Pixel 4a echo for callers.

harmless

I got a refurbished Pixel 4a recently and all seemed to work ok however I have no realised that anyone who calls me hears the echo of their own voice.

Does this sound like a hardware issue or is there something I could do in software?

duridian

Probably a bit late with my response, but I believe the problem you describe is caused by a physical hardware problem regarding the secondary microphone(s) which I think are used for noise cancellation in most phones.

Something near identical to your problem happened to me with a Motorola phone a few years ago following a screen replacement. Apparently the seal around the secondary microphones and other internals was messed up in the process, allowing sound from the earpiece to travel inside the phone to these mics, and it produced a severe echo for people on the other side when I was in a call with them, but could not be heard on my end. I confirmed this for myself by ringing my own phone from a friend's phone. The feedback/echo in mine was so bad that the phone was no more use to me as a phone, and served out its days playing games and watching videos around at home, more as a kind of "mini tablet" existence.

So if the phone you bought was refurb, then I would suspect something similar may have occurred to your Pixel during the refurbishment. I hope for your sake this isn't the case, but the similarity of symptoms to my story is remarkable.

harmless

I've already received a refund for it and got the 6a for only €50 more. I believe you are right and this info may be useful to someone else in the future.