Ear Wax Removal - The Best Mod?

I'm not going to tip toe around it - my ears build up wax quickly, and I'm not great at fighting the wax. Lately, music wasn't really doing it for me like it used to, I got hit by the occasional bout of tinnitus, and sometimes I didn't understand what my children were yelling at me from across the house (okay, that's actually a benefit).

Today I got my ears professionally cleaned. The audiologist thought a simple vacuuming would do, then had to fall back to a tiny pick, and eventually reached for a pick axe. Well okay, the tiny pick was enough, but it turned out to be a fairly big job. For better or for worse (probably better) I didn't take pictures of what the audiologist excavated.

Have you ever switched from something like a classic Audeze to a modern Hifiman and thought "gosh, that sounds bright and digital"? That's how the whole world sounded to me after that cleaning. Especially vocal clarity increased tremendously.

With the same kind of anticipation I get on new gear day, I started listening with all my old favorites, the VK4, HD58X, HE6SE, and my recently very unloved LCD2, and I remembered why I love listening to music on headphones! The VK4 went from sounding good but a little distant in the vocals to sounding perfectly balanced, the HD58X went from sounding a little rough to pretty darned smooth, and the LCD2 went from sounding too muffled to enjoy on most things to just about perfect for metal. Unfortunately, the HE6se, which had been my mainstay lately, went from being generally awesome to being amazing with sparse vocal stuff like Sarah McLaughlin, but way too bright/forward with stuff like Tool. No matter the headphones though, the level of perceived detail and realism jumped to a whole new level.

So what have I learned?

1. Keeping my ears clean is a far better investment than just about any audio gear
2. Don't trust my opinions on audio, because they apparently depend heavily on the current state of my ear health
3. When someone talks about differences in "detail" between headphones, I'm now even more inclined to ignore them, because the increase in detail from dirty to clean ears exceeds anything I've ever heard when comparing two pieces of audio gear

 

I too suffer from wax build-up. Yes, it makes a huge amount of difference getting it all syringed or vacuumed out. As my hearing gets worse, it is more and more important to keep the wax in check. I go once or twice a year.

We can't extrapolate to everybody, though. Everyone produces earwax, but some shed it easily so they don't have this problem.

 

Go to your local health food store, they should have wax cones...Look it up, wax cones and ear wax removal. It works best with a helper, and you will need a lighter. It works, and is a helluva lot cheaper than going to a doctor that will not do as good of a job as these cones do.

 

Sorry, but having tried most methods of earwax removal I'll have to respectfully disagree. Using cones is perhaps one of the most cumbersome, inconvenient and potentially dangerous methods as it involves FIYAAAAH. lol

After diving into a pool some years ago and experiencing instant compression of my ear wax in the left ear I had to seek (bloody expensive) medical help. The surgery had a device consisting of a unit with a tank full of warm water and a utensil on the end of a long thin hose that squirted water out of the end.
The process was striaghtforward and 100% effective in removing the monstrous amount of solid black earwax that had accumulated in the deepest, darkest recesses of my lugholes for years. I was horrified, surprised but relieved in equal measures!

I ended up buying one of these units and it's been a joy to use ever since.
The best method is to prepare earwax for extraction/removal 3-4 days in advance by inserting either a few drops of olive oil (my own preference) or hydrogen peroxide solution that you can get over the counter.
This makes eventual removal a breeze and actually somewhat satisfying and as the OP alludes to your hearing capacity is transformed.

One of the first questions I ask anyone who is interested in buying any of my headphone cables if they come knocking asking for a clearer sound is 'When was the last time you had your ears checked/cleaned out?'

This is the unit. It's called the 'ProPulse' ear Irrigation device.
It still works like a charm 15 years later but I'm thinking about upgrading as I saw there were newer fancier models on the market these days. I suspect the pump in pulse mode is not as strong as it used to be either as it takes a lot longer to remove wax than it used to. Could also be a change in my ears or wax consistency however.
TMI? Thought so.



So, 2-3 drops olive oil in each ear twice per day for 3-4 days prior to using this. Works tip top!

 

Looks like the device the doctors assistant used on my ears last year. First time i every had to have it done but it was due to my improper iem use practices. Not sure why it would be expensive here though? Was fully covered under health insurance here(not to start this debate).

 

I was on holiday in Portugal at the time and my medical insurance wasn't worth the paper it was printed on, so it didn't cover this as it was ultimately considered 'non emergency'. Meh.

