Earphones for a person with sensitive skin who travels on a bus

November 8, 2009 2:50 PM

How can I keep listening to music on the bus without exacerbating my easily irritable skin with earbuds, or causing hearing loss?

The skin in the bowl of my ear and ear canal is easily irritable, which leads to flaking and ear infections. I had this under control, and then I got an iPod Shuffle. Being able to listen to music on my many bus trips makes me much happier, but it is surely irritating my skin. Also, trying to keep the music audible on a loud bus means I have to turn the volume up probably more than is healthy.

I'm planning to get a iPod Shuffle remote-replacement dongle so that I can replace the earbuds. I have some Sennheiser PXC-250 noise-canceling supraural earphones that work pretty well. They avoid the skin irritation that earbuds cause and the noise cancellation means I don't have to turn them up too loud. But they only work when I have a bag with me to store them in. One of the key advantages of the iPod Shuffle was that I could just put them in my jeans pocket and use them even when I didn't have a bag with me. So I'm looking for something more compact if possible. Even if I can't fit them in my pants, something I could more easily fit in my jacket pocket would be good. Something inexpensive would also be ideal I you can't always keep my jacket within view and expensive stuff might get stolen.

I've heard of bone conduction headphones (Outi, Audio Bone), but they seem to get poor reviews, and are apparently loud enough for others nearby to hear (not so great on the bus).

Thus far I have avoided canalphones (which seem apppealing for their noise-isolating characteristics) for fear that they will irritate my skin further, much as earplugs do.

Anonymous because, hey, not everyone needs to identify me with my health issues.

posted by anonymous to Media & Arts (6 answers total)

I have a pair of headphones that are the out-of-the-ear style with over-ear clips on each phone. They're connected by the signal wire instead of the hard plastic headband that other models have, so it's pretty easy to wrap the two phones together and shove them in a pocket. They're still bigger than a Shuffle, but definitely transportable.
posted by backseatpilot at 2:58 PM on November 8, 2009

I used to have some like backseatpilot was describing (mine looked something like these). They worked well, although I think they may be a bit more audible to those around you.
posted by mikeweeney at 3:07 PM on November 8, 2009

It takes a certain level of self-confidence, but one can rock the DJ-headphones around the neck style quite easily. Vanity Fair agrees. I have ridiculous DJ headphones with a giant rainbow band that I added myself, and once you get used to having them around your neck, it's no big deal. If you worry about being labeled a hipster, or being affected, or you are greatly concerned about the hair-flattening properties of the headband, it is not for you, but it's still an option!
posted by Mizu at 6:24 PM on November 8, 2009 [2 favorites]

I'm the same way with the earbuds--after wearing them for 15 minutes my ears will hurt like crazy, and anyway the sound from them is godawful. I've never shelled out the big bucks on any kind of expensive headphones, but for simple and cheap headphones I am sold on the foam (or rubber) insert type. A pack will usually have several different sizes, and one of them will fit your ear.

Pluses: sound is usually very good, it cancels out ambient noise quite well, they are really comfortable and you forget they're in after a while.

Minuses: they get grody pretty quickly (being in your inner ear and all...eww) and you need to wash/brush them off frequently, sometimes the buds will pop off and you are stuck until you find a replacement, taking them off too quickly can pull on the eardrum and smart a little bit.

But overall they are the best way to go, hands down.
posted by zardoz at 10:51 PM on November 8, 2009

I have a similar problem - very sensitive skin, and had a hard time finding earphones that were good enough that I didn't have to choose between hurting my ears to hear my music or... not hearing my music. I didn't have much luck with earbuds, and eventually got some over-ear clip headphones that were quite all right. After three years they stopped working, I went to replace them... and there were no decent similarly styled ones.

Despite not really wanting to, due to my previous experience with earbuds, I ended up getting some in-ear headphones, with removable silicone rubber pads. They dampen outside sounds much like foam earplugs do (without needing any noise-canceling technology), and were relatively cheap at 25 euros. I've never been happier - they're soft and a pleasure to wear, plus I can hear my music at *much* lower volumes. I've had them for a few months now and haven't had to clean them with water yet; the silicone is pretty easy to keep clean simply by brushing it off. And it doesn't irritate my skin! In-ear headphones have come a long way.
posted by fraula at 12:23 AM on November 9, 2009

Normal iPod buds drive my ears crazy. I would suggest trying in-ear/canal phones. I love my Apple ones though they are a bit pricey. The integrated remote is a godsend once you get used to it being there. Since you aren't sure if you'll like canal phones, I would suggest these- at $20 you aren't risking a lot of cash and the Sennheisers are tough and sound fine.
posted by chairface at 9:44 PM on November 9, 2009