Anyone who’s had a buildup of earwax can attest to the fact that their hearing feels a little more muffled than usual. But does it contribute to permanent hearing loss?
Why do we need earwax?
Obviously, earwax is no fun when it’s interfering with your hearing, but that doesn’t mean it’s entirely useless. And blockages usually happen when earwax is compressed into the ear canal and don’t often occur naturally.
The reason we have earwax is to protect the ears – be it from dust or bacteria entering the ear canal, or to keep the skin moisturised and irritation-free. Without any earwax, we’d have dry and itchy ears that would be even more annoying than blocked ones. Earwax colour is also great for indicating your ear’s health.
Hearing Loss
Hearing loss is nearly always temporary, as a buildup of wax can be easily removed by professionals. However, if left untreated, you may be prone to infections or damage to the ears, especially if the wax is solid.
This is highly unlikely if you catch it early, which most people do. It’s not exactly easy to ignore one of your senses being massively hindered, and procedures to amend the problem are equally brief, meaning you should get your hearing back quickly if you’re quick to treat it.
Steps to Prevent Buildup
Fortunately, there are plenty of ways to prevent earwax from building up. You’ve probably heard it said ad nauseam by now, but cotton buds are for cleaning around the ear, not down the ear canal. Forcing them into your ear can irritate the skin, push earwax further in, and even harm your eardrums.
If it’s a bit too late for prevention, and you need to clear your ears out, you can find services for ear wax removal Cowbridge online, such as Earwax website.
A good rule of thumb for cleaning your ears is the rule of thumb – clean your ears with your thumb in the shower, and you’ll never reach further in your ear canal than you should, whilst still giving your ears all the cleaning they need.
