iPhone 4s, echo when using apple headset during a call

The 4S is my first iPhone, which I got last Saturday. I've noticed a constant, consistent echo (voice feedback loop) during calls using the handset and wired earphones, as well as the speakerphone. This is before AND after the latest update (5.0.1). I don't think I experience it with my Bluetooth, but that's a special situation: I'm hearing impaired and I have two hearing aids that utilize a device called a Streamer. It's a remote controller (that hangs on a lanyard around my neck) which is Bluetooth and connects to any variety of devices for sound output through my hearing aids (i.e, cell phone, landline phone, stereo, PC, etc.). Believe me, I'd be very upset if I got the feedback or echo through my hearing aids.

I haven't had any complaints from people I've spoken to over the iPhone about any echo...yet.

My prior phone, the HTC EVO 4G, didn't have this problem at ALL.

Anyway, because I'm hearing impaired and I don't ALWAYS wear my hearing aids (they're out most of the time when I'm home because I live alone way out in the country and there's nobody around to talk to), using the handset, speakerphone and wired earphones is difficult for me because I have a hard time understanding people I'm talking with. It's frustrating. But I so LOVE this iPhone 4S for many reasons...I hope Apple fixes this soon

Just a little update now, which may be a completely new issue, I can still hear the echo when I call my wife from a landline. It still comes and goes though, it's not solid throughout the entire call. So, it might be a problem on her end, though she cannot hear an echo.

I'm experiencing the same problem. I never hear an echo on my 4s. However, the person on the other line always complains of hearing an echo, so much so that they usually end the call. I never have this problem when I use the headset or speakerphone. It only happens when I use the phone normally. I started to read posts about the echo problem and they all seemed like they were only happening when using the headset. For me it seems to be the opposite. I hope it's something that can be fixed with a new iOS update and not a hardware problem with my phone.

I have the 4s 32G black on AT&T network. I am not a heavy user of the phone but I am getting the echo without using headphones. Last night it was finally so bad the caller on the other end said she couldn't even hear me anymore. Help! I love the rest of the phone, but did not buy this phone to only be a mini laptop.

It's very annoying. I have this echo as soon as I start a phone call using my handset and now I just noticed it without it. iOS 5.0.1 definitely does not solve the problem.

Good Lord! That's SOOOOO ANNOYING! I had my first original 4S replaced for the battery issue. The second one had better battery (even though not as much as I would have expected) but TREMENDOUS echo when I call (i experienced it without the earphones, didn't have any call with them on yet).

I CANNOT EVEN CALL PROPERLY WITH A 779€ DEVICE???! 😠

I'm so upset.

Please can everyone let apple know by filling out the following form

http://www.apple.com/feedback/iphone.html

As pointed out by someone in the thread, the more people who fills out the form, the more attention it will get from apple and hopefully they will fix this issue on the next 5.0.2 updated!

well my mom got her new iphone 4s and she has been having that problem. so today i read through these reply's and cam across a theory about siri interfering. it was about raise to speak to siri. my mom had tht turned off. i turnded it on and i test called and i heard no echo. although my mom isnt using a headset, it worked. i hope this helps people.

ctostaine wrote:

well my mom got her new iphone 4s and she has been having that problem. so today i read through these reply's and cam across a theory about siri interfering. it was about raise to speak to siri. my mom had tht turned off. i turnded it on and i test called and i heard no echo. although my mom isnt using a headset, it worked. i hope this helps people.

I disabled Siri, and made a test call. I still hear the audio feedback from the mic into the headphones.

Just to be thurough, I rebooted my phone after disabling Siri. I then made another test call. I still hear the audio feedback from the mic into the headphones.

Disabling Siri does not appear to be a solution.

i turned it on, not off. my dad turned it off because she was having problems with hearing her voicemails because when she lifted it to her ear, it went to siri. but i turned it ON.

ctostaine wrote:

i turned it on, not off. my dad turned it off because she was having problems with hearing her voicemails because when she lifted it to her ear, it went to siri. but i turned it ON.

Ah, well... I've had Siri on the whole time and I've been hearing

the audio feedback from the mic into the headphones.

Neither enabling, nor disabling, Siri is a solution.

Oh no....

I spoke too soon. Recall this from my original post about the subject:

"The 4S is my first iPhone, which I got last Saturday. I've noticed a constant, consistent echo (voice feedback loop) during calls using the handset and wired earphones, as well as the speakerphone. This is before AND after the latest update (5.0.1). I don't think I experience it with my Bluetooth, but that's a special situation: I'm hearing impaired and I have two hearing aids that utilize a device called a Streamer. It's a remote controller (that hangs on a lanyard around my neck) which is Bluetooth and connects to any variety of devices for sound output through my hearing aids (i.e, cell phone, landline phone, stereo, PC, etc.). Believe me, I'd be very upset if I got the feedback or echo through my hearing aids."

