Airpods And Headache/Ear Pain

[Pupi]

You know when you start riding a bike and then you can’t sit comfortably for a few days?

AirPods are hard plastic. If you’re not used to them, they will hurt your ears a bit at the beginning after using them for some hours, and that can cause a headache.

After a couple of days your ears should get used to their shape and you’ll no longer experience pain.

At least, that was my case.

 

[wlossw]

wrap them in tin-foil to be safe

 

[Perene]

http://www.naturalnews.com/055296_iPhone_wireless_headphones_brain_cancer.html

 

[BorderingOn]

http://www.naturalnews.com/055296_iPhone_wireless_headphones_brain_cancer.html

The sources for that are The Daily Mail, YouTube, and themselves. LOL!!! Looking through their headlines, it's pretty clear what kind of site it is. You may want to try again with some sources that reference real peer reviewed studies. Good luck.

 

[bhodinut]

According to the FCC filing for the Airpods (https://fccid.io/document.php?id=3118442), the SAR rating for these is 0.466 - which is nearly double that of, say, a Google Pixel XL phone.

I have access to a similar UL certified facility. I'll set an iPhone in Bluetooth only mode and see if the W1 goes to full power just at pairing or if the AirPods are always running at that high power level.

No point in strapping an iPhone on each ear.

 

[niploteksi]

The sources for that are The Daily Mail, YouTube, and themselves. LOL!!! Looking through their headlines, it's pretty clear what kind of site it is. You may want to try again with some sources that reference real peer reviewed studies. Good luck.

"The iPhone will communicate via Bluetooth directly with the right earbud, which will send a separate Bluetooth signal to the left earbud. This means the radiation carrying the signal will pass directly through the user's brain."

DIRECTLY through your BRAIN like a "LASER".

Jokes aside, I've had mobile phones which fried my ears off.

 

[kis]

Since I wasn't able to actually sell the Airpods (not as popular as they seemed here in Switzerland), I decided to open and test them with the EM meter I purchased some time ago when I set up our Unifi APs. There's one problem I've encountered: due to the W1 sensor's capability to detect when the AirPods are inside the ear, it's relatively hard to get them to play when they're not (which is necessary to measure the EM field) worn. I had to trick them a bit.

Now these numbers are hardly scientific - first of all, the EM meter I have isn't a professional one - its purpose was to identify WiFi dead spots in the house so I could properly place the APs - for that it doesn't need to be very accurate. Plus I lack the skills to test anything like this professionally, so this is merely anecdotal.

The bad news first: the EM field directed at the skull is indeed higher than with my Jabra sports headphones that I've been using for a while now. The good news, however, is that the part that actually goes into the ear (and thus bypasses the skull bone) is very well shielded. When measuring in direct contact with the actual bud, field levels were about the same as the Jabra's. The AirPods clock in at around 250-850 microV/m2 (depending on the angle of measurement - the part perpendicular to the head is around 850, the top part is lower) when measured at the buds and on the side facing the brain, while the Jabra also emits around 850. However, both AirPods emit the same EM field strength (which is a bit surprising, i thought only one of them is connected to the iPhone via bluetooth). With the Jabra, only the one with the transmitter in the right bud emits a significant EM field, while the left one is connected via wire and emits around 50 microV/m2. The Jabra is also very well shielded - on the outside-facing part of the bud, the EM field maxes out at around 1900.

The part where I guess the antenna sits in the Airpods (the small downward facing stick) emits beyond the 2000 mcroV/m2 my EM meter is capable of measuring - and it does so in all directions, including towards the neck / jaw.

So in review, it's more complicated to measure these things than I'd thought - but it's clear that in combination, they emit more than double as much EM radiation towards the head than the reference model I used. That's because both AirPods have a measured EM field of around 850 microV/m2 inside the ear and between 1900 and (over) 2000 microV/m2 on the outside part of the device at the back of the buds and the antenna respectively.

They do not transmit at 20 dBm (100 mW) as is the max for Bluetooth Class 1, however. According to the FCC filing, they max out at 12.5 dBM (17.8 mW), which is still almost double that of a normal Bluetooth Class 2 headset. Due to their excellent shielding, the exposure on the parts that are inserted into the skull is comparable to that of regular headsets, except that with regular bluetooth headsets, only one of the buds contains a transceiver, while with the AirPods both of them do.

And coming back to the FCC filing: the SAR value of 0.466 is reached when the measuring equipment touches the rear of the device (the one facing away from the skull). The front touch SAR is 0.028 (measured over 1g of tissue) or 0.010 (measured over 10g) - both of which are very low compared to what a regular mobile phone emits. And this confirms my observations that the device is excellently shielded towards the head.

Now what any of this means in terms of health beats me. Although I might come across as such, I'm actually not in the alarmists' camp - I've been using wireless devices for years for a variety of purposes, from headsets over phones all the way to home automation. I became interested in the topic because I have small children and I'd like to be able to make informed decisions when it comes to pretty much anything. If I can have the same functionality at lower RF exposure with certain products, I choose those, that's all.

