Don’t do these things to your ears

Avoid these four harmful practices to protect your hearing and avoid problems:

1. Ear Candling

Researchers have called ear candling “the triumph over science of ignorance.”

How is it done? The tube is made of cotton and beeswax. One end is placed in the ear. The other end of the tube is lit on fire. This creates an alleged vacuum that pulls earwax into the tube. It does not for two reasons. First, the ear candles do not create negative pressure and earwax can be sticky. Therefore, even if a negative pressure is created, the pressure required to remove earwax could rupture the eardrum.

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2. Use Cotton Swabs

Inserting a foreign object in your ear will only press the earwax up against the eardrum. This can cause an impaction, a ruptured or damaged eardrum, and even hearing loss.

The normal movements of your jaw (from speaking and chewing) removes the earwax, which contains antibacterial and lubricating qualities. You can do this by simply showering or, if excessive earwax is a problem, you may need to seek professional help from your hearing specialist. For Ear wax removal Poole, consider www.earwax.co.uk/ear-wax-removal-near-me/poole

3. Listening to Loud Music

We are not equipped with the ear-protecting equipment to handle loud noises. Any sound louder than 85 decibels can cause irreversible loss of hearing. A normal conversation is about 60 decibels, while a rock concert can be over 100. The decibel scale is not linear, but logarithmic. The jump from 60 to 100 is not twice as loud as it would be if it were linear. It’s about 16 times louder!

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4. Ignoring the Signs of Hearing Loss

The fact that people tend to wait nearly 10 years after the onset of their symptoms before seeking help for hearing loss is also a distressing one. This means that people are unnecessarily suffering the effects of hearing loss over a period of 10 years.