AirPods causing tinnitus?

So it has been three weeks. Was getting better. Used them one day got so much worse. I do have an ear infection 100%. On day 13 of antibiotics right now. I honestly can't say 100% that they caused the tinnitus, but I can say that I am done with in ear earbuds. Only over the ear from now on for me. I don't ever want to go through this ever again. It has been ****!

I have also started experiencing this after using AirPods for 11 months. No other headphones have done this to me. I would listen on very low volume and started noticing the ringing intensifying when in my ears. I don’t want to use them anymore out of fear of further ear damage. Now I have very sensitive ears and cannot even tolerate loud voices in a room. I regret using these. :/

I have never has issues with my ears until I used the Pro series of Apple Ear buds. All other models work perfectly fine. I now have nonstop ringing in both ears. I only use earbuds for conference calls so it's not caused by loud music or movies as noted in other posts. Apple needs to stop with whatever technology this is that is causing hearing loss.

I never had ringing in my ears until after I started using airpod pros. It didn't happen right away, it took several months but would agree for some people like us, something about them may have triggered it. Maybe the bluetooth wave signal literally beaming through your head? You all have convinced me to at least stop using them altogether for a bit and see if it gets better. it's so bad i can't even stand it.

Heads up the current CV-19 going around can cause swelling in the eardrum that can cause tinnitus. Talk to your doctor asap if you notice tinnitus. It could be both or one or the other of course, but this info is important to be talked about.

Hum I had Covid 19 in Nov of last year, my ears did clog up for about 4 weeks. ENT Doc did put me on steroids to clear up inflammation, but I had no tinnitus until after I use AirPods I used a few weeks later.....

I've used Apple iphones and earphones for over 13 years and more recently used Airpods gen 2 for the past couple of years. I usually use them for listening to Audiobooks whilst commuting and on holiday, I have noticed that since I have used them I have developed tinnitus which has gotten worse the more I use them. I don't have the volume on loud whatsoever. I wasn't sure if it was the Airpods that had caused it but searching about tinnitus and Airpods has led me to this discussion. I have a constant high pitched ringing, most prominent in my left ear. I have used eardrops to see if it was wax that was causing the issue but it wasn't. I'm now convinced that my Airpods have caused my tinnitus, I used the Apple wired earphones for many years and never experienced tinnitus with those, it's only since I bought Airpods that I've had this problem.

I've had the AirPod Pro's 2nd gen for about 3 months now, I'm 23 years old with no previous hearing issues (and never experienced tinnitus), but whenever I use the AirPods for a few hours (low volume) I get really loud ringing in my left ear. So disappointing given the price of these things. I love them and their sound cancelling feature, but its not worth damaging my hearing in my early 20s.

Guessing you didn’t experience the screeching sounds that the first airpod pros did and got guaranteed warranty replacement because it was defective & emitting high pitched tones as you place them in your ear. Not everything is black and white, stop bullying people discussing their issues. Even if we’re potentially wrong, we have the right to discuss it.

With no intention of bullying, I want to spread information about this subject. If you get tinnitus from the screeching sounds, it is related to the volume of this sound (just like every other sound). You get hearing damage from the volume, not from just a high pitch alone. Of course, you can discuss whatever you want. But if you falsely conclude that you got tinnitus or hearing damage from using a specific model or ANC, you're putting your ears at risk since you will expose them to the real cause in the future.

Vincee95 wrote:

With no intention of bullying, I want to spread information about this subject.

And you're doing a great job. Unfortunately, some people mistake a civil disagreement for "bullying". But, I think your good intentions are obvious.

No, we don't. The paper is about the frequency of hearing loss among students that use using electroacoustic devices. I think it is general known that you can get hearing loss from using devices. There is a clear relation between volume & duration and hearing loss. Also in the paper mentioned above, the authors state that 1/4th of the sample listen on high volume settings and almost 80% listen more than 1 hour on a daily basis. There is absolutely no science behind the statements that are made in this topic. Because:

(1) There is no correlation between specific models, like the Apple one, and hearing loss.

(2) There is also no correlation between noise cancellation and hearing loss.

One of these points should is necessary to be able to call that there is science behind all these claims. It is more likely that the conclusions are too made in this topic are not correct and that there is another cause for percieved hearing loss/tinnitus. Unfortunately, I have the idea that most people in this topic are blind to that and keep exposing their ears to risks.

Best regards, a noise-induced tinnistus/hearing loss sufferer.

Same thing happened to me after using AirPod pro 2nd G for an hour, trying to block out noisy neighbours! First time I had used them. If they don’t give you tinnitus then they were brilliant and effective!

I just have experience a very loud high pitched tone from airpod pros just now (Volume at just below halfway on macbook, in a quiet library setting), and after about 3-5 mins the ringing ended. But it certainly originated from the airpods, so much so that I pulled them out of my ears in near pain at the nosie they made.

So I wouldn't dismiss the claims so quickly, I am young and with great hearing so i noticed the noise; but for those who are older the Hz might have been out of their audible range and could easily have caused damage.

I am in the same situation as you, I have used my Airpods pro for over 2 years now, and this is a recent development; I think the air pods themselves might be faulty and are "accidently" producing damaging tones to my ears; but I will be sticking to my headphones from now on.