Can sharing earphones with friends cause infection

Using ear phones has become quite common in this digital world. It has also been observed that people do share their earphones amongst friends and family members.

The safety of use of sharing of headphone has been well researched and the answer is YES sharing of head phones is a definite threat to spread to ear infection
Following are few facts all earphone users need to keep in mind
1) Our ear canal skin consists of harmless bacteria and wax. However prolonged use of head phones makes the skin more moist and more prone to get infected. If the ear phone has not been cleaned well it does carry bacteria from the various surfaces it is kept. All this makes ear skin more prone to infection amongst prolonged head phone users
2) The harmless bacteria is different in everybody’s skin and unique for them. This sharing earphones increases the risk of carrying the bacteria from one ear canal to another.
3) lot of time many people suffer from conditions which leads to ear discharge. Thes can be otitis externa (infection of outer ear), fungus in the ear, middle ear ininfection. If the person is not aware of such infection and he shares his earphone to any of his friend it is very evident that such infection also will get shared.

In case in emergency you have to share ear phones it is good to use disposable ear bud cover. This will to large extent minimize the spread of bacteria.

To clean ear buds:
In fact our own ear phones should also be cleaned regularly.

2 steps
1) Use a cotton or a gauge piece, cotton cloth, scrub .. and gently scrub the head phone
2) Use any hand sanitizer and wipe the head phone.
Use only after its completely dry

UYOE: use your own ear buds