One of the most common reversible causes of hearing loss is ear wax build-up.

Ear wax is normal, and if it isn't causing symptoms, should be left alone.

It doesn't start interfering with hearing acuity until it clogs off at least 80% of the

air canal. Ironically, hearing aids are a risk factor for excessive earwax, as or anything

else you put in your ear like earplugs, since that stimulates the earwax glands. For further irony,

so may cotton-tipped swabs that as many as two-thirds of people use

to clean their ears. You may think you're making things better by swabbing out your ears,

but you may actually be making them worse. Simply removing protective wax can leave your

ear canals dry, itchy, and achy, or even

lead to Q-tip otalgia, a term coin to refer to an ear pain syndrome caused by cotton-tip

swabs.

You shouldn't need to clean your ear canals at all, because the wax should make its way

out on its own. That's right.

Ears are self-cleaning.

The lining of your ear canal grows outward from your eardrum,

so secreted earwax in any dirt that's trapped is eventually conveyor-belted out of the ear.

However, the self-cleaning mechanism can fail, and one in 20 younger

adults and as many as one in three older adults, and lead to excessive or impacted ear wax

accumulation, though they may not even know it. 70% of those surveyed who had both ears

completely blocked with wax thought their hearing was good.

But when their ears were cleared, they were suddenly able to hear better.

Clearing out impacted wax can also improve symptoms of ear irritation, pressure, and fullness.

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