Worried about germs in the COVID era? These self-cleaning wireless earbuds from LG should help

If you weren’t a bit of a germaphobe before the events of the past few months, you’re probably a little along that road by now. Hand sanitiser, previously a ‘nice to have’, is now an essential monthly purchase if you’re planning on shopping in safety. Masks are worn (often poorly — there is a right way and a wrong way) everywhere and folks are generally more aware of germs. And now LG’s launching a little something for these virus-conscious times.

Meet your new ‘buds

LG’s got a pair of new true wireless earbuds on the way — the LG TONE Free true wireless earbuds (which arrive as the HBS-FN6 and HBS-FN4 models). The second of these, the HBS-FN4, are just your standard wireless earbuds. You’ve seen them everywhere. Samsung makes a pair, as do Sony, Apple, Jabra, SoundMagic… we could keep going but you get the point.

Read More: Dos and Don’ts of wearing a mask in public

But it’s the LG Tone Free HBS-FN6 headphones we’re really keen on. These are the same as the HBS-FN4 in terms of what they can do on an audio level — that is, they support Headphone Spatial Processing from Meridian, as well as a range of other audio tech from the audio specialists. They’re rated IPX4, meaning you can take them out in the rain (but not the pool), will let you chat with your digital assistant of choice (provided you choose Google Assistant or Siri), touch controls and admittedly-decent LG audio in general.

But the LG Tone Free HBS-FN6 has one thing its sibling does not — a so-called UVnano charging case, which bathes the earbuds in ultraviolet light when they’re not in use. According to LG, the UVnano case “…keeps listeners’ ears cleaner by eliminating 99.9 percent of E. coli and S. aureus ² from the non-toxic, hypoallergenic silicone ear gel ³ and inner mesh.” Basically, fewer germs in your ears are a thing — and we’re all trying to avoid germs as much as possible. Well, mostly.

This charging case, as well as the non-UV version, juice up LG’s buds to the tune of 18 hours of usage. Both sets of in-ears provide six hours of audio on a charge which, really, isn’t bad at all. They’re set for launch in the State and Europe before making their way to the rest of the world. We’ll have pricing as soon as it’s available here.