If you belong to the Apple ecosystem, AirPods Pro are easily the best headphones you can buy. They sound great, work on a variety of Apple devices and ship with functions such as adaptive transparency and built-in heart rate sensor. These are even FDA certified hearing aids.. Not bad for $249.
But all these advantages don't mean Apple's AirPods Pro are perfect. In fact, you can ask any customer who complains about static noise coming from their AirPods Pro 3 when nothing is actually playing. This is reported by MacRumors.This appears to affect some AirPods Pro 3 users when using Active Noise Cancellation, Adaptive Transparency, and Transparency modes, but only when there is no active audio playing. (Nevertheless, states one user they can't even use their AirPods when playing music at 30dB or lower because the static overwhelms it.)
Some users think the noise sounds like static white noise, hissing, rain, or like you're holding a seashell to your ear, although it's unclear what exactly causes it. There are varying reports on whether both earbuds are equally affected or whether the static is coming through one earbud specifically, and resetting the AirPods doesn't seem to help.
Reading headlines like this, it might be tempting to assume that this is an issue with the AirPods Pro 3, but unconfirmed issues like this can be difficult to assess. It's possible that a small percentage of AirPods Pro 3 actually have this problem, and affected users are openly talking about it on forums and social media. However, I will say that I am a little perplexed by the number of users who claim to have encountered this problem. in this Reddit thread.
What are your thoughts so far?
What to do if you hear interference in AirPods Pro 3
If you are among those who are facing this issue, the first thing you should do is contact Apple Support. If you can, take your AirPods directly to the Apple Store. There's no guarantee this will apply to everyone, but it appears Apple is replacing affected AirPods for some users. According to a MacRumors contributorAn Apple Store specialist they spoke with confirmed that Apple was directing employees to replace affected devices even if they passed a diagnostic test.
If true, it could mean it's a hardware issue that Apple hasn't been able to identify yet. However, I hope this is a software issue that Apple can fix with an update in the future. Speaking of software, the problem seems to go away when you turn off noise reduction. As a short-term solution, you can opt out of using active noise cancellation and transparency modes, although this will take away many of the features that make the AirPods Pro so appealing.
