Apple is providing its retail stores with a proper audio testing tool for the first and second-gen. AirPods. The new machine will help Apple technicians in finding if the AirPods sound quality has been affected due to ear wax or if the problem is with the customer’s hearing.

The machine has a phone holder with slots to hold AirPods at the bottom. The AirPods will point towards the service provider’s iPhone microphone placed in the holder that will run some diagnostic tests to determine if the AirPods sound quality is affected or not. This tool does not seem to be compatible with the AirPods Pro but the company presumably has a similar tool under development for the earbuds.

Apple is rolling out a proper audio test tool for AirPods 1 and 2. New phone holder with AirPod attachments pointing AirPods at phones mic. No more guessing if it's a gunked up disgusting AirPod or customers bad hearing. Works similar to existing iPhone Audio test in principle pic.twitter.com/AKiSILH9AK

— Stella – Fudge (@StellaFudge) October 22, 2020

It is actually quite common for AirPods users to complain about low sound from one of the earbuds after a few months of usage which usually happens due to ear wax accumulation. However, service providers cannot check the sound quality themselves by inserting them into their ears as their judgment could be different from that of the customer. This diagnostic tool from Apple, however, will avoid such situations as service providers will be able to accurately ascertain if there is an issue with the AirPods or not.

Have you had your AirPods replaced by Apple due to low sound?