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AirPods causing tinnitus?

discussions.apple.com

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Re: AirPods causing tinnitus?

#181

Post by jokoon »

xattt wrote: post #33
jokoon wrote: post #16

I suspect all ear plugs will always cause tinnitus. Having sound emitted so close to your ear drum is not a good idea. Not to mention that often, air cannot escape, which increase energy and/or air pressure inside the ear canal. A better alternative would be to have helicopter-type headset (not as much soundproof, though), so that you won't increase volume to mask surrounding noise in public transport or outside.

I thought the specific purpose of a helicopter headset was noise isolation, given the high noise levels of rotorcraft.

Sure but there are speakers in a helo headset.

I was talking about a headset that would be similar to a helo headset, without as much sound isolation.

Re: AirPods causing tinnitus?

#182

Post by makk »

prpl wrote: post #130

I stated having tinnitus after wearing airpods (gen3, but dropped to gen 2 ) last year. I’d used big headphones and standard issue wired headphones for years. Even went to an audiologist to get hearing checked. I’d concurrently had a bad sinus infection, but the tinitius started earlier. I think the tinnitus has gone down in the last several months finally (or I am more used to it?) but it was intense. For the record…

I can relate. I, too, am a musician. And like you I would describe the tinnitus I experienced with the airpods max as "intense" and "something else." I've sworn off using headphones, too.

Re: AirPods causing tinnitus?

#183

Post by clbrmbr »

drewg123 wrote: post #60
clbrmbr wrote: post #18

Poor man’s AirPods: construction earmuffs over old-school wired Apple earbuds. You can keep the actual volume setting quite low, and the suppression of outside noise is powerful. Feels like you’re underwater or you’re Frodo wearing the One Ring.

I used to do this to make life in the cube farm at Google tolerable. The advantage of construction/shooting earmuffs is that they also cancel out conversations really well.

Glad I’m not alone!

It’s like in those films where there’s a privacy shield that drops down around you.

Re: AirPods causing tinnitus?

#184

Post by ghusto »

blindriver wrote: post #4

I wonder if it's the noise cancellation causing problems. I definitely hear a high-pitched noise from the noise cancellation feature and rarely use it at all specifically because of that, except very infrequently like on planes. Maybe the high frequency noise is damaging the ear drums at high frequencies? But I can definitely say I do not have tinnitus despite wearing AirPod Maxes quite often.

Yes. There's been suggestions from multiple papers that exactly this is the case. Granted, "you get what you search for" on the internet, but I think you'll agree that search results for this are more than that.

Re: AirPods causing tinnitus?

#185

Post by ghusto »

garyfirestorm wrote: post #73
rajamaka wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Shortcut to passive aggressiveness

It wasn’t meant to come across as passive aggressive. When I make a statement that contradicts the original post, I try to be mindful and human. Instead of saying ‘you’re blatantly wrong’ I am hoping to not come across as a rude guy on internet. I’ll probably explore other ways.

:) I would, because it came across as very sarcastic to me

Re: AirPods causing tinnitus?

#186

Post by jannyfer »

makk wrote: post #2

Based on personal subjective experience, my AirPods Max have definitely worsened my tinnitus. Given my 30-year history of tinnitus, I'm very careful about volume levels and I am certain that "too loud, too long" is not the thing that's made things worse for me. The only thing that changed is I started using AirPods, specifically the Max. I immediately noticed, when I first put them on, that I could hear better with t…

I read an anecdote about someone who got hearing damage from a loud noise that occurred while wearing AirPods Pro (1st gen).

It was a bug zapper in that person’s case.

Re: AirPods causing tinnitus?

#187

Post by tim333 »

PragmaticPulp wrote: post #108

Keep in mind that Apple sells around 100 million sets of AirPods per year: https://9to5mac.com/2022/12/05/airpods-pro-2-sales/ At this scale, it's nearly impossible to separate coincidence from causality in scattered anecdotes.

I have AirPods and get tinnitus which comes and goes. At max volume they sound good but will make my ears ring after. It's the same for any headphones / loud noise source really. The answer is to turn it down a bit. I'd be willing to bet its the sound level that's the main thing rather than the type of headphone. For me 80db is fine, 100db causes issues but I'm sure people vary.

Re: AirPods causing tinnitus?

#188

Post by CE02 »

I am actually rather curious whether there's any difference between in-ear and over-ear headphones in terms of their effect on hearing. Assuming the same volume, content, etc.

Re: AirPods causing tinnitus?

#189

Post by teetertater »

jchw wrote: post #15

I have tinnitus and I do not see any issues with my WH1000XM4s making it any worse. It does feel like I can hear the tinnitus a bit worse with the headphones on, but I think that's just the ANC cutting out low frequency noise as expected. I've been using XM4s and XM3s for years, and my tinnitus has been steady, so I assume not all ANC makes tinnitus worse inherently. It is possible AirPods Max would also not increase…

Try blowing into the xm4's microphone on passthrough mode, and you'll discover it can work as a loudspeaker (it will amplify the noise).

This discovery made me a little worried that there's no volume limit that can be transmitted to your ears. Then again, someone blowing directly into your ear is probably worse :D

Re: AirPods causing tinnitus?

#190

Post by fluential »

salt-licker wrote: post #76
cwales95 wrote: post #32

This is very interesting. I've noticed my tinnitus has seemed to be worse as of late. I exclusively use AirPods Pro. I wouldn't say I listen to loud music, but I'm wondering if the noise cancellation could have something to do with it...

AirPods Pro noise cancellation almost definitely gave me temporary tinnitus after a few months of usage even though I never listened to music that loud. Switched to regular AirPods two years ago and the tinnitus entirely went away.

Same here, just having ANC enabled without any audio for 1-2 hours and tinnitus is clearly noticeable. For that reason I’ve discarded all AirPods Pro in my family
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