How to Wear Headphones with Glasses

If you are a gamer or an occasional music enthusiast, wearing headphones with glasses must have been a daunting chore whenever you delve into the solitary world of sound and tunes.

People with glasses complain all the time about the discomfort they experience when wearing those otherwise cushy and ergonomic sound machines named headphones.

So here the question is how to wear headphones with glasses comfortably? What are the probable solutions for bespectacled audiophiles? Is there any way one could lessen the pain caused by this inconvenient combo of glasses and headphones?

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Or are there any methods that would reduce the hassle of wearing both together without inflicting much of a pain onto one’s dear ears? Let’s dig down deeper to understand what exactly needs to get fixed.

Ears of the Listeners

Do you know that all humans have a unique pair of ears? Well, if you have bigger ears with a larger head, your headphones would be more of a pain whatever brand or ear cup you must wear.

For relatively medium to smaller heads and ears, the probability of getting your ears hurt is relatively slighter than former.

If you belong from the latter category i.e., the smaller head and ears type, wearing headphones and glasses would be a less painful experience.

In all, everyone has a unique pair of ears and the headphones for them have to be adjusted accordingly, whatever their size and quality must be.

For children, glasses won’t hinder the listening experience or hurt the earlobe area because of more space for adjustment, both in ears and head size.

For fully grown adults, adjustment is dependent on multiple variables, which are headphones type and build, quality, as well as manufacturer’s guidelines for putting them on. Let’s explore the headphone types.

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Which Type of Headphones are you Wearing?

The menacing marriage of convenience between the headphones and glasses can only be sorted out by choosing the right type of headphones.

What exactly are the right kinds of headphones? Are some headphones better than others? The answer is purely subjective, based on user’s comfort and the quality of music one listens to.

Should the adjustable glasses suffice, or one must buy the appropriate headphones if they wear glasses? Let’s explore the popular headphones first.

1. Earbuds or In-ear Headphones

In-ear headphones do not encompass a headband, which implies that they need not make contact with the glasses at all. They are tiny, compacted, and extremely handy listening gadgets that are worn inside of the earlobes, no string attached.

The minuscule earbud size prevents them from hindering the spectacle frame beside ears. However, earbuds aren’t recommended for gamers as their sound abilities are constricted accordingly with their size.

The audibility might be high, but the tiny size greatly compromises the performance and result with below par performance in various stereo components such as lower bass and restricted noise reduction.

Also, earbuds are never placed in the headphones category. Rather, they are more of the cut-to-size earphones. For the most frustrated users, earbuds could solve the trouble at once.

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For the ones who prefer quality and dynamics with lesser pain to ears, on-ear headphones are the next best option.

2. On-Ear Headphones

Officially, there’s no such category that defines on-ear headphones as a separate entity from over-the-ear headphones.

However, there’s a silver lining, and the most critical one for bespectacled listeners, making on-ear headphones the second-best choice after the simplistic earbuds.

On-ear headphones comprise a headband (mostly adjustable) with cushy ear cups. The earcups, by some means, are quite smaller in diameter to support airiness when listening for longer hours.

The smaller diameter of on-ear headphones will result in less constriction on areas around the ears which would mean that there will be vacant spaces between the ear and spectacle frame.

Still, the small diameter of on-ear headphones creates an extra pressure on the earcups, which will ultimately slice the ear skin lying between the earcups and spectacle frame. This results in unbearable pain in the area that comprises the glass frame after continuous usage.

To mitigate the troubles caused by on-ear headphones, it is better to take regular breaks between your gaming and listening session to avoid bruises and frame marks. If not, try switching to the more comfortable and better-designed over-ear headphones.

For gamers, sound quality means everything, and the best option would be the only option, i.e., over-the-ear headphones. To serve seasoned gamers, acoustics are everything during the marathon sessions.

To get the best out of their gaming experiences, bespectacled gamers and professional audio scientists prefer over-the-ear headphones over all the available choices combined. Let’s know how over-ear headphones are most appropriate for gamers with glasses.

