AirPods Pro picking up background noise on call

Has Apple fixed this yet? So many complaints and my son has the same problem. Background noises are amplified louder than his voice. If he walks over a freeway overpass the traffic noise it picks up is unbearable. If he is in a coffee shop, the background noise will get louder and louder until I can no longer hear him at all. It’s as if the mic gain is increasing to pick up the background noises. Today I was talking to him and after a few minutes all I could hear was the background music blasting and he said it was playing at low volume in the coffee shop. My son has an iPhone 12Pro with AirPods Pro and I have an iPhone 12Pro. Very disappointed, this is worse than my old Pixel 2 which I thought was horrible. :-(

I don't understand this response. How is my noise cancellation setting related to the caller on the other end of the phone?

Apple needs to understand that AirPods are not only meant for listening music, people use them as microphone for answering their FaceTime, Audio, WhatsApp calls too. I wouldn't be surprised if you are usage status are skewed - because of lot of users like me are forced to not use AirPod Pro for answering the calls.

Regular AirPods were much more better for answering the calls, feels like I've wasted my 250$ on a crappy product.

On top of that we get answers like these from Apple Support. SMH

This is one of the reasons I didn't buy AirPods. I have several coworkers and friends who all use AirPods or the new AirPod Pros, and their microphones are picking up so much background noise during conference calls. Whether it's a mouse dragging on a desk, keyboard clicks, and even someone in the next room handling kitchenware or dishes, the AirPods not only pick up these sounds, but seem to amplify them so much it sounds like we're all tumbling inside a dishwasher. I can confirm that this happens on Zoom, Webex, Microsoft Teams, JoinMe. Even when there isn't excessive background noise, their voices sound muffled and bass-heavy. This thread makes it clear that this isn't a rare complaint. They are pairing the AirPods with MacBook Pros for these web conferences, so it's still within the Apple family.

It would be great for Apple to figure this out. I'm asking for a friend. Literally.

I have the EXACT issue. To the point that if I use my pods to talk- I can’t have any noise around me. It’s ridiculous considering the price of these things. I’ve been to an Apple dealer, contacted tech support and nobody can give me a reason why... go figure 🙄

Well, after tweeting to Tim Cook, have managed to get technicians at Apple interested and they have added a profile to my phone and taking sample data to analyse to see if the can detect correlation to phone or headphones, or both. Had to time stamp calls where those on the other side we’re having difficulty hearing my voice due to amplified external sounds. Let’s see participating in this bears any fruit for us all.

I have never posted on an apple community forum (even when they changed the "gold" on apple watches), but this is a ridiculous problem that make my airpods pro useful only for non-human listening. I have to remove them to take a call and hopefully have my case on me or then my sister is accidentally in my pocket unless I make additional efforts. Adding to this forum to simply increase the volume of activity, since that is how companies decide what issues are really impacting customers. I have also had my airpods pro replaced, reset, restarted. The MOST frustrating thing is when the apple support team explains noise cancellation (which is for my benefit not the caller). Anyway... Just piling on in this forum, because it is ridiculous that my most expensive pair of wireless headphones from a brand like Apple are unusable for their primary purpose.

How is this advice supposed to help? Great, now I know how to change noise cancellation and transparency, but I don't know how/why it affects the amplification of background noise on the other end of the line.

Yes, you are indeed correct, I have had mine even replaced, but its the same issue They are no good for the people on the other side...they are great in cancelling noise for the wearer, but horrible in picking up noise and amplifying for the listener on the other end. Dang it, even Anker's cheap ~$50 earphones works better for conference calls. Apple should engage their word famous software experts to fix this issue and do justice for ~$250 earphones.

I don't understand this response. How is my noise cancellation setting related to the caller on the other end of the phone?

Apple needs to understand that AirPods are not only meant for listening music, people use them as microphone for answering their FaceTime, Audio, WhatsApp calls too. I wouldn't be surprised if you are usage status are skewed - because of lot of users like me are forced to not use AirPod Pro for answering the calls.

Regular AirPods were much more better for answering the calls, feels like I've wasted my 250$ on a crappy product.

On top of that we get answers like these from Apple Support. SMH

I had the same problem, this did not happen with my previous AirPods, only the newer AirPod Pros.

I have found that if I reset my AirPods Pro it fixed the problem.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT209463

I have the same issue.

A few minutes ago I tried something that worked. But I'm still not sure what exactly has worked.

First of all. It doesn't always happen to me that other people hear me muffled. Sometimes it happens, and sometimes it doesn't. But in this case, if it was happening to me, the other person told me that they couldn't hear me. Here comes the interesting thing. While I was still talking on the phone I was trying things and I was asking him if he heard me better.

In bluetooth options - Airpods pro:

1.- Switched noise cancellation to off. My friend told me that he kept hearing me muffled.

2.- Then disable ear detection. Without any result.

3.- Then went to "Microphone" and switched "automatically switch airpods" to "always right Airpod". At this moment my friend begins to say: "now, now I hear you perfectly"

It is still early. I can't be sure this is a solution or which of the points is. I suspect it is point 3, "automatically switch airpods". I have to do more tests. Next time I will try only point 3. And if it works I will try to always leave it fixed on the right side to see if it stops happening.

If you want you can try the same things, and we can share results.

Bring down the menu from top right and change mic mode to voice isolation

Add me to the list of annoyed AirPods Pro customers. Came here to see if there was a working solution yet.

Nearly everyone I speak to on the phone while using my Pros complain about amplified noises. They seem quiet to me, but to the receiver on the other end of the line, they say it's ear-scratchingly loud.

Apple make this right already please!

EXCELLENT!!! I was too excited so I did not wait for our man Joseph to explain - START A Facetime call with somebody. Once the call is running tell them they are your assistant for a moment, and now swipe down top right to open the control center menu - Under ios 15 there is a new setting for differing Mic settings - toggle the little tab which shows Mic and see there are three available settings. Joseph recommends we choose Voice Isolation, which sounds pretty **** good so let's do that people!! Thanks Joseph!!!

Wow - for the longest time I thought it was just me, but now a search online has led me here and I see I'm not the only one. My wife had this exact issue with the original AirPods, and now just recently she got a brand new set of AirPod Pros -- with the same irritating amplification of any background noises in her vicinity. It is literally unbearable for the person on the other end when she is talking while trying to do simple tasks like organizing papers, moving items around her desk, or even preparing a snack from the kitchen... and I tell her I need advanced warning (or she needs to mute herself) whenever punching any keys on the microwave!!

It has nothing to do with Active Noise Cancellation or Transparency Mode settings -- ANC is a feature the benefits the wearer of the AirPods. This has to do with the ridiculously amplified gain on the AirPod mic that makes it so "hot" it causes every little background noise to be transmitted multiple times louder to the person(s) on the other end... definitely much more sensitive than the built-in microphone on the iPhone itself. We have tried looking around for a solution, hoping to find a setting to adjust the mic sensitivity or decrease the mic input volume or something like that, but so far nothing...

I agree with the others - it would be so nice if the Apple engineers could figure this one out.