What You Need to Know About Earwax Accumulation

When you shower, always remember to clean your ears. It’s difficult not to say that in your “parenting” voice. Perhaps when you were a kid you even remember your parents telling you to do it. That’s the sort of memory that can remind you of simpler times as you wrap yourself in the nostalgia of childhood.

But that advice can be pretty helpful. Your hearing can be substantially impacted by an overabundance of earwax. And additionally, earwax can solidify inside your ear and become really difficult to clean. In a nutshell, the cleaner you keep your ears, the better off you’ll be.

Excessive earwax? Eww!

Earwax is, well, kind of gross. And we’re not going to try to change your mind about that. But earwax does have a purpose. Earwax is produced by glands inside of your ears and is then pushed out when you chew in order to keep your ears free of dirt and dust.

So your ears will stay clean and healthy when they produce the ideal amount of earwax. It might seem strange, but earwax doesn’t suggest poor hygiene.

An excessive amount of earwax is where the trouble begins. And, naturally, it can sometimes be a bit challenging to tell when a healthy amount of earwax starts to outweigh its advantages (literally).

What is the impact of accumulated earwax?

So, what happens as a consequence of accumulated earwax? There are several issues that could develop as a result of out-of-control earwax or earwax that builds up over time. Here are a few:

• Dizziness: Your ability to manage balance depends heavily on your inner ear. You can suffer from bouts of dizziness and balance issues when your inner ear is having issues.
• Tinnitus: Tinnitus is a condition where you hear a phantom ringing or buzzing in your ears. Tinnitus symptoms can show up or get worse when earwax accumulates inside your ear.
• Infection: Excess earwax can lead to ear infections. Sometimes, that’s because the earwax can trap fluid where it ought not to be.
• Earache: One of the most common signs of accumulated earwax is an earache. It doesn’t have to hurt a lot (though, sometimes it can). This typically occurs when earwax is causing pressure in places that it shouldn’t be.

These are only a few. Neglected earwax can trigger painful headaches. If you use hearing aids, excess earwax can interfere with them. This means that you may think your hearing aids are having problems when the real problem is a bit too much earwax.

Can your hearing be affected by earwax?

Well, yes it can. Hearing loss is one of the most prevalent problems connected to excess earwax. Normally causing a kind of conductive hearing loss, earwax builds up in the ear canal, stopping sound waves and vibrations from getting very far. Your hearing will usually return to normal after the wax is cleared out.

But there can be sustained damage caused by excess earwax, especially if the buildup gets extreme enough. And tinnitus is also typically temporary but when earwax blockage persists, permanent damage can cause tinnitus to become an enduring condition.

Prevention, treatment, or both?

If you want to protect your hearing, then it makes sense to keep an eye on your earwax. It’s improper cleaning, not excess production that leads to buildup in most cases (a cotton swab, for example, will often compress the earwax in your ear rather than getting rid of it, eventually causing a blockage).

It will usually call for professional eradication of the wax that has become hardened to the point that you can’t get rid of it. You’ll be capable of starting to hear again after you get that treatment and then you can start over, cleaning your ears the correct way.

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