It’s a universal truth that if you have a pair of earbuds (and, you know, a pair of ears), you’ll spend the majority of your time making sure those little sound-projecting devices don’t fall out.
OK, maybe “universal” is a bit strong. There are certainly people whose ears are, miraculously, the perfect size for standard-issue earbuds. But for the rest of us, there may be a short window when earbuds fit perfectly, followed by a lot of poking and prodding before ultimately deciding, I guess I don’t need to listen to music on this run.
So, what gives? If most earbuds are “one size fits all,” why don’t they actually fit everyone? To find out, you have to dig a little deeper into your ears. (Metaphorically speaking—nothing smaller than an elbow—or, in this case, an earbud—in there, please.)
The outer ear is the part of the ear you can see. It’s made up of the auricle (aka pinna), that shell-like structure at the side of your head that you normally think of when you imagine an ear, according to the U.S. National Library of Medicine. Your ear canal (aka auditory canal), the tunnel through which sound travels, is also part of your outer ear.
Your eardrum, also known as your tympanic membrane, is where your middle ear begins. It transmits sound from the world into your inner ear. It does this with the help of three tiny bones called ossicles—you may know them as the hammer, anvil, and stirrup.
Finally, your inner ear is where the magic happens, as it contains your sensory organs for hearing (called the cochlea) and balance (the vestibular system).
All of these parts work together to transmit those sweet tunes from your earbuds into your brain. The auricle collects those sound waves and funnels them into the ear canal, which then makes your eardrum vibrate, according to the U.S. National Library of Medicine. Once your eardrum starts vibrating, the ossicles in your middle ear start vibrating, too. These vibrations make fluid inside your cochlea move, stimulating tiny hair cells that send nerve impulses to the brain via the auditory nerve. So yeah, your body goes through a lot just to hear the ding of an incoming text.
Earbuds are supposed to fit so that their little speakers are snug inside the ear canal, allowing sound waves to hit the eardrum more directly, Erich Voigt, M.D., clinical associate professor in the department of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery at NYU Langone Health, tells SELF. Though concrete figures aren’t available, Dr. Voigt estimates that the human ear canal is approximately 2.5 centimeters (1 inch) in length and 0.7 centimeters (0.3 inches) in diameter. The keyword here is approximately. The truth is, everyone’s ears and ear canals are different sizes and shapes, so even if those one-size-fits-all earbuds are made according to “standard” ears, they aren’t going to fit every person perfectly.
“Children generally have small ear canals, and most men generally have larger ear canals than women,” Randi Tepper, a doctor of audiology and supervisor of pediatric audiology at the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai, tells SELF. Beyond that, it just depends, and this is where you can run into earbud problems.
“If your ear canal is ‘too big,’ then there’s nothing for the earbuds to sit against, so they’ll fall out very easily,” Dr. Voigt. “And if the ear canal is ‘too small,’ the earbud won’t be able to go in deep enough to fit properly, so it can pop out.”
Take a look at those ‘buds the next time you whip them out (or the next time they topple out of your ears and make you want to scream). If they’re caked in earwax, don’t just get grossed out, wipe them off, then scrub the sight from your mind. It could be a sign your ear canals are too filled with wax and the earbuds are just packing the wax deeper, Dr. Voigt says.
“Sometimes people come to me and there’s a ton of wax against the eardrum, and there’s no way for wax to get pushed in like that unless it’s by an earbud or a Q-tip,” Maura Cosetti, M.D., director of the Cochlear Implant Center at the Ear Institute of the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai, tells SELF. (Quick reminder: Ear wax is your body’s natural mechanism for keeping your ears clean, and you shouldn’t use Q-tips to try to remove that wax because it can just push the wax in deeper, Dr. Voigt says. Instead, Dr. Voigt recommends letting your ears do their self-cleansing thing and seeing a professional if you think ear wax is interfering with your ability to hear or comfortably wear earbuds.)
On each side of your skull, you have a temporomandibular joint that acts as a hinge to allow you to do things like swallow, chew, and talk. But since your ears lie just behind these joints, anything that moves your jaw can temporarily alter the shape of your ear canal, Dr. Voigt says. Sometimes a slight movement is all it takes.
If your earbuds are constantly falling out, making a break for it every time you move your jaw, or even causing you pain because they fit too tightly, it’s time for a switch. Just shoving them deeper into your ears can cause injuries like scratches or infections in the ear canal, says Dr. Voigt, who’s seen this happen to a few of his patients.
The good news is that many earbud makers are catching on and producing these devices in various sizes. They typically come with foam or rubber domes designed to go deeper into the ear canal, Tepper explains. (And the foam ones often work like earplugs for sleeping, so you roll them into thin cylinders then pop them into your ears so they can expand for what is hopefully a better fit.) Still, you may need to experiment to figure out where you fall.
Tepper suggests starting with the medium-sized earbuds first. There’s a trick to putting them in, too: Grab your earlobe and pull it toward the back of your head to open the ear canal a little wider. Once they’re in, Tepper suggests shaking your head and jumping up and down to see if they stay put.
Though it sounds counterintuitive, wearing these kinds of earbuds designed to come closer to your eardrums won’t increase your risk of hearing loss unless you simultaneously crank the volume. “The close proximity to the eardrum does not necessarily mean worsening hearing damage—it’s the volume that matters most,” says Dr. Voigt.
Plus, the closer the audio is to your eardrum, the better the sound quality is going to be, so you can listen to your music at a lower level, actually lessening your risk of hearing loss, Tepper says.
Either way, the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders cautions against listening to music via earbuds at maximum volume. That comes in around 105 decibels, and long, repeated exposure to sounds over 85 decibels (aka the sound of heavy city traffic) can put your hearing in jeopardy over time.
Since you’re probably not walking around trying to mentally calculate decibels of various volumes, here’s an easier metric: If someone close to you can hear the music from your earbuds, that means it’s too loud, according to the U.S. National Library of Medicine.
You can go to an audiologist to get earbuds made, Tepper says. The audiologist will typically work with a hearing aid company to produce the earbuds, which will either come with a cord to plug into your device or as inserts to replace your own pair’s rubber or foam domes. Prices vary, but they typically range from $150 to $250 for a pair, Tepper says. (Also, brands like Decibullz offer “custom fit” earbuds that allow you to mold them at home yourself for around $60.)
If you’re not into the custom thing, you can opt for a pair of noise-canceling headphones meant to block out background sounds. The earbuds are typically a tighter fit, so you ideally won’t have to push them back in constantly, and the over-the-ear variety make the earbud fit a non-issue. Either way, their soundwaves shouldn’t have to compete as much with outside noise, meaning you can keep them at a lower volume and not risk hearing damage.
There’s no special way to guarantee those earbuds you just picked up are going to fit perfectly unless they’re specially made to fit your ears. But if even the occasional earbud struggle is too much for you, at least take solace in the fact that you’re not the only person who feels disproportionate rage every time your earbuds pop out.
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