I once found this damage on my headphones on both sides, it is unclear what caused it, and the continued uses causes the damage to expand. I’m seriously concerned as I’m sensitive to such issues. The headphones are less than a year old.
Solution: Glasses have been the problem, read one of the many replies below for more details.
Those cushions wear out after a while, you can buy replacements. Make sure to buy the exact same type and thickness or the sound might be much worse.
It’s normal wear and tear, it’s in those particular spots because you wear glasses.
The cushions or pads are a wear part and are user replaceable.
I had a pair of headphones where the pads were non-replaceable. They completely disintegrated and turned to dust, and that’s when I found they were glued on and not designed for replacement.
It was under 12 months since I bought the headphones so I contacted the manufacturer asking about replacement pads and stating I was happy to pay for them… Only for them to tell me (as I knew they would have to) that the pads are not replaceable and no replacement pads exist.
I was entitled to a replacement under law, and so they had to send me a whole new pair of headphones.
They didn’t even make me send the old ones back either, so I ripped the ear pads off and replaced them anyway! And now I have two pairs of headphones for the price of one!
Infuriating manufacturing choice to make consumable wear components non-replacable.
Thank you for the detailed response! /gen
It’s definitely something I’ll think about when buying new headphones in the future.
I have glasses and the same problem, I think the glasses chafe against the plastic leather without one noticing until it breaks.
That’s normal wear and tear for over-ear headphones. You should expect for these ear cushions to eventually wear out. They are constantly rubbing against your glasses, earrings, headband, etc. as well as just your ears/head. Unfortunately, they should be considered consumables. Fortunately, as others mention here, there are multiple first-party and third-party replacement pads on the market, so you can replace just the pads as they wear out.
Pleather/fake leather ear pads do that after continuous use for a long time and it’s unfortunately normal. You can change them with new ear pads and if you’re lucky, you can find them made by different materials. Be careful, the material of the ear pads actually effects the sound that you will hear from your headphones.
I wear glasses, using the same headphones since 5 years and they never caused any damage. All the recommendations saying “just get new ones” are pure consumerism and what got us into this state of filling up our oceans with rubbish. Buy quality headphones not cheap crap and you won’t have this issue.
I appreciate your comment, but I most correct you on the “cheap crap” part. I wouldn’t consider the Accentum Sennheiser Plus Wireless “cheap crap”, but rather a bad design choice on the manufactures end.
These being senns, I don’t think they fall into the “cheap crap” category.
Also, replacing the foam is far better than replacing the whole unit. If you have a recommendation for foam pad replacements that will last years, that would be awesome!
Thank you for the response, and I would love to know too. /gen
Last time I had the pads on mine disintegrate, I found some replacements that were made of real leather. I haven’t had to replace them since. Some brands also make fabric pads; I’m sure they probably last longer than polyurethane, but I would expect them to wear out eventually.
I would prefer materials that weren’t sourced from animals (no judgement).
You can buy replacement earpads for most brands of headphones.
Seconded.
And if they’re not available for this model/brand, switch to another if possible. There are a lot of headphones with replaceable pads, many of them very affordable.
![[SOLVED] How would you describe this damage, what could have caused it, and can it be repaired?](https://lemmy.blahaj.zone/pictrs/image/ffd1e5fa-d591-4b49-b4b1-ca7d49173a48.webp){kind=link}