How to turn off hearing protection

same issue here ...not using headphones, using bluetooth speaker in the car & keep getting notificiations & sound reduction- whilst driving! ...this is frankly dangerous & should be removed until the iphone knows what type of bluetooth device is connected

Here’s a temporary fix for your problem:

1 - first go to the app “health”

2 - go to the hearing section

3 - click on “noise levels” (headphones)

4 - scroll all the way down to “show all data”

5 - click on change/edit (top right corner)

6 - delete all your data (top left corner)

4 - scroll al the way down to “data sources and acces”

5 - scroll down to your device, if u have 2 or more devices repeat the next process on all devices

6 - click on change/edit (top right corner)

7 - delete all your data (top left corner)

you have to try both number 4th option

this is probably temporarily for you, because you’ll probably reach the limit again in a few days

i hope this helps for you guys!

and sorry for my bad english

Well of course I googled what was going on and turned it off because I had originally had it on, (the default setting when you first purchase the iPhone 12 Pro Max I’m sure), with the Decibels at maxed.

I got the notification about my tend of listening to music too loud, googled, found the solution to turn it off. And it continues to do it. So having turned it on again with maxed decibels as suggested it is still lower than what it used to be on my 11 pro max, and every other iPhone I’ve had...

so this is it? We don’t have any other solutions? I’m just going to be forced to have my music lowered by an electronic device that someone decided to take charge of how loud my music is but doesn’t know I’m tone def and I need my music loud... just screw it up for everyone collectively right...?

PLEASE tell me there’s something else we can do to fix this crap. Kk thnx

see if this works. Go to your sound settings and disable the alert volume option. Set that manually. Now your up down buttons will only control your headphone volume. I have always found this annoying when I want to adjust my volume for listening. If there umis no music playing, it will change your alert level. Very annoying! They should put the alert level as an option on the control center just like Droid. The side buttons should only be for master volume.

Same problem. I use my phone on Bluetooth for music in my car, on my workshop stereo speakers and with a wired connection to my computer, my bedside Bose and my computer and this dumb system thinks all of them are "headphones".

This thing used to be called a "smartphone". Gonna have to change that to dumbphone!

How long before it starts nagging me to move my bowels?

This is the most irritating thing Apple have done since they forced a U2 album on me.

I was considering an iPhone 12, but that's on hold till they get rid of this moronic "service"!

I've tried absolutely everything that you suggest. It can be disabled but not permanently. My main issue is that I'm deaf and my hearing aids are paired with my phone - anything below 85dB is inaudible. So I HAVE to turn the volume up. The 'protect your hearing' feature is a menace

I found my way here after scratching my head as to why the audio on my BT enabled amplifier setup kept dropping dramatically.

I work in the audio industry and so I fully appreciate what Apple is trying to do with this new feature. Too many people walk around with ear buds or full headphones on with the volume set at a level that over time WILL (not might) cause permanent hearing loss. So I applaud the effort.

That said, the current implementation is NOT ready for mass roll-out. I have dozens of audio devices (again, I work for a major audio brand) that are BlueTooth enabled that are NOT headphones, and many have their own volume control built in. The best way to use such a device is to have the BT source, in this case my iPhone 12, send full volume to the BT receiver, and then let the receiver device scale it with its local volume control. This new feature prevents that from being possible.

Apple needs to push out an update ASAP that allows this feature to be disabled until it can be better refined.

As for suggested improvements...

1) Provide a way to classify a BT device as "headphones" or not. You can even make the safe default that all devices are headphones, but give me a way to go into the BT devices specific settings and set the device type with a "headphone" check box or something, and then use this setting to decide if the headphone hearing protection feature should apply to the source or not. Simple enough.

2) Rather than immediately cutting the volume, provide a couple of notifications that it is going to happen. Like "You have exceeded X minutes over the safe listening level for headphones, your volume will be automatically reduced in 30 minutes" or something like that. Maybe a second warning at the 5 minute mark. This would give the user a chance to know what is happening and either update the settings or make adjustments on their own. However having used my phone as a source for several official events, I know that having the music abruptly drop out is not acceptable.

