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Those plastic earbuds that came in the box with your phone are like the glasses at 3D movies\u2014uncomfortable, disposable, and to be honest\u2014a little underwhelming. They\u2019re designed with \u201cone size fits all\u201d in mind. Or, at best, small, medium and large. 8 billion people with ears, three earbud sizes. Yikes.<\/p>\n
Earbuds that don\u2019t fit properly hurt because they rest unevenly inside your ear canal. Even the kind with small, medium or large tips can trigger pressure points inside your ears, causing discomfort and fatigue.<\/p>\n
Plus, all that wriggling around inside your ear creates friction, which can lead to itching, chafing or, in severe cases, even bleeding.<\/p>\n
2. Why Do Earbuds Hurt My Ears? It\u2019s The Midrange!<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Then there\u2019s the audio quality. Without a secure fit, sound escapes before it can reach your inner ear. That\u2019s why there\u2019s always that one person on the bus who\u2019s unknowingly treating everyone to their playlist for the entire commute.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n As a result of this escaping sound, non-custom earbuds rely on all sorts of tricks to compensate for their weak sound reproduction.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Cheap earbuds often boost the bass to make up for bass frequencies lost from the poor fit and, let\u2019s face it, that works better for some styles of music more than others. Or they\u2019ll boost mid-high frequencies to create the illusion of loudness. This works because our brains are trained to listen for sounds in that frequency range\u2014famously, the human voice\u2014but hearing too much of it causes ear fatigue.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n That\u2019s not to say, boosting frequencies can help improve the sound quality in certain situations, but wouldn\u2019t you rather decide for yourself what frequencies sound good?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 3. You Gotta Play \u2018Em Loud.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n It\u2019s a loud world out there. What do you do when office chatter, plane engines and traffic noise threaten to kick out your jams? Turn \u2018em up, of course. Before long, your ears are ringing like you just left the world\u2019s longest M\u00f6t\u00f6rhead concert.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Besides being uncomfortable to wear, ill-fitting plastic earbuds let outside sounds invade your listening space\u2014breaking your concentration and sense of immersion. It doesn\u2019t take long until your device\u2019s volume is pushed to the max just to block out ambient noise.<\/p>\n
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