To know how to fix this problem, you first need to know the reason behind this: Earwax is produced by the ear when there is a disturbance (therefore the more bass a song has, the more earwax). That earwax then sometimes gets into the earbud, clogging the hole through which the music passes either partially (then the music is a little quieter) or fully (music is extremely quiet and can only be heard when only listening on that airpod/earbud).
How do you fix this?
The way I fix it, is playing bass boosted music at full volume through the earbud (out side of ear(dont listen to the music, as that could result in hearing damage). This frees any earwax.
Next, you take the airpod, and suck on the larger of the two holes (but not too hard (for example vacuum) this process must be done by your mouth, because your lungs dont have enough power to damage the speaker (the vacuum, on the other hand does)). This allows for the earwax to come out, or creates small holes in the filter, allowing for music to pass through.

Repeat until the you feel air moving freely when you suck on the larger audio hole.

Try it out, if it works, good for you! If it still doesnt work, the air moves freely, but not sound is coming out, it could mean that the airpod is damaged.

This works for me everytime, and I have used this method on my airpods many times before.

This is just a suggestion of something that works for me, it hasnt broken my airpods, but It might damage your if you follow these steps improperly.

The best thing you could do for your airpods is to take them to a professional who cleans earbuds for a living.

Hi Simona,

Have you tried sucking on the speaker grills? I know it sounds gross, but it often works.

Hi McKenzie,

Did you also check the balance on the AirPods to ensure they send sound equally to left and right?

Go to Settings > Accessibility > Audio/Visual and then check where the slider stands underneath the Balance heading. Make sure it is in the middle.

Hi Juan,

Yes, for AirPods Pro make sure you run the Ear Fit Test in the AirPods Bluetooth settings. Also, check your Accessibility Settings for Audio/Visual and make sure the balance is set to the middle.

If that did not do the trick, clean the AirPod that sounds lower and make sure there is no ear wax trapped in there. A few readers tell us that sucking on the AirPod helps to dislodge any trapped earwax or other debris.

Also, please take a look at this post AirPods or headphones only playing in one ear? Let’s fix it!

Hi Frank,

Try turning off Attention Aware Features in your Face ID settings. Go to Settings > Face ID & Passcode > toggle off Attention Aware Features.

Once off, restart your iPhone, and test the ringer with your AirPods. See if that makes any difference.