A young Chinese woman who vaguely remembered dreaming about munching on something in the night was shocked to discover she had eaten one of her wireless earbuds.

The story was revealed by doctors, who confirmed that the panicked young woman, identified only by her surname Li and who was living in the city of Handan in Hebei Province in northern China, had turned up at the A&E department in a panic.

They said she was worried that she might have eaten the device after she was unable to find it in her bed the next day.

She told medics that she had gone to sleep the night before listening to some relaxing music and that later, when looking for the two earbuds, only one of them could be found.

She recalled the dream, and as there was still no sign of the earbud, the doctors carried out a precautionary X-ray, which confirmed that the device was in her stomach.

Because of the danger that the battery might leak, doctors arranged surgery, but the next morning it had vanished from her stomach, and they discovered it had moved further down her gut.

As they continued to prepare for surgery, the young woman visited the bathroom and discovered that she had passed out the device and that there was, therefore, no need for surgery.