Home » How to » Why Do My AirPods Sound Muffled? (Try These Fixes!)

While Apple’s AirPods are one of the best earphones on the market, they tend to sound muffled easily.

As frustrating as it is when your AirPods sound muffled, consider the tips below to help you figure it out so you can start enjoying streaming your music again.

In this article, we’ll discuss the most common reasons for muffled sound in AirPods and show you how to fix it with DIY solutions. Let’s get started.

A buildup of gunk is what makes your AirPods sound muffled. As you know, AirPods are in-ear headphones that can absorb earwax over time and block the sound coming from the speakers.

Most of the time, if you find it difficult to hear music and the sound is muffled, you may need to clean your speaker grills. 

Here are the tips that will help you fix it when AirPods Sound Muffled.

Cotton swabs, toothpicks, rubbing alcohol, a microfiber cloth, or an AirPods Cleaner Kit are required to clean your AirPods (first and second Gen), AirPods Pro, or AirPods third generation. To clean your AirPods:

If the muffled sound problem continues after cleaning your AirPods, try resetting them. Sometimes the problem may be related to AirPods or Bluetooth connection, and resetting them will refresh the connection, and most of the time, the muffled sound issue will be solved. 

1. Place AirPods in the charging case and close the lid. 

2. Wait at least 30 seconds, and then open the lid.

5. Find your AirPods name and tap the ‘i’ (More info) icon.

6. Choose Forget This Device and confirm.

7. Press and hold the Setup button on the back of the charging case until you see the amber light flashing, and wait at least 15 seconds. 

8. Place your AirPods close to your iPhone or iPad and follow the steps on the screen to reconnect your AirPods. 

If you’re an Apple Music subscriber, you may know that Apple Music plays songs in Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos.

However, not all iPhones and iDevices support Dolby Atmos. If you have the first or second generation of AirPods, Dolby Atmos may cause the sound to be muffled. You can disable this feature and see if the problem is solved or not.

3. Under Audio, tap on Dolby Atmos.

4. Choose Automatic, Always On, or Off.

It may be less likely, but some evidence shows that the muffled sound on AirPods may come from the iOS glitches and bugs affecting Bluetooth and AirPods performance.

Therefore, ensure your iPhone, iPad, Mac, or iMac, runs the most recent OS version. If it isn’t, download and update your device to the latest version of the operating system and check if the problem still exists or not.

To check updates for iPhone, iPad, and iPod:

Sometimes, your iPhone and AirPods need to be calibrated because one or both devices may perceive the “full volume” differently.

As a result, your AirPods may not be using all of the audio available, and the sound would be muffled. It may sound not very easy, but it is easy to fix! Follow the instructions below:

If you’ve done all the abovementioned DIY solutions and still your AirPods sound muffled, it might be something wrong with the hardware.

You can contact Apple Support on your iPhone and Apple Support app or bring your AirPods to the nearest Apple Store.

Maybe you have a faulty pair of AirPods, or one of your speakers or inner components inside one of the buds is defective. 

AirPods’ fantastic sound and build quality are important for those users who are always on the go. Someday you may feel your AirPods sound muffled, and you tried all the possible DIY solutions.

If nothing worked, Apple genius guys would try to repair your AirPods. Worst-case scenario, your AirPods are defective, and they’re not repairable.

In this case, Apple will replace them with a new pair, which sounds great! Before you buy a new pair of AirPods, be sure to read our guide on how to spot fake AirPods: a step-by-step guide.

If you have any feedback or questions, then please don’t hesitate to leave a comment below.

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For the past 7 years, Farhad has been tinkering with phones, laptops, power banks, etc. When he's not writing, he's devouring info about new products launch.

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