Leaning on One Earbud Wears It Out Faster, Engadget Warns

Habitually using just one wireless earbud can shorten that bud's lifespan and leave its battery draining faster than its partner, according to Engadget. The publication explains that repeated single-bud use creates an uneven usability balance between the two halves of a pair.

Engadget traces the habit back to the old Bluetooth headset, a lone bud that sometimes carried a small boom mic and let people take calls without shutting out the world. Those devices gave way to wireless earbuds that can run in mono mode, with one bud in the ear doing the same job.

The core problem is battery cycles. The bud worn more often goes through more of them, and even though both sit in the same charging case, a bud sitting at 50 percent takes longer and draws more power to top up than one at 80 percent.

Charging habits add to the strain. Pulling one bud out of the case more frequently than the other creates charging imbalances, which Engadget says can further affect battery wear. Calls also consume more power, and Bluetooth transmission adds its own draw, so the battery of the frequently used bud falls further behind both per session and over time.

The obvious fix is to swap which ear gets the bud. That option is not open to everyone, because some earbuds use a master and slave arrangement in which one bud holds the primary phone connection and relays data to the other. Only the master can run in mono mode on those models.

Most newer earbuds outside some cheap entry-level products allow mono playback from either side through role swapping, Engadget notes, citing models from Samsung and Google among the top wireless earbuds that work this way.

There is a catch when both buds are wanted. The one used more often can die first, forcing mono mode, and on master and slave designs that means no listening at all.

Engadget's advice is to cut down on single-bud wear. A quick call now and then is fine, but if the goal is staying aware of surroundings, a pair with transparency or ambient mode lets sound in with both ears filled. Some pairs switch to that mode on their own when they pick up voices.

For drivers who like one bud at the wheel, a practice whose legality varies by state and location, Engadget points to the phone's speakerphone instead.