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The AirPods Pro 3 flight problem

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Re: The AirPods Pro 3 flight problem

#271

Post by steve_adams_86 »

seemaze wrote: post #186
steve_adams_86 wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My personal rule is that the sound level should be comfortable without ANC. So, if the sound is physically dampened sufficiently by the earbuds or headphones even when ANC is disabled, I'm happy. ANC is more for comfort than safety from what I understand.

I can't say that the feedback causes damaging levels of noise, and its possible that my hearing is still protected, but the feedback that is produced is so uncomfortable that I involuntarily pulled them out of my ears.. which is not a great reaction with power tools in hand. Apple does market 'Hearing Protection' as a feature of the AirPods Pro. https://support.apple.com/en-us/120850

Looking at the ANSI Datasheet, it seems like it's not really suited to the sounds coming from all power tools since they can reach or exceed 110 dBA:

> The Hearing Protection feature is not suitable for protection against extremely loud impulse sounds, such as gunfire, fireworks, or jackhammers, or against sustained sounds louder than 110 dBA.

I suppose if you know your tools operate at 110 dBA or lower levels, you're good to go. The feedback is bizarre though... Hopefully Apple resolves that with a firmware update!

Edit: It looks like it can safely attenuate sound at 110 dBA for 16 to 63 hours. That's impressive!

Re: The AirPods Pro 3 flight problem

#272

Post by tarou »

torarnv wrote: post #9

I've flown twice with my new AirPods Pro 3, and both times I had this exact experience; high pitched and loud feedback. They were properly cleaned, and had a "good seal" according to the settings wizard. Glad to see I'm not the only one at least, and hopefully this will be possible to fix as a software update, rather than having to replace the AirPods.

During the operation of engines that emit loud noises such as lawnmowers and pressure washers, I've had similar experiences. With the lawnmower, the deafening roar reached both ears the moment the blade struck a stone. Using the pressure washer, it was highly unpleasant to hear the loud abnormal noise, possibly caused by splashes or wet components touching the microphone. I believe the abnormal noise from the lawnmower could be resolved with a software update.

Re: The AirPods Pro 3 flight problem

#273

Post by can16358p »

mananaysiempre wrote: post #266
can16358p wrote: post #261

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cushions (yeah replacable but not super cheap), the cable that connects one earpiece to other, the bit connecting the earpieces, the hinges around the earpieces. Literally everything. The sound is still great and battery is awesome. But I doubt it will last long. (Just to be clear: I've used it A LOT over the years, and is already worth every penny I spent on it)

Huh. For what it’s worth, the Chinese lambskin (not generic “leather”!) pads that you can get for ~$15 from Aliexpress, Geekria, etc. work as well as the official ones in my experience. (For other headphones, you can’t always get generic replacement pads made of the same materials.) The only difference I’ve been able to discern is the L/R labels are printed using a different technique.

Let me have a look. Do you think the material is of good quality and healthy (no weird questionable materials for wearing/skin contact for long time with sweat etc)?

Re: The AirPods Pro 3 flight problem

#274

Post by cozzyd »

cozzyd wrote: post #208
Fwirt wrote: post #95

Something interesting occurs to me. Many of the anecdotes about the squealing on flights says the noise goes away when yawning. Yawning lifts the soft palate and equalizes ambient pressure behind the eardrum in the sinuses. Air pressure is lower in a pressurized airplane cabin than on the ground and is usually more dynamic as well. I wonder if an air pressure gradient forms in the ear canal when in the air that exace…

The acoustic importance mismatch may result in the wrong gain?

And now realizing a day later impedance got autocorrected to importance somehow :(

Re: The AirPods Pro 3 flight problem

#275

Post by mananaysiempre »

can16358p wrote: post #273
mananaysiempre wrote: post #266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Huh. For what it’s worth, the Chinese lambskin (not generic “leather”!) pads that you can get for ~$15 from Aliexpress, Geekria, etc. work as well as the official ones in my experience. (For other headphones, you can’t always get generic replacement pads made of the same materials.) The only difference I’ve been able to discern is the L/R labels are printed using a different technique.

Let me have a look. Do you think the material is of good quality and healthy (no weird questionable materials for wearing/skin contact for long time with sweat etc)?

