How to fix Chirping sounds in AirPod Pro 2 Hearing Aids

An update!

I ordered and installed a set of aftermarket foam ear tips. The fit noticeably improved and the chirping is essentially eliminated. I've gone from chirping every 2-10 seconds to only noticing a chirp or two as I put the AirPods in my ears.

So this does seem to be related to fit. I'm really happy with the AirPod Pro and hearing aid feature, and delighted to have found this solution. I chose the ear tips from Comply. (www.complyfoam.com)

I have spent the last 3 days on the phone with apple support. They had me repeatedly going thru every combination of settings. After all that, there was no solution, only a workaround involving me turning the amplification down so far that it no longer functioned as a hearing aid.

they were unwilling to offer a replacement or a refund. So, my airpods are now relgated to my junk drawer.

As queen Victoria put it “We are not amused.”

I think the chirping is snippets of feedback NOT between the two, but from each pod to itself. My ear canals are quite narrow, and even the smallest silicon earpiece doesn't fit well. This somehow allows feedback because the airpod can hear itself. The firmware is detecting this, and lessens the gain to snuff it. This also leads to the random rise and fall in perceived amplification too. They can't get around it because the mic is located in the same housing as the earpiece. They would need a special silicon earpiece that goes farther inside the ear canal to stop the chirping. The other alternative is to put a notch filter since the chirping frequency band is quite narrow.

Not news. My post of Dec 15th already said this. Re-running the fit test does no good either. The reason is any normal movement of one's head shakes the Airpod, altering the fit in a couple seconds. Then the chirp happens again. You might as well just push the Airpod into your ear better (if you can) when you hear the chirping and skip the retest. A better fix would be something that clamps around the outside of the ear to stabilize the fit. Or maybe a ittle tube that goes a bit farther into the ear. But Apple won't do that because then young mush heads wouldn't buy them.

I don't have a solution yet, but here's more data from some experimentation I've been doing. The bottom line is that in my case at least the problem MAY be caused by a poor fit. If I get a resolution I'll return to this thread, but for now I'm offering this up in the hope that it may help someone else's investigation of the problem. Here goes....

Rob bought new AirPod Pros in order to use the new hearing aid feature. He fitted the silicone tips using the fit test feature, took the hearing test, and turned on the hearing aid feature. As soon as the hearing aid feature was enabled, random chirping began in both right and left units.  I call it random because it occurs at irregular intervals varying between 2 seconds and 20 seconds, there is no correlation between right and left units, and there does not seem to be any correlation with sound in the environment.  The chirping disappears when the hearing aid feature is turned off, and returns when it is turned on.

THE CHIRPING IS CAUSED BY THE HEARING AID FEATURE.

Rob borrowed Louise’s AirPod Pros, paired it with his phone, inserted it in his ears, applied the hearing test profile from his test, and turned on the hearing aid feature.  The chirping appeared immediately, and disappeared when the hearing aid feature was turned off.

THE CHIRPING IS NOT CAUSED BY THE SPECIFIC AIRPOD PRO UNIT.

When Louise put either AirPod Pro set into her ears and turned on the hearing aid feature using the configuration from Rob’s hearing aid test, she did not hear any chirping.   (She did clearly hear the changed frequency response so we know the hearing aid feature was working.)

When Rob put either AirPod Pros into his ears and turned on the hearing aid feature, Louise could hear the chirping when she put her own head very close to Rob’s - that is, it was loud enough to be heard from outside.

We took pictures of the AirPod Pros inserted into both Rob’s and Louise’s ears.  It is very apparent that the AirPod Pros do not fit into Rob’s ear canal as far as they do in Louise’s.  For instance, the black oval on the top of the unit is partially exposed in Rob’s case, but is wholly within the ear in Louise’s case.  

If Rob presses hard on the units to force them deeper into the ear canal, it SEEMS like the frequency of chirping is reduced, though this is hard to quantify, and in any case as soon as the pressure is released the units shift and the chirping frequency resumes.

THE CHIRPING MAY BE ASSOCIATED WITH THE FIT.

Your right. I’m in same boat. Only my left AirPod. And it’s for sure the fit. Bc I can’t ever get the test to proceed without pushing the left AirPod in so the fit passes. I’ve had a lot of surgeries on this left ear which is why these types of ear phones have never worked well for me. But I’m mostly deaf out of the left ear so the hearing aid feature is awesome. Unfortunately, it’s not awesome enough to deal with the random chirping. And one other thing. It’s only in transparency. I’ve got not chirping when I’m in noise cancellation.

