Apple AirPods

Considering that Apple is still rumored to be working on water-resistant AirPods, one might imagine that they would not fare well traveling through a human’s digestive track. But apparently that isn’t the case!

Daily Mail has the report this week, telling the story of one Ben Hsu. Hsu is a Naval recruiter is from Taiwan’s Southwestern port city of Kaohsiung. According to him, he fell asleep with one AirPod still in his ear. When he woke up he tried to find it, like in the bed, but came up short. When he used his iPhone to track the AirPod, he heard the beeping following him around.

Hsu said:

“I checked under my blanket and looked around but couldn’t find it – then I realised the sound was coming from my stomach.”

Eventually, he figured out that he had swallowed the AirPod at some point in the night.

A trip to a local hospital confirmed that the AirPod was indeed in his stomach. The doctors informed Hsu that if the AirPod did not pass through his digestive tract on its own, then he would have to go through surgery to get it out. He was given a laxative to help with the ordeal and sent on his way.

The laxative worked. Hsu won’t have to undergo surgery. And he was able to find his AirPod again. Hsu said the truly wireless earphone still had 41% battery remaining. And after he washed it off and dried it, discovered that it still worked just fine, too.

Interestingly, it’s because of the plastic that the AirPod is encased in –hiding the lithium-ion battery– that Hsu didn’t suffer any major injuries:

“Dr Chen Chieh-fan, who works in the emergency room, explained: ‘Because of the plastic shell around the AirPod, the risk of it causing him harm in a similar way to swallowing a regular lithium-ion battery is much lower.’”

So, that’s your strange story for Thursday. Don’t swallow an AirPod. Not even for science.

[via Reddit; Digitalphabet; Daily Mail]