AirPods causing tinnitus?

I agree with you, Its just that the Airpods(like other iems) could have an specific trait that could be tied to the problem.

Most people could have mild tinnitus and just discover once they try a noise canceling in-ear for the first time, that is totally possible.

I purchased my AirPods in mid-March because it seemed more efficient than dealing with the wires of the EarPods while having to wear a mask. Unfortunately, I’ve also experienced 24hr ringing in my ear for the last month. It’s impacting every aspect of my life (sleep, concentration, mood) and is deeply disturbing. I saw my ENT last who prescribed a hearing test. I’m one month into this and will no longer use anything in my ear until this resolves.

Was your ENT able to explain how would airpods cause this? There must be some scientific explanation behind this. My doctor said it could have been an irritation/mild infection of some sort and gave me ear drops. I stopped using them for almost a month now and it seems to be coming and going. I just don’t see how airpods would cause this unless you were blasting the volume which I wasn’t...

I got Air Pods for my birthday. I was so excited. I used them for a week (for some work calls and personal on low volume because I like ambient noise) and by the end of the week I actually felt a sharp pain in my right ear. I immediately took them out and sent them back. Ever since Then I noticed slight ringing/buzzing in my ears but more predominantly on the right. I might have had an underlying issue or sensitivity before but something with these air pods exacerbated the issue and I have NEVER felt a sharp pain like that before in my right ear. Before this I used regular ear buds. These air pods have highly sophisticated technology in them (batteries, sensors etc) more so than a wired ear bud. I heard people talking about a high pitched sound coming out of the device and I hope Apple is investigating this. I am only 48 years old and I pray that my ears recover from this and don’t get worse.

Some of the posts have voiced complaints that just having the Airpods in, with no sound on, still produces a high-pitched ringing. The product seems to generate a pitch that one's ear replicates after they're removed, almost like a phantom sound. I wasn't able to hear the ringing until I took them out but others hear it all the time, particularly in the left ear.

Hi ViperKing, unfortunately mine still persists. I havent used the AirPods Pro since my post, and I've cut back on using headphones in general, but the tinnitus is still there. Thankfully it hasn't gotten worse. It may have gotten a little milder (hard to say) or at the very least it doesn't bother me as much anymore. The audiologist I saw couldn't diagnose the cause but we did a hearing test and I dont have hearing damage.

Hey, I'm sorry to hear you're going through this, I know it's tough. I've been dealing with the ringing for 2 weeks now, and unfortunately it has not went away, yet. It has improved significantly, so I'm hoping it will go away, yet. It gets better. Hang in there. My best advice is to stop worrying about whether the ringing will go away or not. I was thinking about it too much and making it worse by stressing. Try to relax and allow your body to heal itself, and definitely stay away from ANY loud noises.

I have the same problem to. Just got back from the doctor...and loss of earing on the left ear :-( My hearing level was always OK a 0-5 dB HL on all frequency HZ (in my previous medical tests). But in my recent exams, after noticing the tinnitus, my left ear hearing capacity has deteriorate to 50 dB on the 8K hz frequency. But the worst is the permanent tinnitus :-(

My AirPods 100% just gave me tinnitus. I was listening to music with noise transparency on. Heard my wife call me in the other room and took them out. As I walked in the other room my ears felt funny, like all jacked up and going in and out, dizzying. I now have ringing in my left ear which I didn't have before. It's giving me horrible anxiety.

If this doesn't go away in the next day or so I'm going to doc, and calling an attorney.

I can’t edit my original post but I wasn’t clear enough. Yea, my normal AirPods were no issue at all. The AirPods Pro caused the issue for me. I believe it has to do with noise cancellation or transparency feature.

I have the same issue with my new AirPods Pro causing tinnitus in both ears. I used them 3 times overnight in noise cancellation mode to help me fall asleep - and they worked very well at blocking out ambient noise - but when I woke up on the 3rd morning I had a loud constant high pitch ringing in both ears (tinnitus). It was very noticeable and a completely different waking up experience to prior mornings. The only thing that could have caused the tinnitus was the AirPods. I am returning them to Amazon for a full refund after only having received them a few days ago. I am disappointed as they worked fine for noise cancellation, but not at the cost of giving me tinnitus which I expect will clear itself up over the next few days.

I totally agree this happens constantly and I can’t get it to stop. I have purchased earplugs for this very thing and it’s so incredibly distracting and my ears are left high pitched tones of tinnitus consistency, welcoming this ringing weekly. The earplugs are great for this but I wear them like I wear glasses.

One evening, after listing to music using my Airports, I started hearing a high pitch noise in my head. I went to see a specialist as soon as possible, and I was diagnosed with symmetrical hearing loss and tinnitus (high pitch noise only you can hear).

Has anyone had a similar experience?

I think apple, just like Tabacco companies, should disclose any health-related issues that might arise from using their products. And when I say tell consumers, I am not saying bury it within the fine print that none reads, but rather make a clear audio/visual disclosure when setting up the product.

As I mentioned, I am reasonably certain that the AirPods Pro caused my Tinnitus after using it for few hours. I bought mine online from a big-box retail store and I tried to returned it today. They told me the serial number on the box and EarPods don't match! Now I am not sure what's going on?!

Here is a paper I found that discusses what happens when researchers put ear plugs in the study participants ears and then researched the results based on previous research on tinnitus. the outcomes are interesting as they correspond to the discussion on this page about tinnitus. The interesting point here is simply constantly using ear plugs causes the brain to adjust the sensitivity of the nerves in the ear eventually causing phantom sounds to occur in the participants ears. This makes me think that these symptoms that all of us are discussing could have more to do with keeping airpods in our ears for long periods of time and less about the audio causing damage to our hearing. Its a quick read. Check it out here : https://www.tinnitusresearch.net/images/files/migrated/downloads/TinnitusResearchArticleSeries_forTRI_5_Schaette.pdf