5 Ways You Could Be Harming Your Ears
Most people don’t know that hearing loss is often permanent. Once you lose your hearing, it’s impossible to restore it. In fact, we regularly run into customers suffering from hearing loss, and our team is very passionate about hearing preservation. Here are 5 ways you could be putting yourself in danger of hearing damage.
1. Earwax buildup
Cerumen impaction (also known as ear wax blockage) can cause damage to your hearing if untreated. While earwax itself helps naturally clean and protect your ears, too much can lead to problems, including itchiness, ear pain, muffled hearing, constant ringing in the ears and even hearing loss.
To avoid earwax buildup, we recommend booking an ear wax removal appointment every 6-12 months. Worst case scenario your ears are clean and healthy, and you’ve wasted 5 minutes of your time. On the other hand, you could greatly improve your hearing and avoid potential hearing loss.
2. Cotton Swabs
As a general rule of thumb, never insert something into your ear unless you are a trained professional. The most common ear health mistake is inserting cotton swabs into your ears. While it’s perfectly safe to clean the outside of your ears, you should never insert them into your inner ears, as it will push the earwax further into your ears and cause more issues. Worst comes to worst, you could suffer from punctured eardrums and even deafness.
In fact, most cotton swabs clearly state that they are not designed to be inserted into ears, but most people do not read the labels for cotton swabs.
3. Ear Candling
Ear candling has been around for hundreds (if not thousands) of years, and despite no medical research to back it up, people still believe in it. If you’ve never heard of it before, ear candling involves putting a candle into your ear to remove wax. Most professionals recommend against it, and the FDA has not approved it for medical use and even warned manufacturers to steer clear of it.
A lot can go wrong with ear candling, with most of the dangers revolving around burns from the wax or flame. If everything goes right, you will still have blocked ears and have wasted money on the candle/service.
4. Loud Noise and Music
The biggest contributor towards hearing loss is exposure to loud sounds. Your ears can withstand up to 80dB of noise without damage, and anything above that puts you at risk depending on how long you’re exposed. For example, a lively concert will average around 100dB, which ears can withstand for 15 minutes before being at risk. Loud construction tools can reach 120dB, which will cause damage in a little over 7 seconds. Something as loud as a gunshot can cause immediate damage.
The easiest way to avoid this is by wearing earplugs. Custom earplugs provide the most protection and are comfortable to wear for up to 8 hours, but are more expensive than foam earplugs.
5. Wet Ears
On the surface wet ears may sound harmless, but since your ears are naturally warm, it can be a breeding ground for infection and bacteria. Additionally, it can cause earaches and blocked ears. You should be fine in a shower (unless you have the water directly pouring into your ears for a long period of time), but if you’re a swimmer, we recommend taking some precautions.
You should dry your ears after swimming, or alternatively, buy swimming earplugs that keep the water out of your ears.
