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Making Earbuds That Fit (Video)

Decibullz creator Kyle Kirkpatrick talks as fast as an old-time carnival barker and is as enthusiastic about his product as Dr. Ironbeard was about his potions. A lot of people are probably satisfied with $10 earbuds, but it's kind of a cool (more accurately a warm) idea to have earbuds you can heat in your microwave, then shape and reshape as often as you like to fit perfectly in your ears.They're just one of many interesting items on display this year at CES (annoying sound if you click the "CES" link).

22 of 104 comments (clear)

  1. Tinnitus Sufferer Here by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I know this is off-topic, but as someone who suffers from 24 hour shrieking in my ears, please be careful with these in-ear buds. If I can prevent just one person from my fate, my work is done.

    1. Re:Tinnitus Sufferer Here by Andy+Dodd · · Score: 5, Insightful

      If anything, buds may help prevent tinnitus. If listening to music in a loud environment (like an airplane), the isolation provided by in-ear buds allows you to listen at MUCH lower volume levels than you might with non-isolating headphones.

      --
      retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
    2. Re:Tinnitus Sufferer Here by Bigbutt · · Score: 2, Insightful

      It's unlikely earbuds give tinnitus as they're just dead plastic bits and don't make any noise. It's the sound volume that does it. Keep the decibels down and save your hearing.

      [John]

      --
      Shit better not happen!
    3. Re:Tinnitus Sufferer Here by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      > as someone who suffers from 24 hour shrieking in my ears

      Yeh - I'm married as well.

    4. Re:Tinnitus Sufferer Here by xaxa · · Score: 2

      If anything, buds may help prevent tinnitus. If listening to music in a loud environment (like an airplane), the isolation provided by in-ear buds allows you to listen at MUCH lower volume levels than you might with non-isolating headphones.

      This is true. However, I can often hear the music from other peoples' earphones when I get off a train, and that means it's probably too loud.

      It's important in a variably-noisy environment (e.g. underground train) to set the volume appropriately in a quiet place and not increase it.

    5. Re:Tinnitus Sufferer Here by Bob+the+Super+Hamste · · Score: 2

      So if there is that much leaking out then how much is staying in, or are some ear buds just that shitty. I have heard others' music from a few feet away but if I take my ear buds out and put them a few feet I can barely hear them at the volume I listen to music at.

      --
      Time to offend someone
    6. Re:Tinnitus Sufferer Here by Zaatxe · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Tinnitus has a lot of causes. I had my ears tested for the constant hiss I hear in my left ear. After having my ears tested, we discarded the usual suspects (like a tumor in the auditory nerve or lesions in the internal ear), the doctor said that there are over 200 possible causes for tinnitus. The most common apart the ones I already told are: insuline peaks (caused by not eating for too long and then eating a lot of carbs), and teeth grinding. In my case is a combination of these two last ones. Besides grinding teeth while sleeping, I feel the urge of being biting something all the time (stress-related). When you bite with too much strenght, you press the auditory nerve, causing the hiss.

      Earbuds are not always your enemies.

      --
      So say we all
    7. Re:Tinnitus Sufferer Here by pionzypher · · Score: 2

      Anecdotal - Daily ear bud user here who has been wearing them for 6-10 hours a day at work. My company has mandatory annual hearing tests. In the ten years I've been with the company, my hearing has not changed significantly*.

      A few provisos though..
      1. I do not have the volume very high. I can hear and understand people with the music on and could carry a conversation if I had to.
      2. I'm a sample size of 1 giving my personal experience without providing supporting evidence.

      My belief is that they are safe for extended use if the volume is controlled to normal levels. Of course they can more readily do damage since you're essentially funneling sound directly to your ear drums, just don't crank it.


      * - My levels usually fluctuate slightly. Some values go up, some go down and vice-versa the next test.

      --
      I'll believe in corporations having personhood when Texas executes one... - advocate_one
  2. satisfied with $10 earbuds? by mcmonkey · · Score: 2

    I must have freak ears. Any ear buds I've tried either fell out after 5 seconds or hurt because they had to be jammed in so as to not fall out after 5 seconds.