 

[glenohumeral]

Since I wasn't able to actually sell the Airpods (not as popular as they seemed here in Switzerland), I decided to open and test them with the EM meter I purchased some time ago when I set up our Unifi APs. There's one problem I've encountered: due to the W1 sensor's capability to detect when the AirPods are inside the ear, it's relatively hard to get them to play when they're not (which is necessary to measure the EM field) worn. I had to trick them a bit.

Now these numbers are hardly scientific - first of all, the EM meter I have isn't a professional one - its purpose was to identify WiFi dead spots in the house so I could properly place the APs - for that it doesn't need to be very accurate. Plus I lack the skills to test anything like this professionally, so this is merely anecdotal.

The bad news first: the EM field directed at the skull is indeed higher than with my Jabra sports headphones that I've been using for a while now. The good news, however, is that the part that actually goes into the ear (and thus bypasses the skull bone) is very well shielded. When measuring in direct contact with the actual bud, field levels were about the same as the Jabra's. The AirPods clock in at around 250-850 microV/m2 (depending on the angle of measurement - the part perpendicular to the head is around 850, the top part is lower) when measured at the buds and on the side facing the brain, while the Jabra also emits around 850. However, both AirPods emit the same EM field strength (which is a bit surprising, i thought only one of them is connected to the iPhone via bluetooth). With the Jabra, only the one with the transmitter in the right bud emits a significant EM field, while the left one is connected via wire and emits around 50 microV/m2. The Jabra is also very well shielded - on the outside-facing part of the bud, the EM field maxes out at around 1900.

The part where I guess the antenna sits in the Airpods (the small downward facing stick) emits beyond the 2000 mcroV/m2 my EM meter is capable of measuring - and it does so in all directions, including towards the neck / jaw.

So in review, it's more complicated to measure these things than I'd thought - but it's clear that in combination, they emit more than double as much EM radiation towards the head than the reference model I used. That's because both AirPods have a measured EM field of around 850 microV/m2 inside the ear and between 1900 and (over) 2000 microV/m2 on the outside part of the device at the back of the buds and the antenna respectively.

They do not transmit at 20 dBm (100 mW) as is the max for Bluetooth Class 1, however. According to the FCC filing, they max out at 12.5 dBM (17.8 mW), which is still almost double that of a normal Bluetooth Class 2 headset. Due to their excellent shielding, the exposure on the parts that are inserted into the skull is comparable to that of regular headsets, except that with regular bluetooth headsets, only one of the buds contains a transceiver, while with the AirPods both of them do.

And coming back to the FCC filing: the SAR value of 0.466 is reached when the measuring equipment touches the rear of the device (the one facing away from the skull). The front touch SAR is 0.028 (measured over 1g of tissue) or 0.010 (measured over 10g) - both of which are very low compared to what a regular mobile phone emits. And this confirms my observations that the device is excellently shielded towards the head.

Now what any of this means in terms of health beats me. Although I might come across as such, I'm actually not in the alarmists' camp - I've been using wireless devices for years for a variety of purposes, from headsets over phones all the way to home automation. I became interested in the topic because I have small children and I'd like to be able to make informed decisions when it comes to pretty much anything. If I can have the same functionality at lower RF exposure with certain products, I choose those, that's all.

Excellent find. Thanks for all the work.

 

[bhodinut]

Excellent find. Thanks for all the work.

Thank you. Saved me a morning of work. Seems Apple did their work directionally speaking. Still high but it's not pointed inward.

 

[TurboPGT!]

man, I hope it's not Bluetooth radiation. I may look into getting a radiation detector to be safe.

You could have lethal amounts of radiation pouring into your head long before you ever manifest a symptom, let alone a headache.

Good grief, where do these people come from?
[doublepost=1482850887][/doublepost]

I've decided to auction mine off before even openen them due to concerns with the TX power level these things use. I use Bluetooth devices, including headphones, all the time and I'm not worried the least bit about those - but these things use BT class 2 or 3, which means the transmit power is at 10 or 1mw max respectively - which is, indeed, very low and almost not measurable on SAR measuring devices.

However, Apple in their infinite wisdom have decided to make the W1 chip that's in the Airpods (and some Beats cans) a Bluetooth class 1 device. Class 1 devices can transmit at up to 100mw - so the Airpods potentially output an EM field that's up to 100x stronger than that of a regular bluetooth headset. To put this into perspective: 100mw is what a WiFi access point uses - and nobody in his right mind would put one of these on each side of the head for hours a day. A regular phone on the LTE network transmits at 125mw - not much difference there, either.

I fail to see the reasoning behind this move - nobody needs bluetooth earbuds that have a range of close to 70 meters. Apple also doesn't give us RF exposure info and guidlines for the Airpods, which is weird, as every other device all the way down to the Apple Watch is listed on their RF page.

According to the FCC filing for the Airpods (https://fccid.io/document.php?id=3118442), the SAR rating for these is 0.466 - which is nearly double that of, say, a Google Pixel XL phone.

