AirPods causing head pressure?

You are spot on here Amy.

I like the device sufficiently to wear them for hours on end but alas today I am back to wired headphones (apple earpods - same shape as the airpods) and the headaches, nausea, and strangest of all tightness in the jaw are all gone. I would caution anyone against purchasing the airpods if you intend to use the airpods for extended periods. If you do purchase them and get headaches or other strange symptoms around your head, neck or jaw - please share them here.

I have the same issue. Neve had this bad experience with Beats wireless. That's frustrating. I strongly believe it doesn't have nothing to do with the sound pressure. This is about radiations in my opinion. 😟

I have been using Bluetooth earbuds for years, usually Plantronics, without issues. I was anticipating the AirPods but was concerned about them fitting my ears, as I couldn't wear the wired earpods comfortably. My solution was to just sort of place them in my ears, without trying to make them fit deeply. I loved the feeling of freedom, loved the sound, and convenience. However, I began noticing a feeling of "pressure", then a lot of headaches. The headaches seemed to slowly go away when I removed the AirPods. Then I would insert them again, and the pressure and headaches began again. There is no physical pressure to the ear, nor any pain on the ear itself. This effect is consistent, pretty much whenever I wear them, even though they are not inserted to any degree, just sort of stay placed easily onto the ear. I also am prone to migraines and worry that somehow, these exacerbate that vulnerability, although I don't know why.

I returned Airpods due to the same issue. I noticed that I started to have headache about 3 days after and got worse. So, I stopped using it and got better. Then, tried one at a time. I felt numbness and tingling on my half of face and head on the same side where I put one Airpod on.

I'm totally fine now since I returned it and stopped using it. It seems like I was not the only person.

Its bums me out that these otherwise great devices seem to be giving me headaches and actually making me feel like puking...

From the reddit thread:

"I finally got a pair of AirPods a few weeks ago. All seemed fine for first several times I wore them, then Monday morning I had them in and was listening to a podcast when all of a sudden my right cheek went numb. It felt like a local anesthetic had been applied, like when you get a tooth filled. I immediately did the stroke tests and everything was fine. I called my doctor and he advised me to go the emergency room to be safe. They did an MRI on my head, CT scan, and ultrasounds of my chest and carotid arteries. Everything came back clear. I didn't think about the AirPods until this morning.

I googled "Airpods and headaches" and found some people are reporting headaches. One user on MacRumors had this to say:

Apple in their infinite wisdom have decided to make the W1 chip that's in the Airpods (and some Beats cans) a Bluetooth class 1 device. Class 1 devices can transmit at up to 100 mW - so the Airpods potentially output an EM field that's up to 100x stronger than that of a regular bluetooth headset. To put this into perspective: 100 mW is what a WiFi access point uses - and nobody in his right mind would put one of these on each side of the head for hours a day.

Class 1 Bluetooth devices can transmit up to 100 meters! Why would they need to be so powerful? On top of the Bluetooth microwave radiation, the AirPods stay in-sync via near field magnetic induction."

This is not medical research. This is user feedback.

At first I thought you were legitimately trying to have a discussion so I was doing just that but now I see you are just trying to attack and demean anyone (without the right logic to follow through) who is sharing an experience that you don't agree they should be having for some reason. I don't think you're even reading my responses yet you continue to respond by attacking. Not worth a discussion.

Peace out

Finally got my airpods after a long wait. Loved them for the first day and a half. used them almost non-stop for an entire day, except the 15 minutes it took to charge every few hours. took a few conference calls, listened to several hours of an audio book while i cleaned up around the house. all in all, about 9 - 10 hours of continuous usage (except for charge times). went to sleep and woke up with a small pressure behind my eye. the pain kept going for the next 6 hours and grew to intense unbearable, pulsing headache. finally took 2 advil, and passed out for about 4 hours. woke up with a lingering dull pain. 2 days later (today) feeling fine. Will try the airpods again, maybe with less usage and see if I get the headaches again. the headache was really intense.

couldnt do anything but sleep. really love my airpods, but if it gives me another headache, will have to return. =[. love them and super convenient. but the pain is horrible, and a whole day wasted.

lots of articles out there describing the lack of research by fcc on bluetooth dangers. most articles state research has not deemed bluetooth safe, but rather the lack of research to deem bluetooth unsafe has left them categorized as safe.

