Right Ear mic randomly stops working (AirPods 2nd Gen)

[Pilot Jones]

It started as an occasional hiccup, but over the past few days this issue's become almost unbearable since I take so many work calls with my AirPods & instinctively put in my right earphone first.

After a few days of major inconvenience & testing, I figured out that it was specifically the Right Mic that randomly drops off whenever it feels like. I still hear everything crystal clear, but the other person can't hear a sound.

My 2nd Gen AirPods are only about a year and 3 months old and I always keep them in a case, never drop them, wet them, etc. No mechanical damage at all. Even the battery life in general is pretty fantastic, compared to some horror stories I've read here.

I've also gently cleaned the microphone area, but this doesn't seem to be such an external issue anyway.

I've tried resetting the AirPods but the issue comes back soon enough.

Advice?

 

[Silvanum]

My pair behaves like this too, L+R.

Randomly works after reset, or blowing really hard straight into the mic. Then back to silent. Sometimes works for an hour or two, sometimes only a couple of seconds.

 

[Pilot Jones]

My pair behaves like this too, L+R.

Randomly works after reset, or blowing really hard straight into the mic. Then back to silent. Sometimes works for an hour or two, sometimes only a couple of seconds.

It's utterly infuriating.

Since I made this post 3-4 weeks ago, my Right AirPod mic has actually completely died out. Tried everything, but to no avail. Pretty disappointed in how randomly & suddenly this happened with no apparent cause at all. Just poor mechanical longevity.

 

[Silvanum]

It's utterly infuriating.

Since I made this post 3-4 weeks ago, my Right AirPod mic has actually completely died out. Tried everything, but to no avail. Pretty disappointed in how randomly & suddenly this happened with no apparent cause at all. Just poor mechanical longevity.

Indeed!

Started that way for me too, Hey Siri randomly stopped working and at first I thought that Siri just bugged, then a lot of confusing phone calls ”Hello? Helloooo..?”

Have you tried recording in voice memo? When I try it’s sometimes completely dead, at other times the mic seems to work, but with an extremely, barely noticeable, low volume. If I then take them off and forcefully blow right into the mic (like blowing up a balloon) it works perfectly for some time, although most often just for a few seconds and then it fades to silent again.

I’m not sure wether it’s an odd hardware malfunction or if they really messed up the firmware (given the pro’s noise cancellation). Mine seem to do noise cancellation in reverse…

 

[Pilot Jones]

Indeed!

Started that way for me too, Hey Siri randomly stopped working and at first I thought that Siri just bugged, then a lot of confusing phone calls ”Hello? Helloooo..?”

Have you tried recording in voice memo? When I try it’s sometimes completely dead, at other times the mic seems to work, but with an extremely, barely noticeable, low volume. If I then take them off and forcefully blow right into the mic (like blowing up a balloon) it works perfectly for some time, although most often just for a few seconds and then it fades to silent again.

I’m not sure wether it’s an odd hardware malfunction or if they really messed up the firmware (given the pro’s noise cancellation). Mine seem to do noise cancellation in reverse…

I'll try giving Voice Memos a shot. Even if the mic is permanently defective, I'd be very curious to know what actually happened to it.

I was wondering that too. Since my AirPods are very well cared for and have never suffered any impact or water damage, it could very well be some strange software issue.