How to Turn ON or OFF Noise Cancellation on Airpods

Airpods Pro or Airpods Max are one of the loving and most popular headphones in the world. These are noise-canceling earbuds. You just have to enable active noise cancellation and you are ready to quiet your surroundings.

How does Noise Cancellation Work on AirPods

Noise Cancellation is also known by the name ANC (Active Noise Cancellation). This technology eliminates unwanted sounds by using a combination of both hardware and software. This combination generated such soundwaves which cancel the incoming noise.

Types of Noise Cancellation

• Active Noise Cancellation – It produces phase-inverted sound waves to generate anti-noise signals to counteract the external sounds.
• Passive Noise Cancellation – It uses physical materials or barriers to block external sound and ensures that no leakage of external noise occurs.

Process of Noise Cancellation on AirPods

The airpods also uses ANC technology for noise cancellation. Let us understand how noise cancellation works in Airpod.

There are two microphones in the airport – inward facing and outward facing. The outward-facing microphone detects the outer sounds and the inward-facing microphone measured the sound that reaches your ears.

The advanced algorithms analyze the audio picked. Then the opposite sound waves are produced to cancel out the external noise.

Now, this processed anti-noise is played simultaneously with the audio a person is listening to. This combination results in a reduction in the perceived external noise. There are two unique features of the Airpod prop

• Adaptive EQ – The adaptive EQ(Equalizer) of the AirPods Pro adjusts to the frequencies in real time.
• Transparency mode – The transparency mode allows one to interact with the outside world, as and when there arises any need.

How to Turn On Noise Cancelling on AirPods

You can easily turn on the noise cancellation feature manually by following the below-discussed steps

1. Connect Airpods Pro to your device.
2. Click Settings >> Bluetooth settings >> Audio Playback controls
3. Search volume control panel or AirPod Pro settings.
4. Toggle the ‘Noise Cancellation’ ON.
5. Choose one mode of noise cancellation – ‘Transparency mode’ or ‘Active Noise Cancellation’.

Note – Best option to choose in this case is ‘Active Noise Cancellation’.

How to Turn ON or OFF Noise Canceling on AirPods in iPhone

Through Control Centre

1. Connect Airpods to your iPhone.
2. Open Control Centre on iPhone.
3. Tap the ‘Now Playing’ widget for a long.
4. Tap on the ‘AirPods’ icon.
5. Tap on the ‘Noise Cancellation’ button.
6. This will turn on the noise cancellation feature and you will see a message that the noise cancellation has been turned ON or OFF.

Through Force Sensors

1. Connect AirPods to iPhone
2. Long press the force sensor to hear a chime. This will signal that Noise Cancellation has been turned on.

Through Settings

1. Go to Settings >> Bluetooth.
2. Tap the ‘info’ icon present next to the AirPods Pro’s connection information.
3. Go to Noise Control >> Noise Cancellation.

How to Activate or Deactivate Noise Cancellation on Airpods Pro on Android

1. Connect AirPods to an Android device.
2. Open Settings >> Connected devices/Bluetooth.
3. In the devices list, click on AirPods Pro.
4. Toggle on ‘Noise Cancellation’ and Exit.

How to Turn ON / OFF Noise Cancelling on AirPods on MAC

1. Connect your AirPods to the MAC Laptop for sure.
2. Click on the Apple menu.
3. Click on ‘System Preferences’ >> ‘Sound’ >> Output.
4. Select AirPods.
5. Click the checkbox labeled ‘Use ambient noise cancellation’ or ‘Use ambient sound reduction’.

How to Turn On or Off Noise Canceling from Siri

Activate Siri. If you are not aware of how to activate Siri, let me tell you how. Say ‘Hey Siri’ to activate it. The second method that you can use is to hold the Siri button.

To turn on the noise cancellation using Siri give one of the following commands ‘activate noise cancellation’ or ‘enable noise cancellation’. To deactivate command Siri by saying ‘Turn Off Noise Cancellation’ or ‘Disable Noise Cancellation’.

Noise Canceling on AirPods Using Apple Watch

1. Connect AirPods with Apple Watch.
2. Wake up your Apple Watch.
3. Tap on the ‘Control Centre’ and then the ‘AirPlay’ icon.
4. Click on ‘Noise cancellation’ or ‘Noise control’.
5. Again toggle the feature on or off.
6. Exit.

How to Fix AirPods Pro Noise Cancelling Not Working

Sometimes, after the update of iOS 15, the AirPods noise cancellation doesn’t work. Just follow the steps discussed below to fix it.

1. Open PC.
2. Download and install Tenoshare ReiBoot.
3. Connect your device to your PC and click ‘Start’.
4. Select the ‘Standard Repair’ option and again click on the ‘standard repair’ hit button.
5. It will start the download.
6. Click on the ‘Start Standard Repair’ button after the download.
7. It will automatically start the repair.
8. Click on the ‘Done’ tab.

This will repair and fix the issue.

Q1. Can I customize noise cancellation settings on AirPods?

You cannot directly optimize the noise cancellation settings through AirPods themselves. However, it can be done via connected devices like Apple Watch, iPhone, iPad, etc.

Q2. Does noise cancellation impact audio quality on AirPods?

No, it never affects the audio quality negatively. On the contrary, it offers a more focused sound experience for the users.

Q3. Are there different levels or modes of noise cancellation on AirPods?

Yes, there are different levels of noise cancellation. These are designed to adapt easily to different environments. The Three common modes are –

• Active Noise Cancellation
• Transparency mode
• Off

Q4. Are there any alternatives to AirPods with noise cancellation?

Yes, there are many like- Jabra Elite 85t, Bose QuietComfort Earbuds, Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 2, Beats Studio Buds, etc.