Again, I appreciate the efforts that are being taken to make people aware of the consequences of their choices. But this one needs some additional refinement.

I am so sick of Apple adding Features that I don't want that I cannot disable permanently. Im Deaf in my left ear I don't use an earphone in it So this hearing protection feature just makes me unable to use my phone for any purpose at all. Come Payday im Switching back to a Samsung phone, at least Android doesn't force this stuff on me.

I have an old set of Anker earbuds that are pretty quiet. I don’t think Apple has taken into account that some headsets simply aren’t as loud as others. I find this mildly infuriating as I use earbuds at work and I can’t hear content over regular shop noises, sanders, air compressor etc.

you need 14.4

then when you connect via settings/ bluetooth you have the option in 'info' to change device type to car stereo, headphone, hearing aid, speaker or other ...some devices need to be forgotten & connected again though first (my JBL speaker didn't need to do this, but both of my Tunai Firefly's did)

This is really ******* me off. I am mostly deaf. I called apple support. the rep claimed upgrading to IOS 14.4 from 14.2 would solve the problem. he didn’t seem to know that apple states this cannot be changed. i told him i didn't really want to do that. of course i lost him as i go to update. ( he wanted to adjust it to my hearing aids. THEY SOUND like total crap. i just want to listen without the hearing aids. they won't even stay on. joke. RESound made me 10 different pairs) HE (Apple) WASN'T LISTENING TO ME! So, i thought i would try 12 mini a little longer before i return it. well i tried to listen again today and sure enough as soon as The Unforlgiven comes on I could barely make out what song was playing. some one on here said to try to TURN On reduce loud sounds and turn it up to 100 decibels. Didn't work for me. i can barely hear anything. Thanks again controlling Apple! 

Does anybody know if this will NOT happen on say iOS 13 something. like if i buy a refurbished 11 pro, so i can get BOTH night mode and i can also HEAR MY f MUSIC!!?? THANK YOU!

DID NOT WORK FOR ME. (THE PERSON THAT GAVE 3 STEPS TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM IN BLUETOOTH)

I UPDATED TO 14.4 AND NOTHING. BLUETOOTH DOESN'T EVEN GIVE AN OPTION FOR EARPODS.

WAIT, DUH!!! THESE ARE JUST PLUGGED INTO PHONE. SO I TURNED OFF BLUE TOOTH AND I CAN HEAR THE MUSIC AGAIN. HOPE IT KEEPS WORKING. I HAVE TWO MORE DAYS LEFT TO RETURN THIS PHONE. ( I'LL UPDATE IF STOPS WORKING AGAIN.) BUT I WON'T BE ABLE TO REPLY IN CORRECT PLACE ON HERE AS IS THE CASE RIGHT NOW.

Don’t SHOUT.

Apple branded head and ear phones will not offer this workaround for obvious legal reasons . Get some other branded phones if you want to exceed WHO health guidelines.

But if you ruin your ears we might have to SHOUT BACK.

I have had this same problem on both my iPhone and iPad. I was able to fix it on my phone, but the iPad will not let me either click on the Reduce Sound Levels (which is greyed out and stuck in ON in light green), nor can I change the Decibel level (greyed out and stuck at 85db). I never listen to headphones, always a bluetooth speaker at varying distances, so I definitely want to override it. Right now I can barely hear anything, whereas on the phone (same bluetooth speaker) I can hear fine now. iPad 6G w 14.4.1. Thank you.

luckysilver777 wrote:

I have had this same problem on both my iPhone and iPad. I was able to fix it on my phone, but the iPad will not let me either click on the Reduce Sound Levels (which is greyed out and stuck in ON in light green), nor can I change the Decibel level (greyed out and stuck at 85db). I never listen to headphones, always a bluetooth speaker at varying distances, so I definitely want to override it. Right now I can barely hear anything, whereas on the phone (same bluetooth speaker) I can hear fine now. iPad 6G w 14.4.1. Thank you.

Then you need to make sure that your BT speakers are properly listed as speakers. Go to Settings>Bluetooth and tap on the little "i" in a circle to the right of the speaker name. Make sure that Device Type is set to speaker, not Headphone.