Lifehacks Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for people looking to bypass life's everyday problems with simple tricks. It only takes a minute to sign up.
Sign up to join this community
I place my computer speakers in clear bread plastic bags to protect them from dust and food scrap. E.g. I eat at my desk, and have fruits and vegetables spurt after biting or cutting something.
But as my plastic bags can dangle and droop on my speakers' top openings, sound from the top openings make the bags flutter shrilly, and the vibrations can be more ear-splitting than the music!
Please don't recommend headphones; they can easily damage hearing.
Stop using plastic bags to cover your speakers.
Change the stuff you use to protect your desk speakers.
Use something instead of a thin plastic bag that is:
Solution: Use/hang/wrap a sheet of paper towel in front of your speaker instead of putting it (them) inside a plastic bag.
Virolina provided a good answer: speakers make the air vibrate, and plastic bags are going to be affected by those vibrations because they're so thin and lightweight.
My suggestion is to avoid using speakers altogether. Just use earbuds or headphones! And when you aren't using them, you can keep them in a plastic bag.
EDIT: I posted this answer before the O.P. stated that headphones were not an option since they could damage hearing. I am leaving this answer here for other readers, in case they want to consider this option.
For outdoors applications, you can get waterproof loudspeaker covers. These are used on PA systems etc. They are made to let the sound through without letting water in.
For your desk, covering the loudspeakers isn't enough. Your computer screen and keyboard also suffer when sprayed with fruit sap.
Loudspeakers do not need to be protected against dust, so they don't need to be covered full time, just when you are eating. This means you can remove the plastic bags after you're done eating.
Alternatively, stop eating at your desk. You need to get up regularly anyway to stretch your legs, use eating as another reason to spend a few minutes away from your desk, walking around, resting your eyes by focusing at a different distance, etc.
Your fear of headphones is unfounded. Just like loudspeakers, you are in control of the volume, and it's easy enough to keep the volume at a safe level. Headphones actually allow you to listen at lower volumes than loudspeakers, because headphones reduce the amount of background noise. Headphones also have the benefit that they don't disturb your colleagues.
Bags are very light-weighted, and they easily interfere with how the speakers work.
I can see only 2 workarounds:
It might also work with other bags, provided they have thicker walls, so the sound from the speakers does not have the energy to move them. Also, the plastic should be the silent kind anyway. If it makes loud noise whenever it is handled, then it will be a no-no for your purpose.
Of course, you are probably aware that placing the speakers inside anything will change the quality of the sound.