I have been a bluetooth headset user for many years. have a sena s3 kit on my motorcycle helmet, typical usage 1 - 2 hours continuous for 2 sessions. 4 hours total a day. Plantronics backbeat go 2 for many years. typically for boarding a flight, workouts or short flights 2 - 3 hours continuous usage a day.

I've never had headaches before, but I've never used bluetooth headsets for as long in a day as I did with the airpods.

I know they are connected over Bluetooth 4, but I felt no headache before I connected they over my iCloud account with my iMac. There are several tests from some people with measuring instruments which clarified that even in the case the AirPods are sending. It doesn't depend how strong the signal is, but the frequency sending.

I'm really no one who condemns Bluetooth - no, I love new technologies. This is what makes me so sad ... I love my new AirPods and I would love if I could wear them like my Bluetooth headsets before 😟

Same issue here. Love everything else about them but as I had a couple of long calls using either actual phone call or voip apps and started getting this pressure headache kind of behind and next to my ears. Never had this issue with more extended usage hours using the wired iPhone EarPods. It gradually gets better when I take them off then back to headache when I put them back on and do one more phone call. Just took them off 5 minutes ago after last call and headache slowly getting better. It's true that it feels like some sort of pressure.

I love how some people are totally discrediting other people's experience just because not a majority of people have that same experience. If you are not an expert who isn't conducting research and bringing those people to a controlled environment you don't have any logic behind claiming their experiences are invalid.

There may be a group of people who are more sensitive to something that is part of using Bluetooth headsets or specific technologies than others. My experience is real as I am sure others' are as well. I have been testing them every day since I made my earlier post and the unique pressure-like headache is very consistent with using them for long-ish phone calls while I don't get the same headache from the EarPods (I haven't used any other Bluetooth headsets in the past though so can't claim that is unique to AirPods).

All I'm saying is that this is something worth looking into even if it only impacts a small portion of users.

I still love them and continue to use them only for music for short periods and for calls that only last a few minutes. I wish I could use them for my longer calls (business and personal) which I am use the EarPods for.

Peace

Amy

I thought EarPods have the same design which I am having no issues using to this day so I don't get the point about this he design. I have no issues with other in-ear headphones as well.

In any case, not saying that's probably something "wrong" with the device or anything about Bluetooth beings the reason, again I continue to be a big fan of the AirPods (minus the headache aspect) amen in general the Apple EarPods. Simply had an odd observation that impacted my ability to use the product for one reason or the other and did a simple google search to see if anyone is experiencing the same problem or if any specific researches on AirPods were made and found this post. Thought to share my experience to help make information available (especially being a fan of most Apple products and understanding how user feedback can be valuable sometimes).

I'll mention it to my physician but will keep Ann eye open on other people's experiences with this as well.

I have been using Bluetooth gadgets for years and never had problems with these. Although I have problems with 5ghz wifi ... I began noticing the same feeling of pressure and headaches when I connected my AirPods to my iMac over iCloud for the first time. It's even worse when I'm having a phone call, but I feel the headache (and tinitus) even when my AirPods are far away - in the other room - from me in the case.

I think I'll return them ...

When connected to your iMac it isn't over iCloud it is via Bluetooth. And if the AirPods are in their case in another room they are turned off and aren't transmitting anything. You should return them and use the money to see a doctor.

I looked and found no tests that send the AirPods are transmitting while closed in the case. The only time they might do so would be if you hold the button down on the case to place them in pairing mode to connect to a device that doesn't support the W1 chip. Even if they did transmit they would be limited to about 33 feet in range and even less in this case as the case would severely hamper the range. You said they were "far away" in another room.