Say goodbye to ear infections
Long time ago, in 1979 to be precise, Sony changed the world of music lovers dramatically by introducing the Walkman. Listening to music on the go has been part of our lives ever since. The first generation came with on-ear headphones, the famous, feather light and flexible MDL-3L2. But it was to take over twenty years before the breakthrough in earbuds design arrived: in 2001 when Steve Jobs revealed the iPod and the accompanying earbuds. Around 14 years later, the personal audio devices sphere evolved to the next le vel with the introduction of the true wireless earbuds by Bragi and a year later, in 2016, by Apple when the company waived goodbye to the wired earbuds in a radical way – they removed the headphone jack on their new iPhone 7 and presented the world their AirPods.
Nowadays AirPods and other brands of wireless earphones are the most used accessories for listening to music, podcasts and audio books, but specially for making phone calls. The convenience of using them derives from their easy set-up, the plug and play kind of feeling, and the wireless experience. But it is widely known that with the good always comes the bad - there are also disadvantages when using them. One of the biggest but least known is that wearing earphones can cause ear infections.
On one hand, due to the pandemic restrictions when it comes to in-person gatherings, many people are now working remotely and plugged into earphones all day to be able to keep in touch with their colleagues. On the other, most users don’t clean their earbuds as often as necessary. Both things combined have caused an increase in the cases of ear infections.
In Esther Shein’s article Ear infections from earbuds are on the rise on techrepublic.com it says: “While the actual number of infections caused specifically by earbuds is unknown, ‘there is no question that their overuse can, in fact, lead to both irritation of the ear as well as potentially otitis externa, or swimmer’s ear, which is when bacteria and debris collect in the canal and cause swelling and pain,’ said Dr. Neil Brown, a board-certified emergency medicine physician with over 20 years of ER experience, and chief diagnosis officer at K Health, a digital primary care service. ‘Earbuds essentially block the ear canal, which can cause moisture to build inside‘, Brown said. ‘This increase is a fertile breeding ground for bacteria, and if circumstances are right, an infection can occur.’”
Mostly ear infections clear up on their own or by taking antibiotics. But there is also the possibility of complications, and some of them can be very serious. Like eardrum rupture, for example. Or if you have ear infections very frequently or the infection never fully heals or is left untreated this could result in loss of hearing. Besides that, the infection can spread to tissue in and around the ear which causes at worst Meningitis, inflammation of the brain. That’s why prevention is important.
But if what you are looking for is the ultimate solution to completely avoid the risk of ear infections and say goodbye to earache for good, the answer is to choose audio devices with different ear placements. Among those, the H1 Audio Earrings by NOVA. As they are placed on the earlobe you completely avoid ear infections by freeing the ear canal. Even more, with our NOVA H1 Audio Earrings you’ll also be safer because your ear canal isn’t blocked, and you stay connected to the world around you. And last but not least: they are stylish, and you can wear them like any other earring – even all day long, if you like.
