on, taking off one pod, I notice there’s a sound wave distortion feeling as the ANC turns off in that ear. This is something that didn’t happen with my older defective ones. Might be a good thing?

Yes, tinnitus wasn’t an issue before. I always use hearing protection in loud environments.

I'm thinking there was a chip or software issue within the pods that caused this.

I have Headphone accommodations turned off. Personalized Spatial Audio on. The larger ear pieces (which are more comfortable than the medium or smalls I recently found out) for better ANC power.

Under accessibilities, definitely turned down the tones of the pods, not sure why they’re so loud to begin with.

If I get a reminder in a few weeks I’ll gladly give feedback how the replacements do with this issue here. 😊

Question for the people who experienced tinnitus with the AirPods:

Have you been using the AirPods only in one ear?

Single-ear Airpod use can cause an imbalance for the hearing mechanism, but also, people often listen to louder volumes than usual, when using only one airpod. This is because the open ear is hearing the outside, so you tend to increase the volume to hear the single AirPod better. And you would believe that the volume is not that loud due to the open ear, but in fact, it might sometimes be twice as loud as normal.

First time using Airpods (AirPods Pro 2). Low volume, spa music and relaxation sounds. Notice air pressure buildup after 1-hr of use and tinnitus after removing them. Definitely related to noise canceling in one form or another. I smell a class action lawsuit brewing.

I have been dealing with an ear infection (inner ear) in both ears for about three weeks. The tinnitus was so bad that it was louder than my TV, truck engine, outside road noise. It has been non stop. Yesterday it was 80% better. Just talking and room noise would cancel it out. I have been very lax on my workouts because of this and yesterday finally said, that is it. I am going to work out. I did so for one hour. I went hard on that treadmill. It was awesome. I wore my AirPods Pro 2's and used the ANC. IMMEDIATELY when I got off the tread mill (I walk very brisk on an incline, not run) I could hear the ringing loudly again. Sitting at my desk it was overpowering. Going to sleep it was loud, and now today, it is louder than I can take again. I didn't wear the AirPods for 4 days. It got constantly better and the first time that I put them back in, boom. It is back with a vengeance. I am not going to wear them for 7 days and see if it gets better. If it does, then I will be done with the AirPods Pro 2's. I will find an over the ear (no anc) design. I just don't think that there has been enough research with enough variables. I will update if it does get better without use.

When in ear devices first came out, there were all sorts of warnings and alarms about how they could cause hearing loss and that people should stick to over ear headphones. Then that discussion stopped. I wonder if research didn't support it or if big business/big tech just silenced the discussion.

Well, I’ve been wearing earbuds quite a bit for the past six months and noticed about two weeks ago noise in my left ear. I have only use it mostly in my left ear and now I cannot hear very well at all went to doctor. He prescribed some pills and no score stuff for five days but it’s on my fourth day no change yet. I am wondering if my hearing will come back which is about 50% in my last year of what it was my next step I guess he’ll be an otologist to see if my hearing is damaged forever I had no hearing problems before this. I’ve worked in noisy environment so anyway, it is concerning. Bothersome but not painful.

ijk Las Vegas

This happened to my Airpod Pros. They would emit a high pitched sound when put them in the ear before music is played. I ended up getting them warranty repaired because they were defective. I believe it had to do with something being wrong with the exterior mic and when the sound cancelling turns on it would do that. If yours does, warranty it, then you can sell them as refurbished if you want to get something else.

Is not just airpods I experienced the same thing with a sony wh-1000xm3. After 1 year using them daily I developed a noticeable tinitus, I stopped using the noise cancelling and use them as regular headphones, the symptoms haven’t gotten worse.

I think is constant over pressure on the ears that causes the tinitus.

I fell asleep with my left AirPod in and woke up to it, blasting away over 100 dB. I think I can’t remember exactly, but I will be going to otologists as soon as possible as I have very little hearing now in my left ear. I don’t know what made the volume go up, but I can barely hear in my left ear huge bummer.