After working with Apple support for several weeks, they have not yet identified the problem. On the other hand, members of this thread have done so.

The problem is improper fit of the airpods in each ear. Even if you find the right size ear tips, if it is not properly positioned, you will get the chirp. The chirp is due to feedback to the microphone from the speaker. Probably the worse the fit, the more chirping.

Test this yourself: The next time you get a chirp, run the “ear tip fit test”. You will invariably find that the fit is bad in the airpod that chirped. Reposition the airpod and retake the test until both airpods are okay. Problem solved!??

Apple still needs to work on this problem, as it is quite annoying to have to retest your airpods every time you put them in. Hopefully, they will recognize the issue and put out a firmware update.

Thanks, ZURACZURX, this is the best summary of the root cause in any of the several threads on this topic.

My experience corroborates yours. In my case, and obviously for some other users, switching to 3rd party foam tips achieves good-enough fit to eliminate or reduce chirping to acceptable levels. The AirPods still don’t sit as securely in my ear canal as I wish, but no mass market devices do and I can live with it as-is. The Apple hearing aid function is very effective and a good value.

I agree!

To get Apple to take this issue seriously, we all need to contact Apple Support directly. Apple does not monitor the discussion group, so complaint made here are not heard. Please contact Apple Support and let them know that this is a real issue.

Change your ear tip. I had the same problem for 6 weeks. Tried every configuration. Even with a good fit test, chirp persisted. Apparently I have different size ear canals. Changed the ear tip, chirp gone.

coywolf wrote: "...we all need to contact Apple Support directly..."

coywolf ~ Apple says: "Use the form below to send us your comments. We read all feedback carefully...":

Feedback - AirPods - Apple

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That is not very scientific, *** two different people will have different hearing profiles, i.e. on may hear a sound that another may not. For example, my wife can hear the alarm on our fridge door, but I cannot.

i have tested my airpods after first using the. airpod’s “ear tip fit test” to make sure of a proper fit. This is important, as even with the right tip, you may wind up with a bad fit in your ear. I have repeatedly heard the chirping sound after confirming the airpod fit.

The chirp is only heard when the airpods are in “transparency” mode. Adaptive and Noise Cancellation modes do not have the chirp. According to Apple Support, the hearing aid function only works when the airpods are in Transparency mode. Since replacing airpods with this issue doesn’t seem to solve the problem, it seems to be a software issue specifically with the “hearing assistance” function.

I hope they fix this soon.

The problem is that the airpods are made to fit most of the population and for the rest of us they don't work as well. The first gen airpods don't stay in my ears even if I sit still as a rock and I can barely hear any music from them. I've had professional fittings of earpieces for stage work and for construction work. In both cases the audiologists commented on the odd shape of both my outer ear and my ear canal. My first set of stage IEMs had to be re-made because even though I'd had moulds made they didn't stay in properly and didn't provide enough isolation from ambient.

I use Beats Fit Pro for listening to music - NOT as hearing aids. They are good (for me) because the wings help them stay in but with the standard ear buds the noise cancelling doesn't work cos I can't get a good fit. If I try, by pushing the buds further into my ear, then I too get chirping sounds as I wiggle them about, but they only stay sealed for a few minutes. The best solution I've got (for listening to music with Beat Fit Pro - not saying it will help with hearing aid function) is to use the tips from Apple's Beats Flex headphones; they are a tad bigger than the largest which come as standard with the Beats Fit Pro but they still fit in the charging case and they work much better with noise cancelling.

If the shape of your ears doesn't fall in the range that ear buds from a manufacturer are designed for then you'll have trouble with the standard product. There are companies in some countries which will make custom ear pod tips/covers for some Apple ear buds (GIYF). They're not cheap but still come in cheaper than a hearing-aid in (my country) with the obvious caveat that not all Apple airpod batteries can be replaced.

Same problem. See also this thread: Ipods pro 2 chirping noise with hearing a… - Apple Community

You got lucky. For many, there is no size that stays in good enough not eventually start chirping. I fixed mine by gluing in little tubes that go in my ear a bit further.