earphones and metal dust

Hello,

I was wondering whether it may harmful to the earphones if i listen to music while working in an environment where people use equipment like angle grinders and other stuff that create metal dust.. I work at the docks inside a ship under construction, so metal dust is all around.

I came to think of it when my earphones' right side volume had decreased. I tried another set of earphones at home, they sounded much louder and better, i'm not sure whether they're just better in general, or whether the older ones have suffered from metal dust. In any case even the older ones are not that old, it's only that i've used them at work. And further, both earphone sets i consider to be cheapos..

Any ideas re earphones and metal dust? Thanks.

not sure how your headphones are built, but since all speakers are essentially a magnet, it's probable that metal dust in the air would be attracted to it and would collect on the speaker coil, and probably mess with the signal.