Particularly the last sentence.

Sadly, the echo/feedback loop DOES happen through Bluetooth into my hearing aids! Makes it very difficult for me to have a conversation. My hearing is bad enough alone without this kind of aberrant noise competing with my ability to recognize what I'm saying to someone. I'm very, very sad. I love this phone SO much for its other features, particularly the ones that help me because of my hearing impairment, but this problem defeats the whole thing. I have one more week with it. If the problem isn't resolved by then, I will have to make the 1.5 hour drive to the nearest Sprint Store (where I got it-nearest Apple Store is more than 3 hours away) to return it and-unwillingly-go back to using the EVO 4G, which NEVER presented with this problem.

I would much rather put up with a smartphone that can't do anything else BUT make trouble-free phone calls and even have poor battery life than a fantastic phone that's perfect in every way and has tons of battery life but causes all kinds of feedback issues that making phone calls are troublesome and even downright painful to my ears (because of using my hearing aids to amplify all that aberrant noise).

Just an update:

I preordered my phone and received it on the first day it was available.

I always use my apple earbuds.

it had the echo that was heard by the person I spoke to.

I would hear some odd noise when they were hearing the echo.

also, could hear when the mike would brush against my shirt.

Got a second phone, same thing

got a third phone + new apple ear buds, same thing PLUS the speaker button would turn on automatically when I made a call and I could not turn it off plus the person I called could not hear me. i had to shut the phone off and on and then I was able to call.

Got a 4th phone and have been using it for 2 days.

so far no echo, no sounds coming from MY mic and everyone can hear me.

I am cautiously optimistic

will do a final update with everyone in a few more days

one point...I bought 2 phones and only had trouble with one of them. I have spent hours and hours trying to solve this problem. No excuse for this.

I do think everyone should update to 5.0.1 then do a hard shutdown and then restart.

Today, when calling my family using an Atomic Floyd Drum headset, my mother reported very bad connection quality, to the extent that we had to end the conversation as it was impossible to understand me. I found this very curious as i have always used the very same headset with my 3GS and never had any issues, neither on long calls, nor being on the same street as today.

I then remembered that i found this thread (I regularly keep track of possible issues with the devices i own).

My mother said there was no echo, but my voice was very hollow like being very far away, silent. And there were wind noises, cracking, popping, moments of interruptions. I know that there were noises in the background - but unfortunately, i will always fail to give Apple that completely silent test bed as the city around me just does not care about the iPhone requiring silence... ;-)

I took the time and did test runs. I could not reproduce an issue when calling myself from home. I finally was able to reproduce the issue by calling myself on my digital mailbox when walking to the groceries along a street with some traffic, so I have a WAV file to give to Apple support. It may be interesting that more people do recordings of this, maybe there is a pattern. (I just want to see a statement that Apple is working on it, and maybe a timeline when one can expect a solution).

It does not matter if i use the Apple headset included in the package or the Atomic Floyd Drums. All I need is some background noise to cause the problem - no matter how long the call takes. I also confirm that noises that go in the mic can be heard on the headphones very loud, a behaviour _not_ present with the very same headsets on my 3GS. If i use any of the headsets, i also have the impression that Siri does not work well (well, it never is working, or stable, or usable for that matter) when i give commands via headset. (But that is just an impression; Siri is so unreliable and has only 20% or so success that it can be easily possible that i am not testing the headset here).

On Monday, they will get a call from me as well. Regarding the above post, I made sure i shutdown and reboot the iPhone after applying 5.0.1, but i repeated today, and it definitely does not help. I will repeat the test once more with a clean installation without any software or changes to config, but given the amount of reports and the gutt feeling on the descriptions, i doubt this will make any difference. I personally suspect an issue with the automatic silencing of the mic in speech brakes, along with some distortion filtering issue. In order to support Siri, rumor has it they were adding new technology to this chain, i think its highly likely.

Have had these same issues on two iphone 4S phones (returned the first one and received a second). I FINALLY just returned it all together and am back on the 3G and am SO HAPPY!

I was having the same echo issues but also:

-Phone volume was too loud in general. On the 3G, I used the volume at the 4th or 5th bar, on the 4S, the first bar hurt my ears - I suppose this is due to sensitive hearing, but in the end I just couldn't deal with not being able to turn the volume down enough.

-Echo (person I was calling actually had the echo as a result of my phone, but I could tell when it started as there was a change in voice quality on my end) + 'exploding' earbud volume after 3-15 minutes into call. This happened all the time with the first phone and not as much with the second. Sometimes hitting the speaker button helped.

-Voice was somewhat 'tinny' when using earbuds

I decided to wait until things are resolved and use my 'upgrade' discount when its worth it.