Shure E3 tip stuck in my ear canal

[luidge]

Good lord that was freakish.
I was in the bus when i removed my E3 to listen to the guy in front of me who ask me about some stuff i don't even remember. Then i look at my earburds and it was naked! The sleeves was stuck in here!!!

I think i just push the tip too far.
I kept my calm and go directly to the hospital wich was near. The doc was pretty much laughing at me and my new tech toys

.
Have this ever happen to some of you?

 

[Dr.Sade]

Quote:

Originally Posted by luidge Good lord that was freakish. I was in the bus when i removed my E3 to listen to the guy in front of me who ask me about some stuff i don't even remember. Then i look at my earburds and it was naked! The sleeves was stuck in here!!! I think i just push the tip too far. I kept my calm and go directly to the hospital wich was near. The doc was pretty much laughing at me and my new tech toys . Have this ever happen to some of you?

Ya. Seen a couple of threads here like this before. Different brand though.

 

[doctorjuggles]

Yep, happened to me and to both people I know with IEMs. Luckily none of us needed to go to the hospital, we all managed to get them out ourselves.

 

[firefox360]

I've gottem my size small, Comply foamies, stuck in my ears several times. Although I guess they weren't deep at all because and can just reach in with my fingers and pull them out.

 

[Dr.Sade]

Quote:

Originally Posted by luidge Good lord that was freakish. I was in the bus when i removed my E3 to listen to the guy in front of me who ask me about some stuff i don't even remember. Then i look at my earburds and it was naked! The sleeves was stuck in here!!! I think i just push the tip too far. I kept my calm and go directly to the hospital wich was near. The doc was pretty much laughing at me and my new tech toys . Have this ever happen to some of you?

I vaguely recall somebody using a dab of something like rubber cement adhesive on the tube to prevent them from slipping off.

 

[Canon]

Yea, unfortunatley I have had this happen to me. I have been careful ever since not to pull strait out. Sort of pull down, wiggle and pull.

I pulled mine out to talk to someone, went to put it back in and it wouldn't fit. I thought dang that's odd. I took it out and noticed my hearing was sort of weird... Then I looked down and saw my naked E2C LOL! I was a bit worried but I reached in with my small finger and snagged it loose thankfully and avoided the hospital visit but I have to admit I was very worried.

That was with the small soft sleeve which I stopped using afterwards. I moved up to the medium (after getting used to the IEMs it wasn't so bad) and right now i'm playing around with the small flex sleeves which seem to provide a bit better isolation. Now that I have had more practice in the use of my IEMs they don't hurt like they did when I first got them.

One thing I noticed is that those soft sleeves get a bit slippery on the tube when they get a bit dirty. Taking them off and soaking/cleaning them in soapy water gives them a better grip on the tube. Yet another reason to keep your IEMs clean.

 

[Dzjudz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Canon One thing I noticed is that those soft sleeves get a bit slippery on the tube when they get a bit dirty. Taking them off and soaking/cleaning them in soapy water gives them a better grip on the tube. Yet another reason to keep your IEMs clean.

Exactly. After a few weeks of everyday use (in my case anyway) the soft gray flex sleeves get more slippery, and I can eventually just slide them off the tube without effort. Once, I didn't clean them with soap and water frequently enough, so it slid off while pulling it out of my ear (a medium gray flex sleeve). Scared! But I got it out alright.

But now I'm always testing how slippery my sleeves are by trying to pull them off before I put them in my ears. If they still have good grip I put them in, but if they start getting slippery, it's a definite no-no.

I clean them about once a month.

 

[n1cx]

Another factor might be the fact that the shure grey soft flex sleeves create a stronger suction (compared to tri/biflanges) when you try to pull it away from your ear.

 

[micaela]

Yep - I'm a member of this club too

When I went to the nearest doc in the box= they laughed at me too

 

[azncookiecutter]

Grey soft tips, right? I got them stuck in my ear a few days ago, and today, when coming home. Pulled it right out, the grey tips still in my ear. thankfully only tweezers needed to pull them out. Gave me quite a scare the first time though.

 

[lmilhan]

Remember kids: slow, gentle twisting motion to remove.

 

[Crash613]

Wow. i just had this happen to me.. I've had my Shure E3Cs for about 2 months now. use them daily, no problem. i noticed today that when i pulled them out of the gym bag that one of the tips had fallen off. it is the soft gray ones (small).

i put it back on 3/4 way. it slid back off by itself. same thing about 3 times. i figured it isn't on all the way. pushed it all the way on. it stayed.

Stuck it in ear and it immediately fell off. STUCK. Now, i am at the gym. getting ready to run on the tread mill for 1 1/2 hours. played w/ it for about 10 minutes. would NOT come out. said hell with it. Ran on thread mill.

left and i had to make a couple of stops on the way home. All told, it was stuck for about 2 1/2 hours.. driving me f*ing crazy!!!!

Got it out simple enough, w/ a tweezer.

but now worried. I wet a cotton ball w/ rubbing alcohol and wiped the post that the sleeve sits on. then soaked sleeve in a small Dixie cup of alcohol for a few minutes. it is drying now. I hope this doesn't continue. These are too expensive!! I don't even know where to get a replacement sleeve that size.

Shure's website was NO help.

If this doesn't work.. i will try soapy water as some of you suggested.

mike




P.S. how do you actually clean them? i mean the process. how do you clean the inside of the small hole... this is where the friction is needed. Does soaking it alone do it? or do u stick something thru... i.e. pipe cleaner

 

[PiccoloNamek]

This has happened to me several times, each time with a Shure tip. Hmm. I just dug it out with a pen or, if it was deep, pulled it out with tweezers. No need to go to the hospital.

 

[countach]

That used to happen to me when I had the E3 and the best way of retrieve the tip was pushing with a pencil and pick it in the other ear.

 

[GlorytheWiz825]

Happened to me too with the grey earpiece for the E4C. I actually managed to push them in deeper when I tried to fetch them out. Ended up going home and using tweezers to fetch them out. After that, I switched sleeves to the triple flange. -_-;