Joann Ellen Kerwin, AU-D

If you are wearing earplugs to keep external sounds quiet it should not be a problem. If you are using them to silence tinnitus or ringing in ears, it will exacerbate it. For the ringing its better to use a noise machine like a dohm available on Amazon. The other thing to keep in mind is moisture in your ear. If you have a tendency to get itchy ears, external otitis, drainage, or ear infections you should avoid plugging up your ear so air can circulate. If noises or sounds in general are frequently bothersome its good to see an ENT or audiologist to have your ears/hearing evaluated.

Hello, that’s a great question. Everyone has earwax which helps to protect the ear Canal from being irritated. Earwax is made in the canal and will often come out of the ear canal on it’s own over time. If you use q tips, sometimes the wax can get pushed too far into the canal to come out on it’s own and it can build up over time creating an earplug of sorts. If you’ve been swimming and you are noticing that the wax is coming out, it’s mainly because the wax has Now been softened and it’s able to move freely out if the canal on it’s own. As far as hearing loss, it is usually a temporary blockage that creates the feeling of being stopped up just like if you out an earplug in your ear. If you feel the wax is out and still can’t hear well, it would be good to schedule an appointment to have your regular dr look inside the canal. They can safely remove the rest of the earwax. If there is no wax and you feel like you cannot hear well then you would want to see an audiologist or otolaryngologist to have your hearing checked. The testing will be able to tell you if the hearing loss is temporary, permanent, or caused by another issue. If your ears are Very full of earwax And you dive deep under water, that can cause pressure and pain.

We often associate hearing loss with aging, but there could be something causing his hearing to decline more rapidly than other people. Generally hearing loss is gradual. I would recommend scheduling a hearing test with an audiologist to see what his current hearing looks like and then monitoring it by checking periodically to see if it’s stable. If he has hearing loss that can be treated with hearing aids or another medical procedure, it is best not to wait as the auditory nerve can become weak over time. Sometimes people don’t realize how much speech clarity or volume they are missing. A Stand alone private Audiologist Often has more time to help counsel regarding the test results and recommendations. A lot of insurance programs are now including a benefit for amplification. It would also be good to have a family member or friend accompany him to the appointment.

Ringing in the ears is often called Tinnitus. If you have a constant ringing, static, cricket, or roaring sound in your ear/ears it would be good to have your hearing tested. Tinnitus can be associated with hearing loss, medication, noise exposure, head injuries but it is not imaginary. The best treatment for tinnitus involves testing to see what causing it, amplification/ hearing aids programmed for you to mask the sound of it is bothersome, and counseling to learn how to redirect your brain’s attention to the sound.

If the bell sound comes and goes We call that transient ear noise and most people experience that occasionally

It’s good to try and play music, turn a fan or sound machine on at night, prevent being in a very quiet room when the bell sound is bothering you. I would recommend getting a hearing evaluation by an audiologist to talk about your symptoms.

We often think of hearing loss being associated with aging or noise exposure but there can be a hereditary link. If you grandfather worked around a lot of noise like construction or the military, the noise can weaken the haircells in the inner ear (cochlea). If your mother is starting to have hearing loss around age 50 it could be hereditary. It would be best to have your hearing tested by an audiologist to get a baseline of your hearing as it is now, then get 1 every 1-2 years to monitor it, just like getting your vision checked. Everyone is different and you may not have inherited the hearing loss.

You may have scraped your ear canal, if it went to far you could have bruised or irritated your eardrum. If it has been more than a few days and still hurting or you are noticing a decrease in your hearing, I would schedule an appointment with an otolaryngologist.

Hello, yes hearing loss can affect your speech understanding mainly because hearing loss can prevent you from hearing all of the speech sounds, consonants, and vowels. If your hearing loss is severe and untreated it can also impact how you yourself speak. If this is a new symptom or becoming frustrating, I would scheduling an appointment with an audiologist or see an ENT/otolaryngologist to have your hearing checked and discuss symptoms.

Tinnitus is the name for ringing. Even people with normal hearing can have it, but if you have been exposed to Hazardous noise it would be good to get your hearing tested by an audiologist to see if hearing loss is causing the ringing. At night try a fan or noise machine. I bought one at bed bath beyond called a “Dohm” and It creates a white noise which helps to mask it. Basically at night, if the room is very quiet your brain may be on “high alert” or hypersensitive. The white noise helps your brain relax. Also try a free app made by “Widex” called “Zen” You can stream it from your cellphone speaker while you are falling asleep.

There are small hair follicles in the ear canal, s times earwax can press on them giving you sensation of something moving. EarWax is made to lubricate the ear and keep it healthy but when I accumulates, the hairs help to guide it out if the ear can, thus may be noticed by you. I would schedule an appointment with your regular dr to look into the canal with an otoscope. If it’s wax they can gently remove it. You could also try using ear wax softener over the counter “Debrox”. It’s meant to soften earwax and it comes with a bulb syringe to flush wax out of ears. It would be best to have a dr look. A small insect can fly or find it’s way into the ear canal but using the debris or mineral oil would help to flush it out, just be gentle do you do not irritate The ear canal or eardrum.

There’s a lot of things that can cause hearing problems, especially to the inner ear/cochlea. It is a very small structure that has thousands of tiny haircells that are organized like a piano. The Cochlea is organ of hearing; like many organs in our body it is supplied by blood and oxygen so Hearing loss could be related to heart issues. It would be good to get a hearing test by an audiologist at an ENT office. The audiologist will check your hearing and the ENT can go over your medical history, blood work, results to see what is likely causing the loss.

It could be her Eustachian tube clearing pressure in her middle ear space. Sort of like a yawn causing the eardrum to “pop” or when driving in the mountains and you experience a change in elevation and your ear suddenly clears. If she has a history of allergies or ear infections, I would recommend taking her to see an ENT to evaluate her middle ear function

Popping is generally the eustachian tube clearing itself but it can also be related to fluid behind the eardrum. If he has allergies or a history of ear infections it would be good to get his hearing tested by an audiologist at a pediatric ENT office. The ENT can see if there is any fluid behind the eardrum.

Ringing can be associated with hearing loss or normal hearing, it’s called tinnitus. If he has fluid behind the eardrum or a temporary change in his hearing he may be noticing the ringing. Also ensure he is not listening to loud music or Loud games through headphones or earbuds. If he is setting the volume louder than the 50% mark has his phone, music, etc he could be causing a temporary hearing loss which can turn into a permanent one.

Most states give newborns a hearing test at birth to rule out hearing loss. At age one there is a special test called OAE’s that a pediatric audiologist can perform because at age 1 it can be hard to get a reliable test To see if one ear better than the other. I would schedule an appointment with a pediatric ENT , they will have better equipment for small children. The OAE is an automatic test of sorts that will tell you how the inner ear is working. They can also test your baby in a sound booth using speakers to make sure they are hearing very soft sounds at the frequencies important for Hearing speech.