Be careful about using compressed air and desiccants. I've repaired two iPhones with the same issue by using a sonic toothbrush to shake the moisture and dirt from the earpiece. Simply place the bristles directly on the earpiece grate and turn the toothbrush on high for a few minutes. It will dislodge all the buildup and your phone will be as good as new. One of my phones had been submerged in a sink for about 10 seconds and this fixed the issue while compressed air and desiccant had no effect.

I had the same issue with my iphone 4. One day the volume seemed low and muffled. The sound was fine with an external headset or blue tooth so I knew it had to be in the speaker. In my case I think pocket lint and dirt ended up clogging the ear piece. I used my air compressor and about 90 psi of pressure and blew out the ear piece, speakers on the bottom, and the headphone jack. I was surprised at how much dust came out. Since then the phone has been like new. Just make sure that your compressor doesn't have any condensation in it. In my case I actually blew a little moisture out from the speaker area. It was hot here one day and I was using the phone. I believe my sweat and lint may have been the issue. Hope this helps someone else.

It could be that the speaker still has some water or moisture in it. With such small speakers, changing the needed airspace to function properly, can result in a lower volume or muffled sound.

I recommend turning off your phone and submerging it in a bowl of rice or kitty litter. Leave it in there for a couple of days. This will pull and extract the remaining moisture or water droplets from inside the iPhone. Hopefully your earpiece speaker will continue to work correctly afterwards. I found this replacement part on google http://iphone4parts.com/shop/iphone-spea...

I think that the screen is mucked up with choco wine. Can you use a q-tip and some 99% alcohol to clean up the ear speaker screen?

I am confused to how I should try and blow out the speaker? Is there a way to take it apart that way I am not blowing the dust into the phone? I have the same problem where my iPhone speaker is very quiet during conversations and it just happened out of no where so I am thinking something got in the speaker when it was in my purse possibly. Please let me know sbmm4 how you blew out the dust so I can try the same. Thank you

Awesome! I bought a used iPhone 4 with a bad earpiece speaker. I replaced it (for $2.09 delivered) and had no luck. I looked here and found that the speaker grill was covered in lint and the loud speaker too! They both work better now!!! Thanks a lot, you guys!

My phone fell in the toilet.... yet it stayed on, the only issue i noticed was the ear piece speaker volume became really low..i managed to fix it by simply using an airfloss. I placed the air floss directly on the earpiece grate an give it a couple of puffs(blows).. it did the job..(just make sure the air floss is completely dry before using)

My phone was doing the same thing and it's never been wet or dusty but the AT&t store replaced the sim card and now the sound level is back to new

Thank you, Bryan, for the Sonicare tip! My phone works like new!

I just did the same thing. Crap. I accidentally spilled half a glass of one after a dramatic display of emotion during a conversation. The speakers aren't working at all during a normal call, but I can hear when I put it on speaker. I'm putting it in Rice today and will try the sonic care tomorrow. Thanks for all the great tips. This is my second Iphone in 6 months :( The last fell into a porta-potty.

Hey everyone,

Just wanted to let you know I found this thread after doing some research. I spilled a little iced tea on my new iPhone 4 and found that I could barely hear anything coming out of the main speaker.

I tried the rice method for days, to no avail.

After I found this thread, I bought a sonic toothbrush (was planning on it anyway) and before I actually used it, I tried this method.

It worked! I just turned the phone off (didn't even take it apart) simply made sure some of the toothbrush hairs (?) were inside the speaker and turned it on for the 2-minutes allotted, making sure to get in the crevices. I worked all around the speaker and when I was done, I turned the phone back on and I could hear out of the speaker again.

The phone works much better now, and I didn't have to dissemble it at all. I might try it one more time with a normal toothbrush when the it is nice and dry.

Thanks for the tips!

My Iphone fell in the toilet but it stayed on and seemed to be working fine until I tried to call my husband. The earpiece wasn't working at all, he could hear me but I couldn't hear him. Also I noticed that the tones weren't working and from further investigation worked out that the phone seemed to think I had headphones plugged in when I didn't!

I kept using the phone for the rest of the day by using speakerphone for any calls. I then used the rice method suggested here. I removed my sim card and put the phone in a sealed bag of rice overnight for 16 hours. I was amazed to find that my phone was working perfectly fine after this, it was brilliant!!

Thanks for all the help!

Guys,

im really stuck with this one, same issue speaker has gone quiet out of no were, have tried to restore phone, resotre to factory reset - hard reset,

have blown out the speaker (with a can of air clean)

none of this has worked, the only possible things that could have broken the phone are

a drop from about 3 inched on to a tile floor (this did not damage the outside for the phone)

Using it on a phone call when it was raining and there is water damage to the speaker,

or this happened when i jail broke and upgraded to 5.1.1.

have restored the phone to 5.1. using redsnow and still the same issue,

I can also see in the speaker grill it does look like it has crap in, Dust/muck

does anyone have any other brilliant ideas?

Thanks

Sucking the earpiece worked for me too........thanks dude

Sohel

HELLO! i had the same problem! only i spilled sesame salad dressing on my phone and it dried. I thought of sewing Buffalo Wild Wings but instead i googled many different ways to clean my iphone. what i did (and it worked after a few minutes of cleaning) i cut off the tips of Q-Tips leaving about a centimeter of the cotton on the stick. then i sprayed it with windex and the edge of the Q-tip in the ear peace then took an electric tooth brush and ran it on my speaker however i called and it was still pretty bad, then i resorted to using rubbing alcohol (dries fast) i did the same process but did it a few times at the end i used a regular tooth brush as well. I AM PROUD TO SAY I CAN HEAR MY MOM CALL ME NOW!! ....well kind of proud ;D

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!

I spilled sweet and sour sauce from mcdonnalds right into the earpiece of my iphone4 literally 3 days after buying it. everything on the phone worked except for the earpiece; i could hardly hear anyone on the phone. i read this thread and decided it was worth a try. so i used a generic brand electric toothbrush (dry, brand new) directly on the earpiece, let the bristles go in the little holes, and held the phone front side-down. i did this for about 2 minutes and now it works perfectly!! definitely try this before buying a new phone!!!

I had a friend spill a shot of fire whiskey on my phone and it went right into the ear piece. After having to use speaker phone for about a week and hearing about repair costs from $50 to $200...I got fed up and used one of those little alcoholic swab napkins you find in a first-aid kit along with a toothpick and scrubbed away. I did avoid not getting a lot of alcohol in and along with the toothpick I was able to get the ear piece working. To this day I have a habit of putting my iPhone face down :-)