This somehow reminds me of the famous Dr. Phibes movies 
It's either 'The Abominable Dr. Phibes' or 'Dr. Phibes Rises Again'. It could have been 'Theater of Blood' as well, No Dr. Phibes in there, but the bad guy is more or less the same character.
One victim was killed while accepting a phone call. An oblong object, hidden in the receiver's cord, was forcibly inserted into his right ear and appeared - with great speed - on the other side of his (now air conditioned) brain container.
Pumping 1/2W into your ears will have a similar effect. I've repeatedly suffered from erroneous 'click/pop' sounds while listening to music on my laptop. I swear the earbuds moved outwards a tiny bit when it happened.