# How do you hear with headphones? And do you ever sleep using ear buds? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 12, 2010, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-hear-with-headphones-and-do-you-ever-sleep-using-ear-buds/524678 "2010-01-12T17:21:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2010, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-hear-with-headphones-and-do-you-ever-sleep-using-ear-buds/524678/1 "2010-01-12T17:21:21Z")
Listening to music with ear buds that seal off my ear canals, it seem to me as if the music is actually coming from inside my head. For some reason it seem like the sound is coming from the back of my head, a little above the collar line. The effect is lessened if there are extreme stero mixes like different instruments in only one channel or another. It doesn’t seem that way (to me) at all with external phones, even the big ones that surround the ears. They sound external. They don’t fool my brain. And I really love the effect. I have a set of ear buds small and comfortable enough to sleep in, and I often do. I crank down the volume a fair amount on the iPod and just go to bed listening to music that comes from in my head. Which has also made for some very interesting dreams, as some now seem to have soundtracks. So how much of a freak am I? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2010, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-hear-with-headphones-and-do-you-ever-sleep-using-ear-buds/524678/2 "2010-01-12T17:27:29Z")
The voices have a band now? Cool! It’s probably some of the sound is being conducted through the bone of your skull and jaw. ---
**Author:** ![CT\_Damsel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CT\_Damsel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CT_Damsel)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2010, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-hear-with-headphones-and-do-you-ever-sleep-using-ear-buds/524678/3 "2010-01-12T20:23:55Z")
I sleep with my ear buds. I use the ones that came with my ipod. I make an 8hr playlist or put one on repeat. Your partner in freakdom:D ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-hear-with-headphones-and-do-you-ever-sleep-using-ear-buds/524678/4 "2010-01-13T04:05:26Z")
I almost always sleep with my earbuds in. Depends on my mood, I’ll either listen to music or podcasts. It does make for some interesting dreams. ---
**Author:** ![Hung\_Mung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@Hung\_Mung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hung_Mung)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-hear-with-headphones-and-do-you-ever-sleep-using-ear-buds/524678/5 "2010-01-13T04:28:35Z")
I fall asleep listening to podcasts and music with earbuds. I don’t use anything else, but I recently tried the headphones I use at church when I operate the soundboard. It was very, very nice. The quality was much better. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-hear-with-headphones-and-do-you-ever-sleep-using-ear-buds/524678/6 "2010-01-13T04:51:21Z")
I use them to go BACK to sleep. If I wake up in the wee hours, it’s hard to get back to sleep because I’m thinking about all the problems I’ll be dealing with in the morning. But if I put on an audiobook I’ll be thinking about the plot instead of worrying. Note: If you try it, DON’T pick a really exciting book where somebody suddenly YELLS or SCREEEEEAMS! Why, yes, I do speak from shaky, sheet-clutching experience. I’ve found a couple of wonderfully expressive (but calm!) readers that I can count on drifting off to… _George Guidell_ reading the CAT WHO series, _Tony Britton_ or \*Jonathan Cecil \*reading Dick Francis, _Judy Kaye_ reading the K is for Kinsey Milhone books, or _Frank Muller_ reading The Great Gatsby (… or reading anything – his rendition of the Greater Milwaukee White Pages N-Z is classic).