Why Do I Cough When I Clean My Ears?
Curiosity Weekly
Warner Bros. Discovery
4.6 • 964 Ratings
🗓️ 19 February 2021
⏱️ 13 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Learn about how Arnold’s ear-cough reflex can make you cough when you clean your ears; why it’s important to teach your kids about giving when they’re learning about money; and a hidden letter in the alphabet that you already sing.
Why do I cough when I clean my ears? by Ashley Hamer (Listener question from Rachita)
- Pearce, JMS. (2020, February 19). Arnold’s Nerve - ACNR | Paper & Online Neurology Journal. ACNR | Paper & Online Neurology Journal. https://www.acnr.co.uk/2020/02/arnolds-nerve/
- Gupta, D., Verma, S., & Vishwakarma, S. (1986). Anatomic basis of Arnold’s ear-cough reflex. Surgical and Radiologic Anatomy, 8(4), 217–220. https://doi.org/10.1007/bf02425070
- Chartrand, M.S. (2005, May 30). Identifying Neuro-reflexes of the External Ear Canal Max Stanley Chartrand. AudiologyOnline. https://www.audiologyonline.com/articles/identifying-neuro-reflexes-external-ear-1030
- Ryan, N. M., Gibson, P. G., & Birring, S. S. (2014). Arnold’s nerve cough reflex: evidence for chronic cough as a sensory vagal neuropathy. Journal of Thoracic Disease, 6(Suppl 7), S748-52. https://doi.org/10.3978/j.issn.2072-1439.2014.04.22
- Why You Shouldn’t Use Cotton Swabs to Clean Your Ears. (2017, July 27). It’s a Noisy Planet. Protect Their Hearing. https://www.noisyplanet.nidcd.nih.gov/have-you-heard/cotton-swabs-ears
Teaching Kids about Money? Don't Forget Giving by Sonja Hodgen
- Alexis Blue-U. Arizona. (2019, May 30). Teaching kids about money? Don’t forget giving - Futurity. Futurity. https://www.futurity.org/charity-giving-children-families-2074982/
- LeBaron, A. B. (2019). The Socialization of Financial Giving: A Multigenerational Exploration. Journal of Family and Economic Issues, 40(4), 633–646. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10834-019-09629-z
There's a hidden letter in the alphabet song, and you already sing it by Cameron Duke
- Editors of Merriam-Webster. (2018, September 25). How the “&” Came by its Name. Merriam-Webster.com; Merriam-Webster. https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/the-history-of-ampersand
- Jonny Gibson. (2017, October 15). The History of the Ampersand - Black Lion Banner - Medium. Medium; Black Lion Banner. https://medium.com/black-lion-banner/the-history-of-the-ampersand-c81839171940
- The schoolmaster. (n.d.). Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. Retrieved January 14, 2021, from https://www.loc.gov/resource/sm1834.360770.0/?sp=1
- What Character Was Removed From The Alphabet? (2020, September 7). Dictionary.com; Dictionary.com. https://www.dictionary.com/e/ampersand/
- Who Wrote The Alphabet Song? (2018, October 2). Dictionary.com. https://www.dictionary.com/e/abcsong/
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi, you're about to get smarter in just a few minutes with Curiosity Daily from |
| 0:04.8 | Curiosity.com. I'm Cody Gough. And I'm Ashley Hamer. Today we'll answer a |
| 0:09.0 | listener question about why some people cough when they clean their ears. Then you learn about |
| 0:13.5 | something you shouldn't forget when you're teaching your kids about money and a |
| 0:17.1 | hidden letter in the alphabet that you already sing. Let's satisfy some curiosity. |
| 0:21.1 | We got a listener question from Rashita in India who writes, |
| 0:25.0 | The other day I was cleaning my ears using ear swabs and I started coughing. |
| 0:30.0 | I noticed this wasn't the first time. |
| 0:32.0 | This happened every time I cleaned my ears. |
| 0:34.1 | So my question to you is, why does this happen? |
| 0:36.8 | Great question. |
| 0:38.2 | There's a weird name for this tendency. |
| 0:40.4 | It's called Arnold's Ear Cough Reflex. Seriously. It's ear cough reflex. |
| 0:43.0 | Seriously. |
| 0:44.0 | It's rare. Only 2 to 4% of people experience it. |
| 0:48.1 | But here's why it happens. |
| 0:50.0 | Arnold's nerve is named after Friedrich Arnold, the 19th century German scholar who first described it. |
| 0:56.8 | And it's the nerve that delivers touch signals from your ear canal to your brain. |
| 1:01.8 | Arnold's nerve is a complicated little nerve. |
| 1:05.0 | It starts as a branch of the Vegas nerve, |
| 1:08.0 | which is a great big nerve that travels all the way through your body, |
| 1:11.0 | from your brain to your butt. |
... |
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