Apple AirPods Pro: Are Brilliant for Misophonia Sufferers (sound sensitivity)

Misophonia = a hatred of sound.

Are you feeling overwhelmed by the noise from the construction in the house next to you? Or that co-worker who keeps clicking their pen or tapping on the desk?

While it sounds like this can annoy anyone, it's a million times worse for people with sound sensitivity. Everything is much louder.

Although I am a highly sensitive person, which affects many aspects of my life, I find sounds the most difficult. With HSP Review, I share my experience with many things from the perspective of a highly sensitive person.

I can advise on what works and what does not—the best time to travel, the best fabrics to wear, and products that work. The one place I openly admit that I struggle continually is dealing with sounds.

HSP Approved

PROS

Amazing Noise Cancellation
Ergonomic Design
Water & Sweat Resistant

CONS

Expensive
Easy to leave in all day which is not good for anyone with Misophonia

Misophonia & Travel

I planned to travel around Italy for a month in January 2022 and began to dread the whole airport ordeal or dealing with trains, etc. After being in lockdown for two years and working from a quiet home, I felt travel would be difficult.

I started to research my options on noise-canceling headphones. I did have a Bose pair of over-ear ones from a few years ago, which I liked, but they hurt your ears after an hour or so.

They are big, and I didn't want to carry them around. Hence, I concentrated on in-ear options that were small. I finally decided on the Apple AirPods Pro, and although I was hopeful, I didn't expect them to work as well as they did.

To say noises annoy me is being polite; I want to throw things at people. If someone is chewing near me, I want to jump up and leave the room while screaming hysterically.

To be polite and function in society, I try to control it, stay where I am, and breathe. I get so tense, and I can't concentrate on anything. I realize now that I need to leave; it's not good for me to feel that much anxiety and bottle it all in.

Not sure if anyone else with sound sensitivities experiences this, but have you ever made noises and annoyed yourself? I was eating nachos by myself one day and had to put the TV on so I couldn't hear myself.

I used them at home before the trip, and they were terrific. Being an Apple product, they have a minimalist ergonomic design that fits securely in your ears.

You can choose three sizes of soft silicone tips for a customizable fit. The charging case is a bit bigger than the typical AirPods case but small enough to fit in your pocket easily.

Many earplugs are uncomfortable if you wear them for a long time; I found wearing the AirPods Pro no problem for hours. Sometimes I would forget I had them in after a movie or zoom call, this is odd to explain, but the silence around me was softer. It was wonderful.

You can run an ear tip fit test to ensure they are in your ears correctly and to check if the active noise canceling is working properly, as well as a “Find My AirPods” feature.

The test was the trip. Of course, I was anxious flying as I always am, and the airport was annoying with people milling around, kicking off my other sensitives.

Once I settled on the flight, I watched some movies and shows I had downloaded and was amazed at how much sound they blocked. I was in my world, and the people around me didn't bother me. I kept them in while I tried to sleep, which also helped.

In addition to noise cancellation, the sound quality of the AirPods Pro is excellent. It's a million times better than AirPods.

Using earphones when walking around in normal circumstances is unsafe, but I would not recommend doing it with these Airpod Pros. They block the sound so much that you would not hear someone coming up behind you. If you wear them while outside, make sure to put them in transparency mode.

Excessive use of earplugs when you have Misophonia increases your sensitivity to many trigger sounds.

Noise Cancellation & Transparency Mode

With Active Noise Cancellation, an outward-facing microphone or microphones detect external sounds, which your AirPods Pro then counter with anti-noise, canceling the external sounds before you hear them.

An inward-facing microphone listens inside your ear for unwanted internal sounds, which your AirPods Pro also counters with anti-noise.

Transparency mode lets outside sound in to hear what's happening around you. Active Noise Cancellation and Transparency mode work best when your AirPods Pro fits well.

You can switch between noise-control modes from your AirPods Pro or use your iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, or Mac. When you switch between modes, you hear a chime.