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.
