How to Clean Your Headphones and Earphones: Complete Guide

Cleaning your headphones may seem like a trivial task, but it can actually make a big difference in how you hear sound. It can also improve the hygiene of your ears and help reduce earwax buildup. In this complete guide we will discuss how to clean both over-ear and in-ear headphones with simple household items. You'll be surprised how easy it is!

Why Should You Clean Your Headphones?

There are 2 main reasons why you should clean your headphones.

Cleaning your headphones will improve the sound quality and make it much more pleasant for you to listen to music or watch videos.

Also, there is the hygiene aspect. Using and sharing headphones can cause earwax to build up inside your ears which may lead to infections like the swimmer’s ear or ingress of foreign objects in the outer ear canal.

Things you will need:

1. Small soft cloth
2. Rubbing alcohol or hand sanitizer
3. Cotton buds
4. Soap
5. Water
6. Paper towel, or tissue

Cleaning Over-the-Ear Headphones

Remember that over-ear headphones involve more delicate parts like leather or foam earpads which can be damaged by water, soap, or alcohol. Follow this cleaning process carefully to avoid damaging your headphones:

1. Remove earpads from the headphones. Use a small soft cloth to wipe out any ear wax or dirt on both sides of each earpad. If there is too much buildup, you can use a bit of rubbing alcohol or hand sanitizer to clean them with cotton buds. 
2. Wipe the metal and plastic parts of your headphones with an alcohol-dipped cotton bud or hand sanitizer on a cotton swab. This will help to kill off any germs that might have survived the cleaning process. Make sure to avoid water at all costs as it may damage small headphones’ parts.
3. Wipe dry with a paper towel or tissue.
4. Make sure not to get either liquid inside your ears as it might damage your device.

Cleaning In-Ear Headphones

There are 2 steps of cleaning in-ear earphones:

1. Cleaning the driver unit
2. Cleaning the ear tips

Cleaning the driver unit

The driver unit is located in the earpiece. This is where the sound is produced. Due to it’s usually made of metal, plastic, or rubber-like parts of your headphones, this part is very delicate and should be handled with care during cleaning process:

1. Remove any excess wax by using a dry and soft toothbrush to gently brush the driver unit.
2. Wipe down with a cotton swab to get rid of any leftover residue and clean it thoroughly with an alcohol-dipped cotton bud or hand sanitizer on a cotton swab. Be careful not to damage this very important part!

Cleaning the ear tips

Most earphones come with detachable silicone or rubber ear tips that can be removed from the speaker. They are usually interchangeable and come in a range of sizes to accommodate your ears.

1. Remove the silicone ear tips and clean them with warm and soapy water. You can then disinfect the tips by cleaning them thoroughly with an alcohol-dipped cotton bud or hand sanitizer on a cotton swab. Make sure to dry off any excess liquid for safety purposes.
2. Reattach the ear tips and put your headphones back together!

Depending on how regularly you use earphones or how much earwax buildup there you can follow this process a few times a month.

You’ll see how easy it is to clean your headphones and improve the sound quality without spending lots of money on fancy accessories!

Cleaning the Case

Some wireless earphones come with charging cases so you can clean your case along with your earphones.

You can use rubbing alcohol or hand sanitizer on a cotton swab to wipe the inside and outside of your case if it’s made from material that could be damaged by water. Make sure you use a bit of rubbing alcohol or hand sanitizer in order not to damage any electronics, especially in the charging port area. After cleaning both earphones and the case, make sure everything is dry before putting them back together.

How to clean headphone jacks

If you have wired earphones, you’ll have a jack where the wire meets your earphones. This is an important part of how to clean headphones since they can be easily damaged by dirt and germs:

1. Unplug any cables from the headphone jacks so that they are free for cleaning.
2. Use a cotton swab dipped in alcohol or hand sanitizer to remove any dirt and kill off germs.
3. Make sure that the area is dry before plugging your earphones back in.

Conclusion

Cleaning your headphones and earphones regularly can help you enjoy your music better. It also helps to extend the life of your devices by preventing damage from dirt and germs that might get trapped inside them!