danger of in ear canal headphones

[ubiquitous_andy]

Hi all,

I've been reading and reading about IEMs, and the one thing I am a bit worried about is stuffing a plug deep into my delicate ear canal (which wasn't designed for this purpose) and getting it stuck there...

I have read some horror stories of people sticking the cans in their ears and then pulling them out with the tip still stuck in there..

Has this ever happened to you?

Can somebody tell me how securely attached the tips are to the speaker tube? It would appear from all the photos that they just slide on, so what is to stop the thing coming off in my ear?

Are some brands more securely attached than others?

Best,
Andy.

[killer1177]

Well, I don't know where you heard it from, but I use the Sony MDR-51LP and they are amazing, and it fits really well, the sound quality and bass is super strong. ANd about the sticking to the ear stuff. It never happened to me and never will because the silicon that they use is smooth and it is fitted pretty tight.

[enjoilax]

I've been using IEMs for 3 years and I've never had one stuck in my ears :)

[mnhnhyouh]

I have used Shures, both the E2 and E500, and never a problem.

h

[VipFREAK]

I never did get why the doctor or whoever told me not to stick anything smaller than my thumb in my ear especially since I can't even get my thumb in my ear. http://img426.imageshack.us/img426/4081/dopey3xj.gif

[Wednesday]

If you ask me, the real danger with canalphones isn't the risk of getting one stuck in your ear, but inserting them and pressing "play" with the volume accidentally set to a high level. Since they're sealed, there's nowhere for all that sound energy to go but your eardrum. I did it once by accident with my Shure E3s... I won't ever forget that! Hopefully I didn't do any permanent damage to my ears. :o I'm always super-careful now to make sure the volume is very low, and then bring it up to a comfortable listening level.

~Wednesday~

[Jackonicko]

Wednesday's point is a good one. Permanent damage would be quite easy to achieve.

The other real danger (an earpiece coming off is very unlikely and fixable anyway) is infection. I suspect that we should all be disinfecting our silicon sleeves more often than we do.

[miniMAMF]

I've have Shure e2c's for a couple of weeks now. The foam tips are very secure on the tubes - I can't imagine them slipping off in my ear. I suppose if they did, though, it's no different that having a regular earplug in there. It's not like the thing is going to get lodged in me noggin', is it?

Personally, I think the greater danger is using non-IE phones and cranking the volume to ear-damaging levels for prolonged periods.

[honeybee1236]

I've never heard of this happening to anyone and it has never happened to me either. I never push them in my ear canal that tight that I would leave part behind and I always check them before using to make sure something like that will never happen.

What I do is turn my iPod on and turn the volume all the way down before placing the tips in my ear to avoid low volume. I turn the volume up after inserting them in my ear.

[mnhnhyouh]

Being able to kill the sound by pulling the headphone jack from the player is a real benefit here. I have had it up two loud once or twice, and just quickly yanked the cord. I am more careful now

h

[Blue_Dawg]

I have used many different IEM's and have never had that problem.

I see Apple's foam covers for the stock buds as far more dangerous. ;) I remember a thread here last year where a kid had one of them in his ear and had to go to the doc to get it removed:D

[thejinx0r]

I've had happen to me a few times.

I used to use Koss Spark Plugs with Etymotic Ear pieces, and now I use Skull Candy's With etymotic ear pieces as well.
Obviously, etymotics don't come with the respective pair of earphones. So, sometimes, when I put them in the proper position and pull them out really fast, or it gets pulled out, the etymotic ear piece does get stuck in my ear and the other part comes off. But, it's nothing serious. It's quite easy to take it out.

[Decept1k0n]

I've had happen to me a few times.

I used to use Koss Spark Plugs with Etymotic Ear pieces, and now I use Skull Candy's With etymotic ear pieces as well.
Obviously, etymotics don't come with the respective pair of earphones. So, sometimes, when I put them in the proper position and pull them out really fast, or it gets pulled out, the etymotic ear piece does get stuck in my ear and the other part comes off. But, it's nothing serious. It's quite easy to take it out.

Now this is probably one of the few instances where I could see the foam fittings getting stuck in someone's ear canal. If you're using foam fittings that came from a different pair(a different model of IEM from the same company for instance) or manufacturer, obviously there's a greater potential for the fittings to come off. Since you're using the fittings on a pair they weren't designed for it makes sense that they're not going to stick to the buds snugly when pulling them out of your ear. But with that said, if you play with the fitting while it's on the bud before you stick it in your ear you will be able to tell if it's going to fall off easy and get dislodged into your ear canal or not give you any trouble(in most cases it shouldn't). So as was said above the biggest danger is more in doing damage to your hearing from too loud of a volume rather than the fittings getting stuck in your ears.