Some AirPods Pro 3 units are making a weird noise, and it's driving users crazy

The AirPods Pro 3 are brand new, announced in September of this year. These are Apple's current premium earbuds. However, it's not all been smooth sailing, and some AirPods Pro 3 owners are reporting experiencing a static-like sound when ANC is on but no music or video is playing. 

AirPods Pro 3 users experience static sound when no music is playing

The affected users have taken to Reddit and other forums to complain about the issue. Apparently, when no media is playing, they can hear a static-like sound when Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) is on on the AirPods Pro 3. 

Some people describe the sound as static, audible hiss, or white noise; some even say that it sounds like rain or an ocean-like sound similar to when you hold a seashell to your ear. 


Some people claim the static is worse in one AirPod or another. Playing some music helps the issue for some of the affected users, but not for all of them. Some even say that they can't hear music at a low level because of too much static noise. 

It's still not clear if this is a hardware or a software issue with the AirPods Pro 3 

One of the affected users said that they reported the issue to Apple and received a replacement unit, while some others experienced the same issue even with their replacement AirPods. 

Right now, it's not clear if we're talking about a hardware or software issue that's causing the static that people are hearing. If it's software-related, Apple could address it with a future update. Unfortunately, if it's hardware-related, a replacement unit would be needed, but it's not certain that the replacement unit will be free of the problem. 

Right now, the only way to eliminate the static entirely seems to be to turn Active Noise Cancellation and Transparency off. You can do that from the Settings app when the AirPods are in your ears. Obviously, that's far from an ideal situation, given the fact that ANC and Transparency are premium features that should be present and functional on a premium set of earbuds. 

This AirPods Pro 3 issue could be a serious deal-breaker for me 

I have very sensitive hearing, so I believe that if I were to be met with the static issue that people are reporting, I'll be very frustrated. I currently rock the normal AirPods 3, without the Pro features and the Pro price tag, but I know for a fact that if I'm giving $600 for a set of earbuds, I want them to be fully functional. 

I feel quite unhappy that all these users are experiencing such an annoying little issue. Yep, some people may not hear it because it's missing on their earbuds or because they're not sensitive to it, but if this were me, I would be seriously pissed. 

Let's hope it's software-related and the Cupertino tech giant will be able to fix it with a future firmware update. Because if not, if it were me, I would personally be going for a replacement unit or, quite frankly, a refund.