A woman has suffered burns to her face and hands after her headphones caught fire and melted on a flight from Beijing to Melbourne, prompting warnings about battery-operated devices on aeroplanes.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) said a woman was using her personal noise-cancelling headphones on a flight from China to Melbourne on February 19.

While she was sleeping, about two hours into the flight, she heard a loud explosion.

She told the ATSB she then felt burning on her face, before the headphones slipped around her neck.

The passenger said she heard a loud explosion and felt burning on her face. ( Supplied: Australian Transport Safety Bureau )

"I continued to feel burning so I grabbed them off and threw them on the floor," she said in a statement issued by the ATSB.

"They were sparking and had small amounts of fire.

"As I went to stamp my foot on them the flight attendants were already there with a bucket of water to pour on them."

The flight attendants then put the headphones into a bucket at the back of the plane.

The ATSB has not revealed the brand of headphones.

Phones, air purifier among flight fire hazards

Stuart Godley from the ATSB said it was the first time a set of headphones catching on fire had been reported in Australia.

The woman suffered burns to her hand, neck and face. ( Supplied: Australian Transport Safety Bureau )

"It seems to be [that] what happened was the batteries have caught on fire while she's wearing them," he said.

"Besides her hair being singed and her hair blackened, I don't think she's had any serious burns," he said.

"She's had some burns on her hands where she's grabbed her headphones, and also her clothes were burnt."

But Mr Godley said there had been a number of phone and device battery fires.

"We've also had a case of a person using personal air purifier and the batteries in that have caught on fire on a flight," he said.

Passengers 'coughing, choking' for rest of flight

The battery and cover melted and stuck to the floor of the plane, the ATSB said, and the smell of melted plastic, burnt electronics and burnt hair filled the cabin for the rest of the flight.

"People were coughing and choking the entire way home," the woman said in the statement.

Mr Godley said there was no need to ban lithium battery devices on planes as long as people took the right precautions.

"There is a bit more of a fire risk for lithium batteries than for other batteries. If you're carrying spare batteries always have them in your carry-on baggage," he said.

"Never put them underneath in your cargo because if it does catch on fire or short and there are other batteries nearby, they can get thermal runaway where each of the batteries catch on fire.

"Makes sure the ends of them are protected and they can't rub together.

"If you do have personal device that gets caught down in between the gaps of the seats don't move your seat, just call a flight attendant ... because the movement of the seat could crush the phone and start a fire."