AirPods Troubleshooting - Dealing with a Loudness Discrepancy Between Ears

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• Clean Your AirPods
• Adjust the Audio Balance
• Turn Off Head Tracked Spatial Audio
• Reset Your AirPods

Your listening experience can get quite irritating when one of your AirPods sounds louder than the other. Often, you can fix this issue easily by cleaning your AirPods, resetting them, or adjusting their settings. However, if the hardware is at fault, you have limited options.

1 Clean Your AirPods

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Just like any other device, you should clean your AirPods regularly. Over time, you may observe an accumulation of earwax around the speaker mesh of your AirPods. This buildup not only has the potential to obstruct sound output but can also diminish the overall audio quality.

To safely remove the earwax buildup, you can use a Q-tip or a cotton swab to clean around the speaker mesh carefully. Remember to remove the ear tips before cleaning if you own AirPods Pro. If you still find smaller particles trapped inside, you can use a soft brush to remove any remaining debris gently.

Trying to remove debris using a hard, sharp object such as a toothpick can cause permanent damage to your AirPods.

2 Adjust the Audio Balance

You may also feel like one AirPod is louder than the other due to a blocked ear or partial hearing loss in one ear. Luckily, you can adjust the volume balance between the left and right channels by following these steps:

1. Open theSettings app on your iPhone
2. Head over toAccessibility > Audio & Visual .
3. Adjust theBalance slider as per your needs. Moving it towards the left will make the left AirPod louder, and moving it towards the right will make the right AirPod louder.

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Although it’s recommended to set the slider to the middle for balanced volume between your right and left AirPods, the adjustment ultimately depends on your personal hearing preferences.

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3 Turn Off Head Tracked Spatial Audio

The Spatial Audio feature includes a dynamic head tracking mode that utilizes the sensors in your AirPods to monitor head movement. It automatically adjusts the right and left audio channels to enhance immersion, resembling a theater-like experience.

Occasionally, this may result in one AirPod sounding louder than the other, particularly during transitions from movement to a stationary position. You can try disabling this feature by following these steps:

1. Make sure to connect your AirPods to your iPhone .
2. Open theControl Center on your iPhone by swiping down from the top-right corner of your screen. If your iPhone has a Home button, swipe up from the bottom of the screen instead.
3. Long-press thevolume slider .
4. Tap theSpatial Audio (orSpatialize Stereo) option, then choose theFixed orOff setting based on your preference. Remember that you’ll need to repeat these steps for every app that supports the feature.

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4 Reset Your AirPods

If the above methods weren’t helpful, you can try resetting your AirPods to factory settings. To do that:

1. Open theSettings app and tapBluetooth .
2. Tap thei (info) button next to your AirPods.
3. Scroll down and TapForget This Device , then confirm by tappingForget Device .
4. When you receive a prompt indicating that your AirPods will be disconnected from all devices linked to your iCloud account, tapForget Device once more.

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​​​​​​​Now:

1. Put your AirPods back into the charging case and leave the lid open.
2. Press and hold theSetup button on the back of the case for roughly 15 seconds. You’ll see the status light flash amber/orange, followed by white, to confirm that you’ve reset your AirPods.
3. Reconnect your AirPods to your iPhone.

Experiencing imbalanced audio output or one AirPod sounding louder than the other can be frustrating. However, you can address and potentially resolve these issues with these troubleshooting steps.

If none of the tips worked in your favor, chances are your AirPods issue is hardware-related. In such cases, we highly recommend scheduling an appointment with an Apple Store or an Apple Authorised Service Provider to get your AirPods serviced.