Suffering from an AirPods 3 beep? This is a (temporary) solution
The AirPods 3 may emit a high-pitched beep when no media is playing. Fortunately, there is a temporary solution.
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AirPods 3 Beep: Problem and Solution
The AirPods 3 are available and the new wireless earbuds from Apple are excellent, as you can read in our AirPods 3 review. However, we have come across an annoying problem.
I often leave a plug in my ear without listening to anything, because I put music or a podcast on pause. That wasn’t a problem with my original AirPods, but since the upgrade to the AirPods 3, I hear an annoying high-pitched sound in my ear.
The sound sounds like a kind of hiss, beep or coil white. It’s not loud, but audible enough to be annoying and it only happens when nothing is playing.
Widespread problem?
Obviously I’m not the only one complaining about this. For example, in a discussion on the MacRumors Forum talk about the sound. “Okay, so I’m not crazy. I can hear it too,” writes MacRumors reader k1im. “Fortunately, I am not alone with this problem,” Vincent writes. Another writes that they replaced their AirPods 3 in the Apple Store, but that the replacement AirPods have the same problem.
Also on Reddit, there are several posts devoted to the problem. Describes in a topic ForMyQueen It’s like this: “Imagine you have a bad power supply in your PC and it makes a really annoying buzzing sound, but then it’s right in your ear.”
There are also many people who report not hearing anything. So not all AirPods 3 models seem to suffer from the problem.
Hardware or software
Several people on Reddit and MacRumors say that if you report this problem to Apple, the AirPods will be replaced for free. However, there is no guarantee that the replacement pair will work properly.
The question now is therefore mainly whether this is a problem with the hardware or software. If it is a software issue, it can be resolved with a firmware update.
One MacRumors reader thinks he has a temporary solution: “I’ve found that age and a little tinnitus do wonders for eliminating unwanted hissing and/or coil whine. At 61, all I hear is a nice ringing sound when I’m not playing anything on my AirPods 3’s”. But because damaging your ears or suddenly getting old are not realistic solutions, luckily there is something else you can do.
Solution AirPods 3 sound
Since iOS 15 it is possible to turn on background sound. Within the iOS Accessibility menu, you can enable rain, a babbling brook, or noise to filter out annoying noises around you. This option is also available especially for your AirPods.
The idea is that you turn on the background sound and then set the slider to 0. For example, your AirPods think that something is playing so that the annoying sound cannot be heard, without you hearing anything yourself. You go through the following steps for this:
- Go to Settings and choose ‘Accessibility’;
- Under the heading ‘Physical and motor’, choose ‘AirPods’;
- Tap ‘Sound accessibility settings’;
- Tap on ‘Background sounds’ and set the slider to green at ‘Background sounds’;
- Move the volume slider all the way to the left so that it’s at ‘0’.
You can also quickly turn the function on and off via the Control Panel. You then tap the earpiece and turn on background sounds. If you don’t see this option in the Control Panel, you need to add it. To do this, go to ‘Settings > Control panel’ and drag ‘Hearing’ up.
Do you have this problem yourself? Then let us know in the comments!
More about the AirPods 3
Are you still unsure whether you will get the AirPods 3? We help you by placing the AirPods 3 next to the AirPods 2. Or how about the AirPods 3 versus the AirPods Pro?
Also watch our AirPods 3 video review!
