The WF-1000XM5 earphones come with a built-in noise cancellation functionality. If you are still hearing a lot of ambient noises when using this feature, then you can take a look at this troubleshooting article from Seeking Tech to see how you can potentially fix your issue.
1. For the first step, you should make sure that you are activating the noise cancellation mode correctly.
In order to do so, you need to tap the touch sensor on the left earbud. This action will cycle both earbuds to either the noise cancellation or ambient sound mode.
You can find an official video on how you can enable noise cancelling with this product below:
2. If the ambient noises are still too loud, then you should make sure that using the ear tips that came with your WF-1000XM5. A third-party tip may not be able to block out the same amount of noise level.
3. You should also make sure that you are wearing the earphones properly. Otherwise, you may not be able to block out the external noises.
4. Furthermore, you can try out different ear tip sizes to see if one is better than the others when it comes to noise cancellation.
5. Make sure that you are wearing both earphones before enabling the noise cancellation mode.
If you are only wearing one of the earpieces, then it will default to the ambient sound mode even if you wear the other earpiece afterwards.
6. Avoid covering the microphones of both earbuds. If the mics are covered, then the noise cancellation function may have a harder time filtering out the external sounds.
7. If you are using the WF-1000XM5 as a listening device for your smartphone, you should make sure that there is at least 50 cm or 20 inches of distances.
Otherwise, the phone may cause wireless interference with the wireless earphones.
9. It is also important to note that noise cancellation is not as effective when it comes to low frequency band noises.
Ambient environments that are already very quiet aren’t ideal either.