Earbuds and tinnitus

Like the dog 'Lucky', I am deaf in one ear and have tinnitus in the other. I have tried many ways to combat that annoying hiss, particularly when trying to go to sleep.

White noise machines and CD players would sometimes disturb my partner, so I sought other remedies. I tried using an MP3 player and earbuds, but finding one that I could tolerate in my ear at night was not easy and, of course, the wires were easily broken. Good earbuds are expensive and unnecessary for simple white noise or gentle nature sounds. I discovered DISPOSABLE earbuds and an on-line search on Google or Amazon will bring up pages.

I found this kind:

Somewhat uncomfortable. I would cut off the right angle 'tail' and hot glue the hole left behind. None the less, wires would break and I got pretty good at repair. (There are YouTube videos on how to do this.)

I gave wireless Bluetooth a try after seeing ads and Kickstarter campaigns for these products. (Read here about the latest: https://newatlas.com/bose-sleepbuds/52165/). The price for these devices would often be $200+ and never seemed to be available as a single earpiece. And what if they were too uncomfortable to sleep with?

Again I searched and searched and found these:

$5.00 from China. They are designed for 'hand free' driving. I bought two, one with mic and one without. They work well and are not too uncomfortable. I use a Bluetooth transmitter ($30; transmit only) for a total cost of about $40. I could have just used my phone and saved $30.

One drawback is play time, 3 hours is barely enough for one night's use, which is why I have two. The other drawback is all the connection fuss just before sleep.

I am back to using wired earbuds and after more searches I found these:

A better design needing no modification to be comfortable. As a bonus, the wires are more robust and last four times as long if I am careful. The best part is that I can buy ten for $20. Do a search on Amazon for: disposable earbuds coolgadgets (all one phrase).

I do not work for Amazon or a manufacturer of any kind. This post is just about my experience.