 

Ah makes sense

 

I have never used cones, but if that is true of your doctor then you seeing the wrong person!

I go to an ENT specialist who is also a surgeon. And if he says my ears are now clean, they will be clean! I've had water syringing done by a nurse, but when it comes to poking around right up to my eardrum, I'd rather have a real surgeon on the job.

Mind you, it is a peculiarity of the health economics here: Major hospitalisation might leave one penniless, but one can see a senior consultant/surgeon, and get trivial stuff done, for a few USD.

My doc, by the way, often tells me that if I used the eardrops ("Soliwax" here) once a month or so, I wouldn't need to come to him.

One way or another, safe ways much preferred, as the opening post says, keeping your ears free of wax build-up is an essential part of keeping your hearing working well.

 

Earwax. Fun.

I have dry crumbly earwax so it usually doesn’t accumulate much/often. But when it does, I just use something like this to scrape it out https://www.amazon.com/Removal-Geengle-Cleansing-Curette-Cleaning/dp/B07DJM54P7/. Though, you’ll need a steady hand; otherwise, you’ll gouge out your ear drum. So those waterpik things are probably better if you have the space and don’t mind dropping the cash.

Debrox/peroxide works okay for me if it’s minor, but when it’s a significant impaction, then all it does is dissolve the top layer and loosen things up a bit but won’t clear it out on its own.

Coning/candling? Yea. I dunno. Seems like nonsense, “homeopathic” hippie bullshit.

 

Would never try it. I don't think there is any way to know how close one is coming to the ear drum!

This is far as I will go: using the curved part of a paper clip to get the wax from the outer part of the canal. The stuff that tickles! The paper clip simply cannot go far enough to cause damage. In my ears, at least. Each must be sure for themselves.

Drops/oil, to dissolve the wax so it runs out, seems pretty harmless. Especially when actually prescribed by a doc.

 

Huh... so I've got one of these water floss things which looks remarkably similar... I wonder if it would work?

 

I hope you're joking? If not, I wouldn't advise it, unless of course you want to perforate your eardrums!
I think the pressure rating at the tip of your flosser is a LOT higher than that of the irrigator.

I know what you're thinking...but I can verify that perforated eardrums will NOT work the same as fenestrated headphone earpads!

 

I have this one model and can attest that at the lower range of the spectrum the pressure is lower than some shower heads, probably on the safer side. I actually used it to unplug my ears with no damage or weird sensation, warm water with saline. Not medical advice, tho.

 

You can get the same sort of large manual irrigation syringes some doctors use quite cheaply on Amazon if you are comfortable DIYing it. I'd highly recommend only doing yourself and not others, no matter how skilled you may feel. Also note all these suggestions should be for occasional use to remove buildup. A buildup of wax is bad, but you don't want to eradicate it either, that is equally bad as earwax actually does serve a purpose. Do NOT flush your ears regularly as a prophylaxis, you will probably just end up with an infection.

That electric unit @Chris Cables posted looks interesting. Probably easier than learning to modulate the flow with a syringe.

 

I did my PhD in a department that also hosted a clinical audiology training program. The horror stories they would tell of badly done ear candling were just terrible. It's dangerous snake oil, right up there with the worst homeopathic and chiropractic-neck-snap quackery.

 

My mother used to use the cones on my father quite often, never had any issues, it was amazing what came out. Myself, I have had more than a few doctors tell me I have the cleanest ears they have ever seen, in regards to wax of course. I got lucky in that department.

 

I don't know man.

 

Your personal anecdote is worth three fifths of sweet f**k all.

 

From the top search result on amazon for ear candles, look at all these amazing benefits!



I particularly like the claim of how it F5's my brain. I'm surprised it somehow doesn't cure diabetes or cancer though.

 

Thankfully, I’ve never had an ear wax issue, but I do get hairs stuck in there. I’ve used my Waterpik on the lowest setting with warm water, and it’s worked great. Not medical advice, either. (But I’d definitely never do candeling or use one of those metal scraper tools.)

Also worth mentioning the digital otoscopes that hook up to your smartphone or tablet. They’ve been super helpful when I’ve felt something ticklish in my ear, worried I had an ear infection (as opposed to just TMJ pain), etc. Being able to see in your ears at home is a game changer if you’re prone to being OCD about your ears.