There are great things the headphones may do for us. During cold periods, the headphones may provide a warming effect to our ears.
However, they may be uncomfortable during hot days or when they begin heating up. Therefore, you may ask yourself how to keep your ears cool while using the headphones.
You may use different methods to keep your ears cool when wearing them. For example, you may wear headphones that fit you perfectly, replace the headphones’ earpads and use a suitable material. Additionally, you may choose to purchase a new pair of headphones.
Keep reading the article to learn what causes the heating of your ears and how to keep them cool.
How To Keep Cool Ears While Wearing Headphones?
Fact If you know what causes your ears to sweat when you put them on, then it’s time you understand how to stop it. Here are some of the tricks you may use to cool your ears.
- Proper Fitting Headphones
As explained above, headphones exerting strong force can hurt the ears, while the ones that have less force may slide off.
Therefore, before purchasing a new set of headphones, ensure they fit perfectly. The ideal headphones for a particular person vary depending on the individual case. To choose quality headphones, put them one before purchase. If you want to buy headphones online, check on the clamping force they exert.
- Replacing Your Earpads
Different qualities of materials can cause different breathing levels. Therefore, if you think that the earpads may cause sweating, change them. Many headphone users complain about pleather being the least breathable earpad material; if so, you need to get alternative earpads.
If your leather also makes you sweat, replace them with a different material that will suit your needs. If still sweating persists when using velvet or velour earpads, the earpads aren’t the problem.
- Use Absorbent Material for Covering the Ears
The simplest and quickest way to prevent sweaty ears is to cover them with absorbent material. Most people do this in most cases if they can’t directly buy the replacement for the earpads. It is good to be cautious about the materials you use in covering your ears.
The best material is cotton, but you may use a tissue if it’s regularly put in. Covering the ears doesn’t only help reduce sweating but also protects the headphones from sweat.
- Adjusting Room Temperature
The surrounding temperature dictates the rate at which one sweats, and the ideal solution is adjusting it. However, this is possible when you are in a place where you can adjust the temperatures like when in a house with a thermostat.
Many users stated that cold AC isn’t helpful as much. They instead prioritize turning on an electric fan and then making it point toward them. Outdoors, there are minimal things to do to reduce the temperature of your ears. You may carry your battery-powered appliance for cooling or even use your hand for fanning yourself.
- Breathable Headphones
Last but not least is getting yourself breathable headphones. They are the best problem solver for people who excessively sweat. The process of going through lots of companies may be dull and tiresome. Remember that the best headphones for you are those that give you comfort and have great airflow.
- Wearing Open-Back Headphones
The closed-back headphones are common in the market and are entirely sealed at the back to block outside noise. The issue with them is that they retain a lot of heat. Alternatively, open-back headphones solve this problem by keeping the ears cool while still providing comfort.
They can do this as they give better ventilation while still releasing heat. This feature makes the open-back headphones ideal for activities that cause a lot of sweating, like jogging. The flaw of the open-back headphones is that they don’t block external noise.
- Put on On-Ear Headphones
The over-ear headphones have better sound quality than on-head earphones. They perform this by containing huge earpad cushions that entirely close the ear. However, if they cause a lot of heat to build up, consider on-ear headphones.
On-ear headphones contain earpad cushions that lie on the ear. Compared to their counterparts, they don’t surround the ears and are lighter and more breathable. Therefore, they are comfortable for long periods. The con of the on-hear headphones is that the sound quality may not be as great as the over-the-ear headphones.
- Cleaning Sweaty Headphones
Keeping headphones clean is among the things users forget to perform. Failing to clean the headphones leads to problems linked to your listening experience. When sweat accumulates around the earpads, there’s a seal creation. Moisture and heat pent up causes your ears to feel on fire.
The moisture won’t only cause the burning up of ears but may also destroy internal headphone components. The ideal thing you need to do is wipe off the sweat from the headphones as soon as they surface.
What Type of Headphones Don’t Make Ears Hot
Some headphone brands that don’t make your ears to be hot include the HP Omen and Sennheiser PXC. They come with great quality design, technology, and materials that keeps your ears cool even when you wear them for long.
When you use the right headphones, it helps in reducing the heating effect since some come with great technology built with the user in mind. Some of the options that don’t heat up include the following:
- HP Omen
The HP Omen Headset comes with active cooling technology and helps bring out the cooling effect. The feature complies well with people who sweat. This particular headset earcups have thermoelectric devices which supply heat from earcups. This heat transfer tends to cool the metallic parts of the cup.
Headsets also remove sweat through the earcups that are made from breathable materials. This gives great airflow while absorbing excess sweat from the ears.
- Sennheiser PXC 550-II
The Sennheiser PCX 550-II has a breathable make that allows free air flow making the ears not sweat. It is also good for many gym goers, confirming that they can keep their ears cool. This headphone temperature difference is lower than other over-ear headphones, meaning they don’t heat up faster.
Why Do Your Ears Sweat When You Wear Headphones?
The ears can sweat when you wear headphones because of the clamping effect, the type of earpad material used in the design, body condition of the headphones, and due to the environmental factors such as increase in environmental temperature.
There are many reasons why you may have sweaty ears upon wearing headphones. The causes may include the following:
- The Headphones Clamping Effect
The headphones’ clamping effect is the force exerted on the ears when you put on the headphones. It’s complicated as the more force you apply when wearing headphones, the more painful they become. Consequently, the lesser pressure you use, the more they may slide from your ears.
The rate at which the clamping force exerts pressure on your ears, the higher the sweat rate after a particular period.
- Headphone’s Earpad Material
These Earpads manufacture out of different materials, but some materials aren’t breathable as others. Leather and pleather earpads aren’t that breathable and thus may cause your ears to sweat. However, you may use headphones with earpads made from velour as they are more breathable.
If you want comfortable earpads, then go for velvet. Most users have deemed good velvet quality and ideal for those who sweat.
The material that the earpad is made from may cause your ears to sweat. If the material is breathable, then the less you sweat, and the inverse also works the same.
- Body Condition
This cause of sweating is not related to the headphones but to your body. Some people tend to sweat less than their counterparts. For example, a person’s gene determines the rate at which one sweats. People are conceived with genes that make them susceptible to sweating, while others don’t.
Additionally, underlying medical conditions may lead to ear sweat. Type 2 Diabetes or thyroid problems lead to more sweating. People who drink less water sweat less than those who do. Thus the more water you consume, the more you may sweat.
- Environmental Temperature
Apart from the headphones themselves and issues related to the body, external factors also has an effect. It’s known that the body sweats to cool. When the body’s heat changes from sweat to vapor, cooling occurs.
The rate your body sweats is in conjunction with the environmental temperature. The higher the temperature, the more sweat. This sweating is seen when you put on your headphones outside with temperatures ranging from 100 degrees Fahrenheit.
Final thoughts
Keeping ears cool upon wearing headphones is necessary, majorly for those who sweat. This will assist you in focusing and generally increase the service the headphones provide.
Therefore, the next time you purchase new headsets, ensure they fit perfectly and provide excellent breathability.
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