Can't hear Caller and Caller can't hear me (but FaceTime and other apps work fine)

[Stubb063]

I did a quick search and found some posts that were similar to my issue, but not exact. So, here goes:

Currently, when I make or receive phone calls on my iPhone, I can connect to the caller on the other line, but I cannot hear him, and he cannot hear me. But the call is clearly connected. Switching to speakerphone does not change anything. I still can't hear anything from the other end. So I don't think it's a problem with the earpiece speaker. Also, if I play sound by doing pretty much anything else, such as using another app, or going through the ringtone options, the sound works perfectly fine. More perplexing still, I have some apps that use the microphone (such as Soundhound), and they all register sounds without issue. SoundHound was able to identify songs without problem.

So, to summarize, all speakers and the microphone seem to work fine except when being used to make a phone call.


A little more background:

I recently dropped my iPhone onto some rather hard, concrete, tile. It landed flat as a pancake on the front screen and, predictably, shattered the screen. It was at this point when the issue described above began happening. So I assume something broke inside...I just need to know what so I can replace it. I replaced my screen without much issue, but still need to resolve this phone call thing.

Also, I did have AppleCare and did take it to the Apple store. Unfortunately, however, they tell me that the version of AppleCare I have was sold before they started the offering the version that allows full hardware replacements. As such, they wanted to charge me $200 to fix the front screen, plus whatever it'd cost to fix the phone call problem....which is ludicrous. I am eligible to upgrade, but want to wait until the next version of the iPhone is available before I do that.

So does anyone know what part could possibly need replaced to resolve this?

 

[Skull One]

Your noise cancellation mic is "clogged". That mic is located next to the ear phone jack at the top of the phone.

You have two choices to clean that pin hole.

1) A small needle.

I would be careful not to hit the mic itself.

2) Compressed air.

You have the potential of blowing out the mic's membrane if you are not careful.

 

[Stubb063]

Your noise cancellation mic is "clogged". That mic is located next to the ear phone jack at the top of the phone.

You have two choices to clean that pin hole.

1) A small needle.

I would be careful not to hit the mic itself.

2) Compressed air.

You have the potential of blowing out the mic's membrane if you are not careful.

Thanks for the reply. I'll give that a shot. My only concern, however, is that that sounds like an issue that would build up over time. The issue I stated above didn't start happening until immediately after I dropped my phone and shattered the screen, which leads me to believe there's something legitimately broken...I just need to know what.

But your solution seems simple enough that it's definitely worth a shot.

Thanks again.

 

[Skull One]

Thanks for the reply. I'll give that a shot. My only concern, however, is that that sounds like an issue that would build up over time. The issue I stated above didn't start happening until immediately after I dropped my phone and shattered the screen, which leads me to believe there's something legitimately broken...I just need to know what.

But your solution seems simple enough that it's definitely worth a shot.

Thanks again.

Something during the fall could have dislodged to clog the tube or mic itself. Sadly, my suggestion will only work if it is a piece of debris that was knocked into a blocking position. If the tube or mice is broke, then all bets are off on an easy repair.

 

[Stubb063]

Something during the fall could have dislodged to clog the tube or mic itself. Sadly, my suggestion will only work if it is a piece of debris that was knocked into a blocking position. If the tube or mice is broke, then all bets are off on an easy repair.

Well, I've already done a complete replacement of the screen (which required removing, literally, ever interior component in the phone). So the actual replacement of the part doesn't concern me much. Finding what's broken, and then finding an available replacement on eBay will likely be the bigger issue.

I might try your first suggestion tonight. And if that doesn't work, maybe I'll tear it all down again and pay some special attention to that area to see if I can find something that looks out of sorts.

Maybe I'll get incredibly lucky and Apple will have a surprise announcement on Monday that the iPhone 5 is already in stores and ready for purchase! Yeah, I know, pretty much impossible. But false hope is still hope.