AirPods are small, and thus it is very easy to misplace or lose them. Bradford Gauthier, a man from Massachusetts, had slept with AirPods on. The next day he was in shock after realizing he had swallowed the AirPods. After rushing to the hospital, doctors had to remove AirPods from his windpipe surgically.

In an interesting turn of events, Gauthier slept with his AirPods on. When he woke up, he had trouble swallowing, and he ignored it as a sore throat. He realized something is wrong when he couldn’t drink a glass of water. At the same time, one of the AirPods was missing. Gauthier had the habit of going to sleep with AirPods as he didn’t want to disturb his six-month-old.

A Worcester man is lucky to be breathing today after accidentally swallowing one of his AirPods. Bradford Gauthier woke up Tuesday morning and noticed he had a little trouble swallowing. He attributed it to a dry or sore throat and carried on with his day. The day before he had been shoveling snow for two hours after the Nor’easter that hit Massachusetts earlier this week; he says he went to sleep that night ‘worn out.’

His family joked that he might have swallowed the AirPods. Meanwhile, Gauthier could sense a blockage in the centre of his chest.

They brought it up jokingly at first, but it seemed too coincidental that I would be missing it when I knew I went to bed with it, while I felt a distinct blockage in the center of my chest”

At the hospital, doctors found the AirPods in Gauthier’s esophagus. Furthermore, they performed emergency endoscopy and extracted AirPods from the windpipe. This incident is a reminder that sleeping with AirPods can be a safety hazard. The physician said Gauthier was lucky to be breathing.

Do you sleep with your AirPods on? Let us know in the comments below.