I buy bluetooth headsets to lower the RF exposure I get from my phone for crying out loud, not to increase it.

Anyway, I believe that would explain the headaches some people seem to get from them.

You are completely full of it. 100%.

 

[teidon]

Good grief, where do these people come from?

Good grief, where do these people come from?

 

[hubieonekanubie]

You could have lethal amounts of radiation pouring into your head long before you ever manifest a symptom, let alone a headache.

Good grief, where do these people come from?
[doublepost=1482850887][/doublepost]
You are completely full of it. 100%.

I come from the Midwest in the USA
[doublepost=1482852397][/doublepost]

Good grief, where do these people come from?

I stated it earlier, but you may have missed it. I come from the midwest in the good ole U.S. of A! Were are you from? Glad to meet ya!!

 

[TurboPGT!]

Good grief, where do these people come from?

Uh, the people coming up with fantasy problems and drawing fantasy conclusions and passing them off as reality should be banned from the forum. Really no justifying it.

 

[SR71]

You know when you start riding a bike and then you can’t sit comfortably for a few days?

AirPods are hard plastic. If you’re not used to them, they will hurt your ears a bit at the beginning after using them for some hours, and that can cause a headache.

After a couple of days your ears should get used to their shape and you’ll no longer experience pain.

At least, that was my case.

Yup, this was how it was for me too. First 4-5 days my ears would get sore and the AirPods were uncomfortable after 30 minutes of use. A week later and my ears are completely used to them. I've currently had them in for 2 hours and have no pain whatsoever in ever. Hell, I barely even feel them.

 

[teidon]

Uh, the people coming up with fantasy problems and drawing fantasy conclusions and passing them off as reality should be banned from the forum. Really no justifying it.

Maybe also people who are acting hostile towards others should be banned? Also as you seem to know a lot about radio-frequency radiation, could you point to some source material like scientific research papers and such that prove that Bluetooth devices like AirPods are not harmful to humans of any age?

 

[TurboPGT!]

Maybe also people who are acting hostile towards others should be banned? Also as you seem to know a lot about radio-frequency radiation, could you point to some source material like scientific research papers and such that prove that Bluetooth devices like AirPods are not harmful to humans of any age?

Why are you defending a fantasy poster who posts junk nonsense and attempts to pass it off as legitimate?

 

[Binarymix]

If they were in any way dangerous the FCC wouldn't have passed them using known calculations and limits.

Now whether those limits are accurate, and whether any wireless communication is truly safe, is and probably always will be 'up in the air'.

 

[Macalway]

If I can have the same functionality at lower RF exposure with certain products, I choose those, that's all.

So are you going to use these? (excellent work BTW)

This worries me a bit. I use wired buds with phones as info on this is very conflicting, and the monetary incentive for companies could be obfuscating.

But I would hope these are 'safer'.

 

[BorderingOn]

The bottom line is y'all are carrying a phone with a radio capable of sending microwaves several miles and are worrying about a low power BT device capable of transmitting microwaves tens of feet. The concern doesn't seem appropriately placed.

 

[Macalway]

The bottom line is y'all are carrying a phone with a radio capable of sending microwaves several miles and are worrying about a low power BT device capable of transmitting microwaves tens of feet. The concern doesn't seem appropriately placed.

True, but you stick these in your ears for hours.

 

[Larry The L]

http://www.naturalnews.com/055296_iPhone_wireless_headphones_brain_cancer.html

Oh please. That site is a joke. They say even wireless internet and those smart meters will fry your brain. If you believe it, then you need to live in a shack in the middle of nowhere with no electricity!!

 

[teidon]

The bottom line is y'all are carrying a phone with a radio capable of sending microwaves several miles and are worrying about a low power BT device capable of transmitting microwaves tens of feet. The concern doesn't seem appropriately placed.

True, but you stick these in your ears for hours.

Was about to say just that. And while @BorderingOn's reasoning makes a lot of sense, it is based on one assumption: That mobile phones are 100% safe. Assuming that phones are 100% safe, there is no or little reason to fear Bluetooth headphones. But if phones are even slightly dangerous, then it is completely unknown how dangerous Bluetooth headphones are. Especially as you usually carry your phone in your pants' pocket or in a bag but you might be wearing your (both) AirPods 12 hours or more each day.

 

[hubieonekanubie]

Ok, I must confess, I've been having a little fun with my replies in this thread. Some people need to lighten up, some people need to get their tinfoil hats on!! ! Happy Holidays! Yes, my AirPods actually do hurt my ears but it's because they're hard plastic and my ear's aren't used to them and they must be somewhat odd shaped (my ears that is). There are actually 2 small sores on the same spot on both ears.

 

[kis]

You are completely full of it. 100%.

Well thank you, and a very happy Christmas to you too!

 

[kis]

So are you going to use these? (excellent work BTW)

I am but mainly as a handsfree device for phone calls - that's what I use my EarPods for as well - I listen to music on the way to work on the car radio but rarely directly on the phone