What You Need to Know About Using AirPods for Hearing Protection

If you have a pair of AirPods Pro 2 or AirPods 4 with active noise cancellation (ANC), you can use Adaptive mode and noise canceling to reduce loud sounds. So can AirPods protect your hearing? The answer is complicated.

Can AirPods Really Protect Your Hearing?

Adaptive Audio blends transparency and noise cancellation on both AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 4 (ANC) models. Apple has designed the feature to reduce the volume of loud sounds while maintaining clarity. This works by taking the environmental audio surrounding you and reducing it to a safer listening level.

You can activate this mode on your AirPods by swiping down from the top-left corner of the screen on an iPhone or iPad and then long-pressing the Volume slider and choosing toggling “Adaptive” on. On a Mac, you’ll find this option under the Control Center button next to the clock by clicking the “Sound” heading.

So how well does this work in practice? One experiment by the New York Times blog Wirecutter put the earbuds to the test. By using a GRAS RA0402 ear simulator, Wirecutter tested the AirPods Pro 2 by playing a short music clip at 105 dB from two PA speakers placed three feet apart.

The measured reduction when using Adaptive Audio took the 105 dB music down to 95 dB. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), it’s only safe to listen at 105 dB for 8 minutes over a week-long period, whereas a reduction to 95 dB brings that up to an hour and 15 minutes which is a significant improvement.

The WHO classes this as the difference between standing about 16 feet (5 meters) away from a car horn and the sound of the average motorcycle.

Wirecutter put the AirPods Pro 2 up against earbuds from Bose (a reduction to 91 dB) and Soundcore (102 dB), but what is most interesting are the findings from the writer’s subjective “real world” tests against a pair of Loop earplugs.

In adaptive mode, the AirPods Pro 2 earbuds came out on top, with the writer noting: “Adaptive transparency mode gave us, in essence, a quieter version of the unattenuated live sound … guitars, drums, and vocals all sounded surprisingly clear, and our enjoyment of the sound wasn’t lessened at all.”

Critically, the AirPods Pro 2 fell short in terms of overall volume reduction, with the writer noting that their ears felt fatigued after 10 minutes during the performance that averaged a volume of 105 dB. Ultimately, though AirPods Pro 2 can help, they shouldn’t be relied upon in Adaptive mode to reduce sounds to more commonly accepted “safe” levels of around 85 dB.

You Need to Use the Right Audio Filtering Mode

So, what about using AirPods to reduce loud sounds in general? Let’s assume you don’t care about sound clarity but are instead subjecting yourself to other potentially damaging volume levels like power tools or some sort of motor.

In active noise cancelation mode, Wirecutter’s tests measured a whopping reduction of 23 dB. This takes the 105 dB PA system down to a respectable 82 dB. The WHO notes that a sound level of 85 dB is safe for 12 and a half hours of listening per week, equivalent to that of heavy traffic.

For comparison, earplug upstart Loop quotes a reduction of 27 dB in its Dream plugs (the highest level of noise reduction the company currently offers). Fender’s cheap Musician earplugs go further at “up to 35 dB.” What AirPods offer in ANC mode seems to fall in line with what you’ll see from the sort of inexpensive earplugs you’ll find at a hardware store or online retailer.

Of course, this doesn’t matter unless your AirPods don’t fit correctly. AirPods Pro models will arguably be the better choice here since they form a tight seal with your ear canal, and there’s even a test to help you choose the right fit. On top of this, you might want to invest in aftermarket hooks or memory foam tips to stop your AirPods from slipping out of your ears.

Pay Attention to All the Noise Warnings

One way you can protect your hearing is to have your iPhone monitor volume levels and warn you when it’s time to turn the music down. As noted by the WHO, safe listening levels are calculated based on the time you spend exposed to that level of sound.

Head to Settings > Sound & Haptics > Headphone Safety and enable “Headphone Notifications” to receive an alert if you exceed the “safe” audio levels. This works with all headphones, not just AirPods, but it doesn’t take into account other loud noises such as any time you spend at a building site or concert.

If you want to go further, you can enable “Reduce Loud Audio” to allow your iPhone to control audio levels when you’re using headphones. You can set a safe level here, with 85 dB being the default. This is one of the main reasons you may notice your iPhone volume reducing by itself.

To get an overview of how your headphone audio levels are holding up, access “Hearing” in the Health app. You’ll see metrics like Headphone Audio Levels averaged over time, as well as any noise notifications you’ve received. If you have an Apple Watch monitoring for loud environmental sounds you’ll see these alerts here too.

Do AirPods Offer Good Hearing Protection?

AirPods can help protect your hearing in the sense that some barrier between your eardrum and loud environmental sounds is better than no barrier at all. Effectiveness is dependent on which model you have and which audio filtering mode you’re using.

A reduction of 10 dB in Adaptive mode (as per Wirecutter’s experiment) isn’t comparable to the 20-30 dB reduction you can expect from a pair of “proper” ear defenders (even if the audio quality is subjectively better when listening via AirPods).

From this, we can conclude that AirPods don’t necessarily make great alternatives to purpose-designed ear defenders in a concert setting. They perform better in ANC mode and may have some utility in blocking out unwanted environmental noise.

This is especially true if you want to listen to music or podcasts at a reasonable level while using power tools, mowing the lawn, or whenever you find yourself in a noisy environment. That said, they’re expensive and you’ll need to keep them charged in order for them to prove useful. They’re also not the only noise-cancelling headphones out there.

Keeping a pair of cheaper ear defenders on hand is probably the better choice. You don’t need to worry about battery levels or stress about losing them during a sweaty concert. There’s also something to be said for how you might look with a pair of bright white AirPods in a club or live music venue (not that we’re judging).

Perhaps the most overlooked “protective” AirPods feature, at least for ANC models, is the ability to turn down whatever you’re listening to and enjoy at reasonable volumes. Since Apple’s earbuds do a great job of blocking out environmental noise, you don’t need to deafen yourself to block out the hum of traffic or a loud crowd (unless you really want to).

Apple’s earbuds are expensive, but it’s hard to deny their appeal. Find out how the AirPods Pro 2 stack up to the originals and what it’s like running a half-marathon with the AirPods 4 ANC.