This is because in the latest February security patch, there have been reports by users that the problem has been fixed. This is according to a report from Reddit in which owners of the handset who have updated to the February security patch are claiming that the audio distortions are gone. There is even a video in which it shows a Pixel with the January security patch exhibiting the issue, but it disappears once the February patch is installed.
The February security patch for Android is currently being pushed out so if you are affected by these audio distortions, then this is an update you won’t want to miss out on. We have to say that it is a bit strange that these problems were fixed by a software patch since it certainly did look a lot like a hardware one, but we guess it’s good news as it means that Pixel owners won’t need to trouble themselves by sending their phones back in.
That being said we personally did not encounter any of these audio issues when we conducted our review of the handset, so it is unclear as to how widespread of an issue this was.