Ear Upgrade

As most of the hair that used to grow on my head now seems to be escaping through my nose, and more importantly ears, I started wondering if, rather than spending thousands on new equipment, I should upgrade my aural personal interconnects, especially as it’s common knowledge that their performance degrades with age.

Apart from ear wax removal (yuk) and using a nose trimmer in the ear, does anyone have any experience or ideas?

Lots if ideas out there but largely the advice is to leave alone. That said I’ve found that cutting down on dairy considerably reduces my wax quotient. I remain to be convinced it’s had any positive impact on my hearing though.

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Yes, I recently had mine serviced and DR’d. They had a good look in there, and happy that they were clean and clear. Also that it’s ok to use a cotton bud tip to remove any wax just inside the outside, as the wax has naturally traveled along the canal. Tweezers to nip out those hairy bastards. I kept on feeling like there was something in my ear, turned out to be a long stiff hair.

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I’m lucky enough never to have had an excessive wax issue (despite eating a fair amount of dairy producs). I use cotton buds gently daily straight after shower, no other maintenance - I suspect rate of earwax production at least in part is genetic, so while some people don’t have a problem others do, and people talk of remedies from warm olive oil to syringing, and then of course there are oddities like ‘war candles’…

I doubt that hair has much aural effect, more visual, though I suppose that if very dense there may be an impact. I use my electric shaver’s pop-up long hair trimmer device at the periphery of my ear canal at the same time as shaving every day, which I find keeps it from becoming a visible protrusion. Anyone with masochistic tendencies could of course indulge in waxing…

However age-relaying hearing loss causing gradual reduction of highest frequencies is inevitable for everyone at some point - Mine has been sufficient for me to notice in the last couple of years or so, though apparently it is slightly better than average (based on a phone app tester). A positive consequence is not hearing the high pitched whine of some SMPSs that younger members in the family notice - and as it gets worse there potentially is also the benefit that if tweeters fail one might not need to bother replacing!

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I am nearly 57 years old and already my hearing is not what it was. My wife keeps telling me that the dishwasher has finished (it issues a high pitched beep) but I cannot hear it! All joking aside but this is true.

I have often wondered how ageing artists can remaster their own material effectively given that their hearing must be worse than mine after a lifetime of performing at dangerous volume levels.

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I found that black hairs darken the sound, whilst white hairs give a bit more transparency - however this can turn in a bit edgy sound when I’m not sitting on a solid chair.

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Blocked Eustachian tubes can be problematic. Stuffy nose = stuffy ears. Using a Neti pot helps.

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Have you tried ear dressing?

Maybe hair turning white when you get older is nature’s way of balancing the ear’s increasing HF roll-off.

BTW for anyone confused, “war candles” in my first post was my Apple’s interpretation of ‘ear candles’.

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Copy link: https://dai.ly/x2n90cf

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It’s a filthy job but someone has to do it!

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Witness the Jimmy Page remastered Zeppelin catalogue. On LP they sound horrid!

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Earwax is made in the outer 1/3 of the ear canal. Avoid Cotten buds(Q-tips) as they can act like ram rods in a musket pushing the wax further in. Just wipe the ear wax away as it migrates out over time.
If you do get clogged up get the ears suctioned out after about a week of instilling some olive oil at night.
Fry extracted wax with fava beans and drink with a good Chianti.

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I remember seeing a TV Doc about compulsive horders. There was a guy who had kept Jars n Jars full of his own ear wax.
:joy:

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This!

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Sorry, a bit tired from an exhausting week!

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I have read that Trepanning can help with a higher acute sense of hearing.
Maybe something to bring up next time you visit your GP…

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Thank you all for your medical advice. But your culinary advice may well cause nightmares!

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