AirPods causing head 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

Amy, it has something that has been looked into several times with scientific studies. With lots of different people including some studies where they specifically included people who claimed they were sensitive to Bluetooth/WiFi. These same people could not accurately predict when they were being exposed to Bluetooth/WiFi. It doesn't have to be right in your ear and it isn't necessarily stronger that way, and it isn't the way these types of waves work anyway.

I'm not saying you aren't having pressure and getting headaches. You are being exposed to pressure....sound pressure from the speakers. My brother-in-law cannot use any inner ear monitors because of the narrow (and odd) shape of his ear canal. He even tried custom made molds. But it has nothing to do with how the devices are made and he can use on-the-ear and over-the-ear headphones. But this is a problem that he has, not the devices.

If you have symptoms see your doctor. Apple is not going to change the design of all of the AirPods because a few people have issues with them. And Bluetooth and WiFi signals as well as other non-ionic radiation is all around you everyday.

I will also tell you that wearing a knee brace with a magnet in it won't do anything for you as well as a lot of other non-scientific quackery.

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.

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

No, you're going to the web to look up similar symptoms is not a discussion. Tell you doctor you do this. And from the very start I stated your headaches and medical issues are something you should take up with your doctor.

If you read the Terms of Use that you agreed to when you joined here you would not that this is an Apple, Inc. run user-to-user TECHNICAL support site. If you have a question about your AirPods not connecting, one side not working, etc. and a user here can help you solve that problem that is what belongs here. Nobody here can help you with your symptoms. That is between you and your doctor.

It is unlikely to be the Bluetooth, but the AirPods could be generating ultrasonic sound. This can't be heard but can cause headaches. Maybe only a few defective AirPods do this, so there are few complaints.

The speaker diaphragm is very small so can produce ultrasonic frequencies. There is not much space in there, so they probably don't have a low-pass filter before the speaker. Improper digital signal processing or a defective D/A converter can easily generate unwanted high frequency components.

Wait, you are saying you previously wore them for hours on end and you were fine or were you actually silly enough to wear them for hours while they were giving you headaches, nausea, et. al? If your headphones were causing all this it would start immediately. And the AirPods while a similar shape are a different size. I have worn mine for hours and had none of your symptoms. And no, please people, don't share your medical symptoms here. As I already stated this is a TECHNICAL support site where users can help each other. For discussions on medical symptoms go to Reddit or somewhere else where you can discuss headaches, tightness, magnetic healing, essential oils and crystals.

I'm having head pressure/pain as well. I used to use the blue tooth beats 2 headphones with no problems. With the AirPods after 30 mins of use I feel pressure/pain that comes and goes. I even feel it later at night when I lay down to go to sleep. I love the convienece and sound of them but I will not risk my health. Something is going on here. I have them a break for two week and all 'side effects' subsided. Used them again today and I'm sitting here with a mild head ache.

I had debilitating chronic tension headaches for 20+ years before talking to a doctor. My doctor suggested using one pillow instead of two and spending less continuous time looking at a screen. Amazingly, these two small changes eliminated the headaches - from every other day, to once a month. Tension headaches can be caused by keeping your head at a certain angle for too long, and it's possible that the switch to AirPods from EarPods slightly changed your head angle, creating muscle tension near your forehead.

Hello from Barcelona, Spain.

I have to report exactly same simpthona.

I bought AirPods some weeks ago, and I was very excited at the beginning. After being listening music for 1 hour, I began to experiment headache.

First I didn’t believe that this was caused by AirPods. So, I began to test listening music with the wired ones (EarPods) and comparing with AirPods.

And I have to say that only AirPods causes me headache.

I love AirPods but I can’t use it.

I work as a computer engineer for many years and I tried all kind of wireless devices, and it’s first time I get headache using a wireless device.

Kind regards

Carlos

AirPods use class 1 Bluetooth which is the highest in the 3 classes in terms if microwave radiations. Class 1 bluetooth has a range of 25 - 100 meters which emits tiny microwave radiation to send/transmit data from your iPhone to the AirPods therefore it's constantly emitting microwaves to keep transmitting info from and to your device with the maximum efficiency.

SherifMoharram wrote:

AirPods use class 1 Bluetooth which is the highest in the 3 classes in terms if microwave radiations. Class 1 bluetooth has a range of 25 - 100 meters which emits tiny microwave radiation to send/transmit data from your iPhone to the AirPods therefore it's constantly emitting microwaves to keep transmitting info from and to your device with the maximum efficiency.

Yes, that's true. But probably also not relevant. There is no good science that implicates BT with headaches.

Please provide a source that verifies that Airpods are class 1 devices. Most speculation is Class 1 or class 2. I sincerely doubt they are Class 1, as the battery is 93 mwh, and Class 1 is 100 mw. So the battery would last far less than 1 hour (you can't fully discharge a Lithium battery without killing it), but the claimed and measured life is 5 hours. Which makes it more likely that the power output is around 15 to 20 mw. This lies between Class 1 and Class 2. In practice I find the range is about 20 meters, which is more than Class 2 range, but far less than class 1.

But, as IdrisSeabright says, it is irrelevant. You hold a cell phone to your ear, and it can transmit up to 500 mw.

Yes, I saw that, but I've seen other sources that aren't as positive about it. And "builds upon" sounds wishywashy. And, as I pointed out, it can't be near the top end of class 1 or the battery life would be unacceptable. The range is greater than class 2 (10m) but isn't the 100m that is class 1. So back to my educated guess as an electronics engineer that it's around 20 mw.