# What causes that one ear to go out on a set of headphones? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 10, 2006, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-causes-that-one-ear-to-go-out-on-a-set-of-headphones/339331 "2006-01-10T17:19:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-causes-that-one-ear-to-go-out-on-a-set-of-headphones/339331/1 "2006-01-10T17:19:39Z")
Or, even more annoying, to go out and come back and go out and come back. . . It doesn’t matter how cheap or expensive the headphones are-- one ear just stops working. The correlation between price and malfunction is just how long it will take for this to happen. Everytime I have to shell out cash for another set of headphones, I wonder if there is something I could do to prevent or fix this. Does anyone know why this happens? ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-causes-that-one-ear-to-go-out-on-a-set-of-headphones/339331/2 "2006-01-10T17:27:11Z")
It’s just flexing the wire repeatedly leads to fatigue failure of one of the conductors. This usually occurs at the juction between the wire and the strain relief at either the plug end, or less commonly, at the earphone. This is generally because of the poor quality of molded strain reliefs, and can be pre-emptively dealt with by wrapping a few turns of electrical tape around the likely failure points, or better yet, adding a length of heat-shrink tubing to these locations. The idea is to allow the wire to bend, while increasing the bend radius–the sharper the wire is allowed to bend, the greater the stress on it and the sooner it will fail. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-causes-that-one-ear-to-go-out-on-a-set-of-headphones/339331/3 "2006-01-10T17:40:44Z")
> [@Q.E.D.](#): > > It’s just flexing the wire repeatedly leads to fatigue failure of one of the conductors. This usually occurs at the juction between the wire and the strain relief at either the plug end, or less commonly, at the earphone. This is generally because of the poor quality of molded strain reliefs, and can be pre-emptively dealt with by wrapping a few turns of electrical tape around the likely failure points, or better yet, adding a length of heat-shrink tubing to these locations. The idea is to allow the wire to bend, while increasing the bend radius–the sharper the wire is allowed to bend, the greater the stress on it and the sooner it will fail. Or I could never, ever bend any of the wires ever! ---
**Author:** ![Snickers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Snickers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snickers)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-causes-that-one-ear-to-go-out-on-a-set-of-headphones/339331/4 "2006-01-10T20:42:38Z")
SpouseO (an electrical engineer) also says that regardless of brand or price, the little connector widget (where the headphones plug into the walkman) are notoriously cheap and prone to failure. With enough use, they get bad, so’s you’re constantly screwing the plug around and around to try to get a better connection. I’m betting that the manufacturers are hoping that by the time the connector widget gets bad, you’ll be looking to replace the entire thing anyway. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-causes-that-one-ear-to-go-out-on-a-set-of-headphones/339331/5 "2006-01-10T20:46:06Z")
If the failure is at the plug end, replacing the plug is a DIY job for anyone with a soldering iron. It’s certainly no-risk if you’re doing to replace them anyway. Are you sure it’s the headphones and not the device you’re listening to? If dust or dirt gets into the jack it can interfere with contact. Sometimes I get one side go out listening to my portable radio and moving the plug in and out a couple of times is enough to clear it. ---
**Author:** ![Nickrz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bbce88/32.png) [@Nickrz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nickrz)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-causes-that-one-ear-to-go-out-on-a-set-of-headphones/339331/6 "2006-01-10T20:59:13Z")
You could use a potato to clean the little socket, the plug, and your hands afterward. Be sure to turn off the power first. ---
**Author:** ![deevee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/57b2e6/32.png) [@deevee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deevee)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-causes-that-one-ear-to-go-out-on-a-set-of-headphones/339331/7 "2006-01-10T21:28:07Z")
I’m deaf in my right ear. Why is it always the damn left that goes on my headphones? ---
**Author:** ![Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-causes-that-one-ear-to-go-out-on-a-set-of-headphones/339331/8 "2006-01-10T22:24:08Z")
I was talking about this with a friend on Friday. I told him to try coiling his headphones, instead of scrunching them up and shoving them in his pocket. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-causes-that-one-ear-to-go-out-on-a-set-of-headphones/339331/9 "2006-01-10T22:53:14Z")
I think it’s probably just because, while both heads will eventually fail, they’re not going to fail simultaneously. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-causes-that-one-ear-to-go-out-on-a-set-of-headphones/339331/10 "2006-01-10T22:59:52Z")
> [@deevee](#): > > I’m deaf in my right ear. Why is it always the damn left that goes on my headphones? You probably don’t notice if the right side goes out first.