Hi Everyone:

I have heard that earwax or age can contribute to hearing loss?

What is your opinion?

Thank you

Hi there
I'm pretty sure that earwax per se doesn't cause deafness. However, wax will prevent sound penetrating to the ear and give the symptoms of mild deafness. Perhaps if the wax is left in for a long time and infection occurs behind the wax this may affect hearing.

However, age is definitely the biggest cause of hearing loss. 1 in 6 people have a hearing loss of some kind (all ages). But this increases to 1 in 4 in people over age 50 and 3 in 4 for people aged over 75.

The kind of hearing loss is sensorineural which means the hair cells in the cochlea die away. A hearing aid only has limited capability to help because when the hair cells die, the connection from these cells to the hearing nerve is gone. So no matter how loud the sound you still can't hear it. Most often the high frequency cells die first so slowly all these sounds cannot be heard.

Regards Felicity

Hi Felicity:

Thanks for the info - much appreciated

Hi Angela My audiologist thinks that my hearing loss has been caused in part by listening to loud music when I was younger (I'm in my early 50's)in addition to the onset of early age-related hearing loss. I wear hearing aids in both ears but as Felicity says whilst hearing aids help they don't give me back normal hearing and I've learnt to lip-read (not very well) in the last 12 months to help to try and fill in the gaps in what I don't hear. My last haering tests in September this year showed that my deafness has got slightly worse so I'm starting to learn sign language before my hearing gets too bad. Regards ian

Hi Ian
Glad to know you are taking steps to cope with your hearing loss further down the track. I also went and learned sign language.

Ian & Felicity, thanks for sharing in response to my post. It is ALWAYS good to have feedback from other folks just in case you need it. I think my left ear keeps alot of wax that needs to be cleaned out regularly. Thank goodness I was not into loud music but my now 23 year old daughter is and I swear she is already losing her hearing (lol). Of course that could be "selective" hearing loss when mom is yelling Smart child, I would tune me out too.....

Have an AWESOME day/night

My now 3 yr old was born deaf...had hearing aids at 4 months old and now has a cochlear implant, lol I have heard just about every question imaginable when asked why he is hearing impaired. And some very opinionated stangers have not hesitated to let me know what they think about my decison to have the cochlear implant, whether they thought it was a good or bad choice.
Among the many things I have learned on my journey with my son, is that once the cochlea is damaged, there is no reversing it. And hearing aids, although very advanced in todays technology, are still simply amplification devices. They don't provide much assistance to those damaged hair in the cochlea. I am pretty sure that lots of ear wax cannot cause permanant hearing loss. and if the build up is really bad, you can see a doctor or audiologist who can flush out the hardened and built up wax.
The important thing is making sure not to let an ear infection go untreated, because if it becomes too severely infected hearing loss is a possibility!
Hope my ramblings helped! lol

Hi Meghann, yes your "ramblings" did help - thanks. I was told by the last emergency room doctor to use "hydrogen peroxide" to keep the ear clean and it does work. A couple of drops in each ear, then you lay down and let it "sizzle" - then clean it out with a rag. I even have my daughter doing it on her own - which surprised me as I thought she would stop once she left home. I am glad he told me when I asked. At age 52, I now ask "what can I do to avoid" whatever situation I am in (lol). Hey, so over those doctor bills which can be prevented if I knew how

Thanks Angela. I'm pleased things are going well with your son.

I've learned that using qtips can cause damage to ear drums if used too forcefully, yet sometimes i find that one's ears don't always clear up naturally as doctor's state they should and the get quite clogged. i continue to use qtips but i'm careful not to force it in too far or stop even with slightest resistance. Should i stop using qtips? sticking a kleenex in my ear doesn't clean it enough either, but i notice over time i've had to turn up the volume on things like tvs and radio. also just curious can skin infection partially in the ear but not in the ear cannal cause hearing loss if not treated early?

Infections (otitis) can certainly contribute to hearing loss and this is a major cause of hearing loss in indigenous communities in Australia. Sometimes drops can help to remove the wax and dirt from your ears and this can be safer than cotton tips. You need to talk to your doctor about these issues.

in my opinion earwax is dangerous for old age peoples, it may cause ear so badly, may be ear tissues will damage to this sort of solutions.