3. Over-the-ear Headphones

Over-the-ear headphones are the most comfortable of all the types, thanks to their big cushy earcups and flexible head strap that adjust easily at multiple angles with any head and ear sizes. The adjustable head and ear clamps make them phenomenal gadgets for multi-purpose usage.

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For people who wear glasses, the headband can always be a loosened and earcups be slightly tilted away from the glass frames to avoid external pressures.

Moreover, the earcups are larger in diameter that covers the entire ears including earlobes and the outer skin which symmetrically distribute weight throughout the lobe area. The weight distribution provides additional comfort when wearing them with the glasses.

There are various over-the-ear headphone types that can additionally be made comfortable. The leather strapped headphones alongside memory foam qualities are greater in comfort and better in quality than regular ones.

In novel gaming headphones, there’s a dedicated glasses-compatible bump for glasses which deliver comprehensive cosiness when wearing them for longer durations.

In sum, the sound quality of these big-wig headphones is better than in-ear and on-ear headphones combined.

The noise cancellation, sound isolation, and comfort combine to deliver excellent vibes for your marathon music sessions.

How to Wear Headphones with Glasses?

If, by some means, you have bought the headphones first and noticed the nuance later, there are some tricks you can try to alleviate the pain or live with it for longer durations. So let’s see how to wear headphones comfortably with glasses.

1. The first hack is to try some cushy earcups if the existing ones are hard and immovable. If your over-the-ear headphones are hardened, try replacing when with memory foam or leather cushions, which are thicker and plusher than the existing ones.
2. What if the ear cups are irreplaceable? To mitigate the horrors of irreplaceable earcups, try angling your glasses at an appropriate angle that causes lesser trouble and better sound for longer hours before taking a few minutes’ break to respite the earlobes. Firstly, identify which part is itching the most. When pinpointed, try angling your glasses upwards where the earcups are exerting minimum pressure, at least. When trying the hack, make sure that the glasses won’t dislodge completely, or the glasses do not become unstable.
3. Another quick and somehow an effective solution is placing spectacle frame on top of the headphones. Sadly, this method only works for the gamers who are glued to the gaming chairs. For commuters, the glasses might slide out of the setting and cause damage to the glass.
4. If nothing is working your way, try making a hole in the ear cushions and tuck them inside. This is the last case scenario and should be done meticulously so that it does not burst through the ear cushions and leak sounds, ultimately damaging the headphones.

Try Wearing New Glasses

Why not try new glasses if you can’t risk drilling through the earcups? If you have decided to buy a new frame, the thinner ones are the most feasible.

The minimum area of confluence between the frame and the earlobes will create lesser tension, and consequently lesser pain.

Also, there are several frame types that feature foams to the rear end which make them a great utility for nerds and gamers with headphones on for longer durations.

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The foam-infused glass frames aren’t that good-looking and wear-everywhere types, so you should have an extra pair to wear with the headphones.

Conclusion

Glasses are for nerds, so are the headphones for gamers. When coupled together, both often get incompatible, mainly because of the surface tension phenomenon and the unbearable pain caused by the consistent friction between them.

To avoid the hassle, there are many conventional as well as a few out-of-box solutions that can be implemented to lessen the pain or luckily remove it altogether.

Apart from a few headphone models that feature a dedicated clip for bespectacled gamers, there’s nothing else to offer that lessens the trouble.

However, there are a few DIY hacks that surely relieve the pain. The foremost is buying the dedicated over-the-ear headphones over in-ear and on-ear ones that are more brutish in feel and looks.

Secondly, the wearing angle is critical. A person with glasses cannot wear both the headphones and glasses as they like. Pushing the frame upward (or sometimes downward) or slightly angling the earcups would surely help.

Lastly, the frame type is also an important factor when wearing large over-ear headphones. If you can get a thin glass frame or the ones with foam paddings, it would be a blessing for later.