Man Accidentally Swallows Wireless Earbud

A man underwent surgery after swallowing an Apple AirPod while sleeping. One morning last February, Brad Gauthier [GOTH-eer], a resident of Massachusetts, reported that he woke up with minor discomfort in his chest. Gauthier then shoveled snow in the family's driveway for almost an hour. After he was done shoveling, he returned to the house to take a sip of water and found out that the water would not fully go down his esophagus. That same day, Gauthier discovered that one of his AirPods was missing. After Gauthier and his family looked for the missing AirPod and failed to find it, Gauthier’s son speculated that his father might have swallowed the earbud since he often leaves them on even while asleep. To confirm the speculation, Gauthier went to an emergency clinic and had an x-ray, which showed that one of his earbuds was indeed stuck in his lower esophagus. The doctors then retrieved the earbud from his throat. The AirPod had been lodged in Gauthier’s throat for a few hours. Surprisingly, the earbud still works and only suffered minor damage to the microphone. Gauthier explained that he had stopped watching TV in the bedroom that he shares with his wife and 6-month-old baby and started watching Netflix using his earbuds instead. Following the incident, Gauthier warned everyone to be careful using wireless earbuds at night, especially when they are about to sleep.