Can't hear through earpiece in iPhone 5

Apple replaced my iPhone 5 on my second visit to their store. Works fine, no light leakage either. On my previous phone after it cut out on me again I noticed a funny reflection. I've already mentioned that the earpiece didn't work right and there was light leakage to the right of the earpiece, now, in correct lighting, I could see evidence where the LCD was distorted slightly at that same location based on the reflection of light off this surface, leading me to believe it was an assembly issue causing the problem.

I am having the same issue. But I can't hear anything via speak, headphones and mic, or the earpiece. I went in to apple yesterday, they replace my white 16GB, I upgraded to the black 64 GB, and am still having the exact same problems. I have no idea what is happening, but it sure is frustrating. Anybody had this happen? No sound through speaker, headphones OR earpiece?

Apple replaced my earphone speaker but the problem has recurred. I solved it once (post fix) by turning the phone off and then on again, but now its back.

I think they have a software or firmware bug.

Same problem over here. I bought my iPhone about a month after launch. It happened with my 4 as well, but this time it seems to be permanent. Tried resetting, turning off etc. Nothing.

Also, nothing to do with network as the Voice Memo's app isn't playing anything through the earpiece either. I'm taking it into the Brighton shop tonight to see what's wrong...

I can confirm this is a hardware issue. Applying pressure to the back of the phone around the earpiece area will restore sound for a while if you're lucky. But it will fail again. I've been diagnosing this on my phone for a couple weeks now.

I can also confirm that squeezing the earpiece brings sound back. (Temporarily)

Hardware issue. Disappointing. I'll be taking the phone in tomorrow

I was having the same problem -- just used Perfect Duster (the air spray for keyboards) and directed it at the earpiece opening -- now working fine! Phew.

Update:

The problem with my earpiece was a loose bracket that holds the earpiece speaker onto the main board. There are two screws that hold the bracket on the main board that were loose. The speaker connects to the main board by two gold pins touching two contacts on the board. If the bracket is not tightened down the pins will not contact the board properly.

Earpiece is working perfectly now.

Apple replaced my speaker and the problem returned. It was likely similar to what Zoso67TX described as pinching the handset would temporarily alleviate the problem. The next time I took it in Apple replaced the phone and its been fine.

(Iphone 5, 16GB) Had some "static" in the earpiece early on - today it died. Tried a few things including Skype test/playback and restoring it. That did not work.

I put the headset in and partially withdrew it and gave it a gentle jiggle. Back to normal now. Seems to be a basic connection issue with the headphone/earpiece cut-off. Will keep an eye on it, ready for a replacement...

I have been having exactly the same problem with my 16gb iphone5 earpiece it seems to work when it likes so i will be paying the shop a visit afterwork tomorrow thanks guys !!

I have an appointment tomorrow morning with the same issue. However, one other symptom that I had was when I put the phone on speaker and the person I was calling was getting reverb when they would talk to me. I have already done a factory reset and restore with no change. The phone has been in a case since the day I activated it as well with no issues previously, then I get an important call today and the call quality sucked.

I went into the apple store this morning to have the phone looked at. The symptoms still existed after doing all the stuff I tried above. The tech replaced the receiver module on the phone, but after he did that, still in the same predicament. What ended up fixing the situation was take a small firm bristle brush to the receiver screen and blowing on it with canned air. It turns out that a non-visible film formed over part of the screen that was impacting the sound quality. It was not until he took a brush to it that the film discolored. I do not know how it triggered it all of a sudden, but will monitor the phone closely to see if the film comes back again.

I just bought a black 64 GB iPhone 5 and experienced the same issue today. I've had the phone for three days so I plan on going to our local Apple store to find out what's wrong with it.

I have a slightly different symptom that it took me some time to work out. I'm posting a description in the hope that it might assist others. It could possibly be related to some of the posts of intermittent problems.

Not sure if this is repeatable 100% of the time, but it has definitely happened at least 10 times. If I am listening to music and pull out the earbuds jack while the music is still playing (what I normally do when I get off the train), and then subsequently make an outbound phone call, I cannot hear the call in the earpiece.

In contrast, if I pause the music using the pause button, or if the music stops at the end of the playlist, and then I remove the headset and make the call I have always been able to hear the call in the earpiece.

I'm planning on taking it into the Apple store.