Are AirPods more likely to damage your hearing than wired headphones

For many, AirPods may be more convenient than wired headphones, but it’s also easier to damage your hearing with them. AirPods are no more harmful than wired headphones. For example, the concern that Bluetooth radiation emitted by AirPods causes brain cancer is a Bluetooth myth you shouldn’t believe. But our behaviors related to using AirPods may increase the risk that they will damage our hearing compared to wired headphones. In particular, any habit that requires you to turn the volume up to an unsafe decibel (dB) level for extended periods of time can damage your hearing.

Decibels measure the intensity of a sound, and according to the World Health Organization (WHO), anything below 60 dB, which includes normal talking and breathing (10 dB), is safe to listen to for an unlimited amount of time. At 80 dB, about the sound of an alarm clock, you can safely listen to sounds for 40 hours a week. If you increase that level to 90 dB, which is the level of a shouted conversation, that number drops to four hours per week. Just keep in mind that the effects of listening to music too loudly are cumulative: times don’t reset when you stop listening; it’s about the effect it has on your ears over time.

Over-ear headphones have large cups and drivers, making it easier for them to form a good seal and tight barrier around your ears. This allows them to offer passive noise cancellation. In-ear AirPods, on the other hand, need help from active noise cancellation (ANC) to effectively block out external noise. AirPods Pro come with ear tips to form a better seal, but it’s not the same as over-ear headphone cases. Besides, you also need to find the right fitting tips to make the AirPods form a good seal. Keep in mind that only AirPods 4, AirPods 5, AirPods Pro, and AirPods Max models come with ANC.

But if you use in-ear AirPods without ANC in a noisy environment, you may end up turning the volume up to dangerous levels just to hear better. Just keep in mind that the AirPods 3, for example, can put out up to 105.7 dB when the volume is at 100%, according to testing by HeadphonesAddict. The WHO recommends just eight minutes of listening per week at this level.

Another scenario is when you only use one AirPods earbud instead of both. This could be a preference, like wanting to hear your surroundings more clearly in one ear while listening to music or being able to take a call with your earbud in the other. One of your AirPods may be lost, not working, or low on battery. Either way, using just one AirPods earbud may cause you to turn up the volume beyond what’s safe, just so you can hear what’s coming out of your AirPods.

Wired headphones are bulky and even lighter headphones still have a wire attaching them to your device. Wearing them all day or for extended periods, such as sleeping, jogging or running errands, often becomes impractical. AirPods, on the other hand, are small, making them easier to wear for longer periods of time and in noisy environments that require turning up the volume. Even when sleeping, people have been known to turn up the volume when wearing AirPods.

Additionally, keeping your AirPods on all day can lead to earwax buildup, preventing the ear from self-cleaning the ear canal. This buildup can dull the sound from AirPods, forcing you to turn up the volume. If you sleep on your side while wearing AirPods or turn them upside down, which some people do to get a better seal, you can push earwax further into the ear canal.

So if you plan to use AirPods for an extended period of time, control the volume level and only wear them for a short time. A good rule to follow is the 60/60 rule, which states that you should keep the volume at 60% or lower and that you should not listen to them continuously for more than 60 minutes. If you don’t feel confident now that you know this information, you can switch to wired headphones. If your phone doesn’t have a headphone jack, you’ll need a USB-C to 3.5mm adapter.