New study claims most headphones contain toxic forever chemicals that might be leaching into your body

The Inspire Soundfit XH1 headphones — (Image credit: Baseus)

If you don't want something else to worry about in today's world, perhaps stop reading. Otherwise, a new study finds that most headphones contain toxic chemicals that may be "migrating" into our bodies.

Reported by the Guardian, the study comes from the activist group ToxFree LIFE for All, a Hungarian research and campaigning group. If it helps, they're like the Eastern European version of Consumer Reports.

“Hazardous substances were detected in every product tested,” they said.

How to avoid the chemicals

Sony Wf-1000XM6, Sony WF-1000XM5, Apple Airpods Pro 3 — (Image credit: Tom's Guide)

ToxFree notes that "highest concentrations of harmful substances were found in the hard plastic parts of the headphones. These chemicals can be released into the environment through heat, mechanical stress or sweating and then absorbed through the skin."

Which means you'll want to avoid wearing headphones while sleeping, and unfortunately, when doing strenuous activity that causes you to sweat.

“Daily use – especially during exercise when heat and sweat are present – accelerates this migration directly to the skin," ToxFree said.

This makes sense for earbuds where the plastic is more likely to come into contact with your skin on a more consistent basis. What we can't tell is what the study found regarding over-the-ear and on-ear cans.

In general, those headphones feature softer materials, including cloth, pseudo or real leather in the cups and the headbands. Higher-end models might be made out of metal.

ToxFree has released previous studies that found Pfas in baby pacifiers and women's underwear, two products that have even more contact with skin and orifices.

Mayhap this isn't as dire an issue as Toxfree asserts. However, it may be a good time to consider how much time you spend wearing headphones and finding ways to mitigate it for your general health.

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Scott Younker is the West Coast Reporter at Tom’s Guide. He covers all the lastest tech news. He’s been involved in tech since 2011 at various outlets and is on an ongoing hunt to build the easiest to use home media system. When not writing about the latest devices, you are more than welcome to discuss board games or disc golf with him. He also handles all the Connections coverage on Tom's Guide and has been playing the addictive NYT game since it released.

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