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    Turn On Hearing Protection on iPhone

    Use Reduce Loud Sounds and Headphone Notifications to protect your hearing automatically — no separate app or device needed.

    3 min read · 6 steps · Checked July 2026

    1. Step 1. Open Sound & Haptics settings

      Open the Settings app, then tap "Sounds & Haptics," then "Headphone Safety." This screen controls both hearing protection features.

    2. Step 2. Turn on Reduce Loud Sounds

      Switch on "Reduce Loud Sounds," then drag the slider below it to set a decibel limit. Apple sets a default around 100 dB (roughly as loud as a lawn mower). But you can lower it to 90 dB or below for extra protection, especially if you already notice ringing in your ears after listening to music or podcasts.

      Quick Tip

      80 dB is roughly the volume of city traffic heard from inside a car — a comfortable, safe setting for long listening sessions.

    3. Step 3. Check your Headphone Notifications history

      Below the Reduce Loud Sounds toggle, look for "Headphone Notifications" and turn it on. Over the following days, iPhone will track your average headphone volume and gently notify you if it's been consistently loud, without needing you to do anything else.

    4. Step 4. See your hearing data in the Health app

      Open the Health app, tap "Browse" at the bottom, then "Hearing." This section shows headphone audio levels over time and, on newer iPhones with a compatible AirPods model, can even estimate environmental noise exposure from the microphone.

    5. Step 5. Consider a hearing test right from your phone

      If you have AirPods Pro 2 or newer, the Health app can walk you through an FDA-cleared clinical-grade hearing test, and AirPods can then work like basic hearing aids for everyday conversations if the test finds mild to moderate hearing loss. This is separate from Reduce Loud Sounds but lives in the same Health app section.

    6. Step 6. Set a comfortable default volume

      As a general habit, keep media volume at 60% or lower and take a break from headphones for a few minutes every hour during long listening sessions — a simple rule hearing specialists commonly recommend alongside these built-in protections.

    Every iPhone has built-in hearing protection tools that most people never turn on, even though they're free and take about two minutes to set up. "Reduce Loud Sounds" automatically lowers headphone volume any time it goes above a safe level you choose, and "Headphone Notifications" alerts you when your average listening volume over a week has been high enough to risk hearing damage over time. These features work with any headphones — wired, Bluetooth, or AirPods.

    The World Health Organization estimates that over a billion young people worldwide are at risk of hearing loss from unsafe listening habits, and hearing damage from loud sound exposure is cumulative and permanent — once it happens, it doesn't come back. These settings put a ceiling on volume without requiring you to think about it every time you put in headphones. Source: support.apple.com and who.int.

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