How’s the fidelity of modern earphones when shoved up your nose?

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Is one orifice still just as good as another? We find out!

The year was 2010. Everyone was rocking out to vuvuzela music after it made a splash during the FIFA World Cup in South Africa, and the U.S. mourned the loss of their most celebrated actor, Gary Coleman.

And it was in June of this year when a young Mr. Sato heard a rumor that by putting earphones up your nose, one can experience amazingly lifelike sounds, as if they were at a live show. At the time, he had put this theory to the test and did report a whole different quality to the sound, like it was echoing inside his head.

▼ Mr. Sato, 2010, age 36 (surgery has since removed the black bar from his eyes)

But that was almost a decade ago. Great improvements have been made in earphone technology since then. Moreover, Mr. Sato’s memory isn’t the greatest in the world. Perhaps he was looking back on those nosebud days with rose-tinted glasses.

So, he decided to revisit this experiment with modern equipment, namely the Zolo Liberty S wireless earphones by Anker. These were released in May of this year and sell for 15,000 yen (US$137), making them a fairly good example of current mid-range products.

He connected them to his iPhone’s Bluetooth and proceeded to insert one into each nostril. These were in-ear type headphones meaning they are intended to enter the ear canal when listening. This also made them rather easy to insert into a nose, but left much of the unit dangling outside.

With all the equipment hooked up, Mr. Sato pressed play on his phone.

“What?!” gasped Mr. Sato, “This cannot be!”

The sound was barely audible at all. He could hear a little music trickle out from his nose but it wasn’t even close to the sound of a live concert. This was a most unexpected result.

Could it be that wireless earphones lack the raw horsepower to fill Mr. Sato’s head with music like his first experiment had so many years ago? That didn’t seem right, but to check, Mr. Sato tried again with a pair of wired in-ear headphones.

▼ “Hmm… It’s slightly louder but still barely audible… I do say, what is the agency behind this phenomenon?”

Mr. Sato referred to his 2010 experiment and confirmed that he had once achieved a sort of “live” sound this way. However, one big difference was that back then people were still using ear buds that didn’t go into the ear canal. Also, he had to shove the earbuds rather deep up his nose to achieve the desired fidelity.

It would seem that the design of the in-ear units were not able to reach that far inside the human nostril. So, in conclusion, if you want to listen to earphones through your nose, then be sure to not use in-ear models.

Remember this information as it may one day save your life.

Photos ©SoraNews24
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