Earwax is not the villain it’s often made out to be. Your ears make it to trap dust, moisturize the skin, and keep the ear canal healthy. For some people, however, problems begin when wax builds up and blocks sound from reaching the eardrum. That blockage can make voices fade, TV volume creep up, and earbuds sound dull. In Louisiana’s heat and humidity, softened earwax plus extensive earbud use can nudge small problems into bigger ones.
What Earwax Does for You
Cerumen, the medical term for earwax, usually moves outward on its own as you talk and chew. It’s because of these mechanics that most of the time you don’t need to clean the ear canal at all. When wax gets pushed deeper or builds up faster than it clears, it can form a plug that reduces hearing or causes a sense of fullness in the ears.
How Earwax Can Lower Your Hearing
Hearing is a chain. Sound travels through the outer ear and canal, vibrates the eardrum, passes through the middle ear bones, and finally reaches the inner ear where nerve signals are created. When a wax plug develops, it typically sits at the start of that chain blocking sound from reaching the eardrum. When that blockage is cleared, sound is able to get through again, improving hearing. In clinical reports, some patients improved their hearing sensitivity by at least 10dB after having these blockages cleared, with the average improvement across all patients closer to 6.9 to 7dB. While results may vary, the effects on a person’s hearing and quality of life can be immediate.
Conductive vs. Sensorineural Hearing Loss
Most hearing changes tend to fall in one of two broad categories:
- Conductive hearing loss means something is blocking or reducing sound in the outer or middle ear. Earwax is a very common cause of this. Once removed, hearing can often return to previous levels of sensitivity.
- Sensorineural hearing loss involves the inner ear or hearing nerve. Age, noise, and even some medications are common causes for this type of loss and are usually permanent. Those with this type of hearing loss typically manage their condition with treatment like hearing aids as clearing blockages won’t affect the base condition.
Because the result of both of these types of hearing loss is the same, working with experienced audiologists like our team at Associated Hearing remains the only way to definitively diagnose and treat your hearing issues.
Clues Your Hearing Loss Might Be Because of Wax
- One ear may sound clogged or muffled
- Your own voice booms inside your head
- Your hearing aid squeals or sounds distorted
- You notice fullness or mild ache without a fever
Red flags that are not typical of wax buildup may include sudden severe hearing loss, drainage or bleeding, intense pain, or spinning dizziness.
The appearance of any of these symptoms requires prompt care.
While home remedies exist, they vary in effectiveness and treatments like earwax candles and self irrigation could be potentially harmful, especially for those with perforated eardrums, those with a history of ear surgery, or ear tubes.
What Not to Put in Your Ear
Skip cotton swabs, hairpins, and anything sharp. A national analysis recently estimated that between 1990 and 2010, there were approximately 263,338 cotton swab related ear injuries in children in the U.S. Adults get injured, too, so the takeaway is that you should never push tools into the ear canal.
Safe Ways to Clear Earwax
While most are able to safely remove wax using at-home treatments like softening drops, if there is any pain, drainage, history of surgery, or concern about perforations to the eardrum, working with an ENT remains the safest way to effectively remove wax buildup. Through irrigation, gentle curettes, and microsuction, our team at AHI are able to not only clear any wax or debris, but also inspect the eardrum and canal for any damage or inflammation.
If It’s not Earwax
Because of the wide variety of causes and treatments for hearing loss, regular evaluations are key to maintaining and preserving your hearing health in the long term. These evaluations include checks for air and bone conduction, speech understanding, and middle ear function so that the appropriate treatment can be applied.
The Bottom Line When it Comes to Earwax-Related Hearing Loss
Earwax can absolutely cause a temporary, conductive drop in hearing. If your ears feel clogged or voices sound muffled, it’s best not to self diagnose or reach for cotton swabs to dig out any wax buildups.
For those in the Greater New Orleans or Northshore area, Associated Hearing makes diagnosing and treating hearing loss simple. We offer professional earwax removal and comprehensive hearing tests so you can get back to a life full of rich and vibrant sounds.
Book an appointment with Associated Hearing today and our team of expert audiologists will walk you through diagnosis and treatment to address your hearing loss.