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Sudden loud static noise on bluetooth headset

I'm using LG Tone+ (HBS-730) bluetooth headset on my MacBook Air mid13 on OS X 10.10.2 Yosemite.


Since a few days ago, while I was listening to music and such on my headset, sometimes, a loud static noise (max volume I think) started suddenly, which shocked me and led me to quickly pull the earpieces out. No other sound is recognizable since this static noise is so loud. The noise does not stop until the bluetooth is disconnected by either turning off the headset or the bluetooth module from mac. Turning the headset on again, it works again normal.

While the noise exists, if I mute the volume on mac, the static noise stops, but comes back when I increase the volume again. Volume control on the headset did not do anything.


I'm suspecting either the bluetooth module on the laptop or the bluetooth module in the headset is bad, but couldn't test with another headset as I don't have anything else. It happened 3 times for the past 3 days I have been using it.


MBA is a little bit over 1 year old and the headset is about 1.5 years old, no related problems were experienced in the past.


Does anyone have any clue or similar experience?

MacBook Air, OS X Yosemite (10.10), null

Posted on Jan 8, 2015 1:21 PM

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187 replies

Feb 2, 2015 5:30 PM in response to Franko94

Hmm, that's the first I've heard of it being an issue when you haven't been playing any audio. Interesting.


For me, I experience it when watching Netflix videos (via Chrome). As far as I can tell, there is no solution currently. The good news, however, is that I was contacted by someone from the AppleCare Help Desk on Friday based on my first post in this thread. It seems that Apple's Engineering team is now aware of the issue described in this thread, and they were asking for more detail about what I have experienced. Hopefully a solution for this issue can be found quickly -- I'll certainly be watching the upcoming builds to see if they are able to resolve it.

Feb 5, 2015 11:08 AM in response to jinkim608

One thing you guys may have noticed. Although this loud noise problem can happen any time and we can't prevent it yet, there's one situation I found that would almost guarantee triggering the issue. That is when the MacBook's display has been asleep and we wake it up by hitting the trackpad or keyboard. For myself, I used to set the display sleep time to 15 mins. And I usually use bluetooth headset listening to music during work. The machine goes to sleep mode pretty quickly (at least the display). And when I activated it, I got the loud noise (I even can expect it now, so I was pretty prepared). One thing we can do is to extend the sleep time to longer or never. That can lower the chance of the issue. But IT STILL HAPPENS. Other trigger I found is when you switch between applications. I'm sharing this not to fix the issue but at least we could mentally be prepared in some occasions and get less heart attacks.

Feb 5, 2015 2:39 PM in response to jinkim608

I just found this thread after search for "apple sudden loud white noise". I just had this happen to me a few minutes ago and it was absolutely terrible. I have a headache from it and ear pain from it still. I am quite upset about it. I'm not touching bluetooth with my Macbook Pro until this is confirmed to be fixed. My Mac volume was only half way up, which was a comfortable listening level. I didn't have time to try any buttons or anything, I just pulled the headphones off as quickly as I could.


This is a major issue that could be causing hearing damage to people and this 10.10.2 patch should have never been released with such a critical defect. I'm about to schedule an appointment to get my hearing tested and ears checked out.

Sudden loud static noise on bluetooth headset

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