DIY Earbuds that Stick in Your Ears

Do you ever have a problem with your earbuds falling out of your ears while performing rigorous physical labour? Neither do I, but that’s because I have the luxury of muscular atrophy due to prolonged periods of inactivity. For some people who actually take advantage of the miracle of physicality, I guess headphones fall out or off whenever they try to perform aerial acrobatics.  EarTaps are earphones that fit into the inside of your ear in just such a way so as not to fall out when moving, shaking or seizing vigorously. And, though this Kickstarter project does not feature 3D printing in either the prototyping or production stages, there is an interesting 3DP component.  Watch the Kickstarter video below:

You can support EarTaps and purchase your own pair at vairous price levels, with the retail price eventually landing somewhere around $60.  If you’re a reader of 3DPI, though, you might take some interest in the DIY package. For $199, you can purchase the complete design for the EarTaps, print and build your own. Here’s what the D-I-Y PACKAGE includes: the .stl files for the earphone casings and four sets of speakers, cables and internal parts. This gives you the ability to print, solder and build four sets of EarTaps. A cool design on your part will be brought to market and sold with your name attached.

The motivation behind the DIY package is that the product will likely be pirated and sold on the black market eventually, anyway, so why not let users have the ability to pay to get a leg-up on the bootlegging process? Additionally, the EarTaps team believes that by giving the designs to the public, the public might give something back, saying, “Some of the best designs out there are group-inspired. We have the core technology and we are looking for that ‘something special’ from you. Let’s do something cool together.”  If you’re taking requests, I want my EarTaps to look like a dragon.

Source: Kickstarter