    1. Re:satisfied with $10 earbuds? by Nerdfest · · Score: 2

      I find that any of the 'marshmallow' type buds already do this in a few minutes. Pull the earlobe down and forward a bit and poke the earbud in. In a matter if minutes it's softened up a bit and sealed quite nicely. I can wear them all day. The big advantage with the in-ear is that they block ambiant noise, so you can keep the volume quite low.

    2. Re:satisfied with $10 earbuds? by Andy+Dodd · · Score: 2

      It's hard to find good in-ear buds with foam tips instead of the annoying rubber ones.

      I have hated EVERY bud I've ever used with rubber tips - however Comply ( http://www.complyfoam.com/ ) sells replacement tips that fit on a wide variety of buds. When used with Comply tips, buds are a TOTALLY different experience.

      I have a pair of Skullcandy Titans with Comply tips - they deliver amazing bang for the buck. (I know some people have very negative opinions of Skullcandy, but you have to admit, they do offer a good price/performance ratio, especially when you retrofit Complys onto them.)

      --
      retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
  3. DIY available now by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    You can roll your own custom fit ear buds for about $10 using moldable ear plugs: http://makeprojects.com/Project/Custom+Fit+Earbuds/199/1#.UPAvIKwyAtc. Not perfect, but a lot cheaper than the professional versions. Makes for a much more comfortable in-flight experience.

  4. make your own silicone tips/caps by madeye+the+younger · · Score: 2

    for example:

    http://www.howtogeek.com/57481/how-to-make-custom-silicone-ear-molds-for-your-in-ear-monitors/

  5. Pros/Cons by EdZ · · Score: 2

    Compared to existing ear-bud moulding services, that require you to visit an audiologist to have moulds of your ear canal made, then send them to the company that produce earplugs with the correct fittings from your headphones:
    Pros:
    - Cheaper
    - No need to visit an Audiologist
    Cons:
    - Self-fitted, so there's a possibility of Doing It Wrong (if you do not use sufficient caution is putting something you have just heated into your ear)
    - Press-fit into your pinnae, so they will not fit as deeply and securely as headphones moulded to your ear canals
    - Fitted to your pinnae, not your ear canals, so inferior sound isolation
    - Will only function with their proprietary headphones, rather than you supplying your own

  6. Re:Getting worse and worse by sackbut · · Score: 2

    Very true. I can read a lot faster than any video can present 'information'. I just skip any video like this one (thank you Adblock/NoScript). I wonder weather the proliferation of video is to keep eyeballs on the site for longer or due to the regurgitated pap that passes for video journalism. But likely due to the horrible reading comprehension and laziness of some people (read key demographic that sells advertising).

  7. Just drop $5 on some silicone putty by Rogerborg · · Score: 2

    It takes a couple of minutes to make ear plugs, or to custom-mould it around ear buds. It's really easy, you will get it right first time, and there's no need to dick around nuking it and trying again. This product fills a market that doesn't exist.

    --
    If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
  8. Warning Label by PPH · · Score: 2

    Do not insert head into microwave with earbuds already inserted.

    On the advice of our legal staff who also consult on ladders.

    --
    Have gnu, will travel.
  9. How about no by Stormwatch · · Score: 3, Insightful

    This looks nice for people who can stand earbuds, but I'd just go for old-school headphones.

  10. The other end by ISoldat53 · · Score: 4, Funny

    It's the other end I have problems with. Why is the ear bud connection to my iPod strong enough to pull the iPod out of my pocket when it gets hung up on something but not strong enough to keep the iPod from popping off and landing in the toilet?

  11. Re:Getting worse and worse by g051051 · · Score: 2

    Sure. They're poorly produced. They reek of being advertisements. The content is terrible. They're a waste of time and money slashdot could be investing in fixing the performance problems of the site as well as the bugs that have been dragging the site down for years. Videos are strongly disliked by a lot of readers (you can go back to the comments from previous video debacles to see evidence of that claim). They refuse to give us a way to filter them from our feeds.

  12. Am I doing this wrong? by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 2

    ...have earbuds you can heat in your microwave, then shape and reshape as often as you like to fit perfectly in your ears.

    I'm having trouble fitting my head inside my microwave oven...

    --
    It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
  13. Re:Getting worse and worse by g051051 · · Score: 2

    I disagree with your assessment that "most slashdot users aren't competent enough to figure out how to block the video", if anything they're more likely to know how.