Did Kamala Harris wear sound-receiving devices disguised as earrings during the September 10, 2024, presidential debate? No, that's not true: The Nova H1 "audio earrings" Harris wore according to some posts on social media do not have the loops seen in the photo of a model wearing them. Those loops were part of a different piece of jewelery the model was wearing. Harris wore earrings she has worn in the past, sometimes with a matching necklace. The jewelry is identified as coming from the HardWear collection by Tiffany & Co.
The rumor surfaced in a post (archived here) on X on September 10, 2024. The post was captioned:
Rumors are circulating that Kamala Harris was wearing audio earrings and being fed lines.
Isn't this against the debate rules?
(Source: X screenshot taken on Wed Sep 11 16:27:47 2024 UTC)
This X post has two photos. On the right is a close-up from the debate showing the left earring Harris was wearing. On the left is an image of a "smart earring" called the Nova H1 audio earring by Icebach Sound Solutions. This photo comes originally from the Instagram account of a product reviewer, Kate Kozuch, who tagged @nova.audioearrings. The image (pictured below left) appears now as the sixth slide in a carousel posted on the @nova.audioearrings Instagram account on January 23, 2023.
At first glance these images seem to show Kozuch's earrings with a configuration similar to Harris', but the photo of Kozuch does not show only the Nova H1 audio earring she was testing -- it also shows her own elongated loop earrings worn in separate piercings lower down on her ear. These loops, in combination with the large pearl of the Nova H1, are the elements that together resemble the earrings Harris wore. In the composite image below are photos of Kozuch modeling a Bluetooth earbud (right) and modelling the Nova H1 (left). These photos are not from the same day and do not show identical earrings being worn. The example is offered to show the distinction between Kozuch's personal jewelry (circled in green), and the Nova H1 audio earring (center) on her ear (circled in blue).
(Source: Lead Stories composite image made with Instagram screenshots taken on Wed Sep 11 18:00:45 2024 UTC)
A website, whatkamalawore.com, has a page dedicated to Harris' Tiffany HardWear pearl earrings and necklace (archived here), saying these earrings are worn "with some frequency" by the vice president. The page features two photos of Harris wearing the earrings, one from an August 6, 2024, rally at Temple University, and another from the Junteenth concert held on June 10, 2024, on the South Lawn of the White House (pictured below left). On this day she also wore the Tiffany HardWear collection necklace with her pink pants suit. Not pictured in the article, a high-resolution photo from debate night on gettyimages.com captures the lower curve of the earring -- clearly illustrating that the earrings Harris wore to the presidential debate do not have the two-sided clip configuration of the Nova H1.
(Source: Lead Stories composite image with whatkamalawore.com and tiffany.com screenshots taken on Wed Sep 11 18:46:48 2024 UTC)
The whatkamalawore.com article notes that this earring design with 9- to 10-millimeter South Sea Pearls is no longer available online, but detail images of the gold earrings are included in the article (above center). Lead Stories did find a pair of sterling silver earrings (pictured above right) with a 5- to 5.5-millimeter pearl, and a similar design in the Tiffany HardWear collection online.
Lead Stories reached out to the Harris campaign, and will update this story if a response is received.
Lead Stories reached out to Icebach Sound Solutions by email for comment. Malte Iverson, the managing director, responded on September 11, 2024:
We do not know whether Mrs. Harris wore one of our products.
We also reached out to Tiffany & Co. and will update this article if we receive a reply.
Other fact check agencies have also reviewed this claim, including Logically Facts.
