Clean Ears: Cheap Tweak?

Yes, I concur...although I feel weird raising my hand and I'm not sure why. Sort of like caring for the final transducer in the signal chain. Funny story, 20 years ago I knew a guitar player who actually WANTED earwax to accumulate and muffle his hearing so that he could crank his Marshall stack louder. I tried to complement him on his dedication to his craft, but he couldn't hear me.

About 10 years ago, I had a friend who went to the hospital with a terrible ear infection. He had a fever, his ears were nearly swolen shut, and he was in tears from the pain. I don't know why he waited so long to go to the doctor, but that's another story altogether. Anyway, the doctor looked in his ears, got out a pair of whatever evil plier-like tools were handy, and pulled a crusty, amber-colored rock out of my friend's ear. He told my friend that his ear infection was caused by cleaning his ears out with Q-tips and alcohol. In his daily regimen of ear-cleaning, my friend had actually pushed enough earwax and dead skin into his inner ear canal to form this pebble-like mass. Anyway, the moral of the story is that we have been evolving for quite a while, and our ears can handle this all by themselves. Then again, we haven't been judging differences in cables for all that long, and maybe this little tweak will help. You never know.

I noticed the difference also. I could hear the air moving around my head as I walked out of the doctor's office. I asked the doctor if that crud affected my hearing and he told me no. He was wrong.

Try ear-coning to really clean 'em out. Cones are inexpensive /available at health-food stores or alternative med. outlets. Good non-contact, non-abrasive, non-solvent method to get the grunge out. Be sure to follow directions, know what you're doing, & how to use them. Have a helper on hand (so you don't set yourself on fire) & do his/hers too.

Fire? Sounds exceptionally more exciting than drops. Tell us more, Bob!

I am a veterinarian, not a physician, but I deal with more ear wax and otitis in dogs and cats on a daily basis than you could believe. I also like carbamide peroxide solutions and water rinse (Murine home earwax removal system.) It is gentle, safe, and effective. Ditto on the Q tip thing...remember, nothing smaller than your elbow should go down in your ear canal! Wax build up is insipid and your loss of high end appreciation is very real. Also, the eustachian tubes (leading from the ear to the throat) are often clogged during allergy season and will affect your listening pleasure. Pseudophedrine is probably best for this. See your physician if you have any doubts about your hearing....although you could save a lot of money listening in mono...

I don't know, but i heard that ear-wax, protects your hearing?! If removed, it will "come back" with the "vengance"! I am sure i am loosing my hearing, i am increasingly turning up my stereo, yearning more "detail" where detail isn't the problem. I am going to stop-by "Sears", where "miracle-ear" has their shop. Free, check-up.

The above comments lead to a little investigation. Here's a couple of Web links on the subject. One has a picture of something that probably came from an audiophile's ear...: http://www.mayohealth.org/mayo/askphys/qa971031.htm http://www.cscd.nwu.edu/public/ears/earwax.html http://www.quackwatch.com/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/candling.html