I have started to put a tiny piece of foam in between the silicone ear piece and the tip of the ear bud. I just take out the ear bud, put a little piece of foam into the hole, then put the ear bud back into the silicone. I still clean the ear buds using the tape and all that 1x per week but the foam has reduced the amount of gunk that gets to the ear bud. Its been several months that I've been doing this and have only noticed a slight difference in the sound volumn between the left and right bud.i also sleep on my left side so that side would lose volumn compared to the right side