Objective and perceptual measurements of the effect of eartip size on fit, comfort, and audio quality of earbuds

Gamst SP, Francombe J, Gribben C. Objective and perceptual measurements of the effect of eartip size on fit, comfort, and audio quality of earbuds. In: 2025 AES International Conference on Headphone Technology. Audio Engineering Society; 2025. Paper 15. Available from: https://aes.org/publications/elibrary-page/?id=22941

@inproceedings{Gamst2025_22941,
  author = {Gamst, Sebastian Palmvig and Francombe, Jon and Gribben, Christopher},
  title = {{Objective and perceptual measurements of the effect of eartip size on fit, comfort, and audio quality of earbuds}},
  booktitle = {2025 AES International Conference on Headphone Technology},
  note = {Paper 15},
  year = {2025},
  month = aug,
  publisher = {Audio Engineering Society},
  url = {https://aes.org/publications/elibrary-page/?id=22941}
}

TY  - CPAPER
TI  - Objective and perceptual measurements of the effect of eartip size on fit, comfort, and audio quality of earbuds
AU  - Gamst, Sebastian Palmvig
AU  - Francombe, Jon
AU  - Gribben, Christopher
T2  - 2025 AES International Conference on Headphone Technology
M1  - Paper 15
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/08/18
UR  - https://aes.org/publications/elibrary-page/?id=22941
PB  - Audio Engineering Society
LA  - en
AB  - The fit of a wearable audio product affects the quality of experience for a user. An experimental paradigm was designed to investigate the relationships between fit, comfort, and audio quality. The experiment considered the effect of different sizes of ear tip used with a prototype audio wearable. A set of Likert items was produced, comprising 43 items related to insertion, perceived fit, comfort, removal, and liking. Additionally, sine sweeps were used to capture the in-ear transfer function and make objective fit measurements; five audio attributes were assessed for five content items; and assessors were asked to indicate areas of discomfort. The results suggested that the feeling of comfort extends beyond how well the product fits into the ear (although this is a significant factor) and confirmed that audio quality is influenced by goodness-of-fit.
ER  -