Per William Sommerwerck:
Have you considered simply replacing them with something better?

I've got a set of Shure E3C's (http://tinyurl.com/4ha93q) that I
paid $125 for almost five years ago - and which I much prefer on
the basis of fidelity.

The problem earbuds are the ones that came with my Samsung Note.
Their claim to fame is a little inline dohicky that acts as
microphone, volume control, pause, and skip-to-next. Even though
I almost never use it in phone mode with the buds, they're handy
at the gym because I can keep the device in my pocket and make
adjustments with the dohicky....
--
Pete Cresswell