I’ve spent a few weeks with mine and, as best as I can tell, they’re indistinguishable from the original ones, except the dye of the L/R markings is on top of the cloth rather than inside it. These ones (black lambskin, currently 14 USD): https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005961714330.html.

Re: The AirPods Pro 3 flight problem

#276

Post by garyfirestorm »

mvkel wrote: post #199
garyfirestorm wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

i disagree here - having a feedback loop that makes loud noise instead of cancelling is fundamental failure of their ANC algorithm. There's basically no protection mechanism incase of divergence.

If it's an algorithmic issue, can that not be changed?

my response was to the 'it should be an easy fix' sentiment. trying to address feedback loop without negatively affecting cancellation performance is extremely challenging, because for a mic/algorithm there's generally no way to determine if the error microphone is picking up a loud event in the environment or if the cancellation soundwave is incorrectly phased and instead of canceling its just adding more noise.

Re: The AirPods Pro 3 flight problem

#277

Post by antoniojtorres »

jwr wrote: post #245
seemaze wrote: post #43

I frequently use my AirPods Pro when working in my shop. Previously the APP2 did a great job of reducing loud tool noise and I could mostly still listen to music or podcasts at reasonable levels. With the APP3, they are largely the same except with the louder tools (circular saw, cordless grinder) they produce a horrific feedback instead of canceling the noise. So much so that I switched back to my APP2 (which do not…

> the APP3 are what forced the upgrade to iOS 26 I resisted, did not upgrade, and I have to suffer through Apple's spiteful treatment of my AirPods as "just another Bluetooth device". You can't even see the battery status, the battery widget will show three headphones (!). I find their attitude annoying and disturbing. There was no reason to degrade the experience. In case anyone says "but new iOS is required to make…

Are you saying they REMOVED functionality that was previously in place? That is indeed spiteful if so.

Re: The AirPods Pro 3 flight problem

#278

Post by schiffern »

userbinator wrote: post #210
spot5010 wrote: post #27

A wild guess as to what is happening. I haven’t actually tested this hypothesis so I could be completely wrong. In feedback systems, the gain is a function of frequency, and typically decreases when going from low frequency to high frequency. This is often accompanied by a phase delay. So if the overall gain of the system is high enough, there will be some high frequency where the gain is 1, and the phase is 180 degr…

An even wilder guess: the speed of sound varies with air density. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_of_sound#Altitude_variat... If they were calibrated assuming a certain distance from the microphone that "hears" what the wearer's ear is hearing and the ear itself, then it's possible a change in air density could position the area of highest constructive interference at the eardrum instead of the intended destructi…

The speed of sound varies with air temperature, which is what the linked graph shows.

Technically the speed of sound does vary with density, but as you change altitude there's also a change in pressure which exactly cancels that out. In the end only temperature and gas composition alter the speed of sound.

As long as you're inside the plane (and hopefully it's not 217 K or -70 °F, per the graph) then the speed of sound should be unchanged.

Re: The AirPods Pro 3 flight problem

#279

Post by msephton »

easygenes wrote: post #229
msephton wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On macOS there were some issues but I can't say exactly because I returned my AirPods Pro 3. Other than the missing artwork and label, with AirPods Pro 3 on iOS 18 you also can't see the battery level, you can't take a Hearing Test, and more. After iOS 18.7.1 was released and didn't address any of these issues I reached out to Apple who said they wouldn't be adding any further support to iOS 18. So I returned my AirP…

What about iOS 26 kept you away? I was hesitant when I got APP3, but was pleasantly surprised by how many longstanding issues with responsiveness and functionality it fixed for me (iPhone 15 Pro Max user).

I guess you could ask "what about iOS 26 would make me want to upgrade?" My answer: nothing. Definitely not to get a slower and bugger UI, nor to get full support for headphones I could simply return for a full refund. I'm using iPhone 16 Pro.

Re: The AirPods Pro 3 flight problem

#280

Post by falkensmaize »

austhrow743 wrote: post #220
falkensmaize wrote: post #211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes actually. That was one of my biggest annoyances with non-Apple earbuds in the past, but these actually do seamlessly connect to all my Apple devices and switch quickly and reliably to the active device.

Which model did you get btw?

EarFun Air Pro 4
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