#Ear wax removal kit archive
Martin's past columns in a special collection in The Hearing Journal archive at. Regardless, the hearing aid is already dead if no sound is coming out because the sound tube is plugged with wax. I called several manufacturers and received conflicting information. I have been asked if using a long, straight, single-stranded wire to clean sound tubes increases the danger of perforating the receiver's diaphragm.
( Figure 1.) The problem using hypodermic needles is that the sharp peak can tear and cut the sound tube. A small, 22-gauge hypodermic needle can be converted into a wax pick by bending the end of the needle to make a hook. Over the years I have made myself a variety of different tools, or picks, for this purpose. Once inserted, rotate the hook to get it behind the wax and pull it out. Avoid pushing debris into the tube as much as possible. Rotate the hook on the end of the wire to the side of the tube when inserting it through the wax plug. I use this tool under a good reading light while wearing glasses designed for close field work. If the wire's diameter is large, it will push the wax and debris deeper into the tube. The tube's tiny size requires a single-stranded, thin, sturdy wire with a tiny hook on the end. Hearing healthcare professionals need a tool to insert into the sound tube, get behind the earwax, and pull (or pick) the wax out without damaging the sound tube. It is possible to use the wire loop to remove impacted earwax in the sound tube, but if the patient is not careful, the loop pushes the wax deeper, aggravating the problem. Manufacturers supply patients with a small cleaning tool with a wire loop on one end and a brush on the other end. Most of the time, the patient pushes the wax into the hearing aid when inserting the instrument. The wax production glands in the ear canal are located in the same zone as the canal end of the hearing aid or earmold. I do not want to suggest that earwax typically travels by sublimation. Oliveira was trained as a chemist, and he knows more about this topic than anyone I know.
#Ear wax removal kit professional
Years ago I discussed this topic with Robert Oliveira, PhD, a member of our professional community, Hearing Components. A temperature change caused the vaporized earwax to condense in the hook and block the passage of sound. The vaporized earwax worked its way through the second patient's ear canal, into the tube on the earmold, and then to the hook attached to his BTE - a distance of about two inches. The glands in my first patient's ear canal made a tiny amount of wax that found its way to the sound tube, even though it was not visible. The wax moved as vapor from the ear to the hearing aid. The earwax in my patients’ hearing aids was not put there by ghosts, dark magic, or little gremlins. Snow does not need to melt to get lost in the atmosphere it sublimates directly. People who live in cold climates know all about this. When a substance sublimates, it passes directly from a solid state to a gaseous state (vapor) without going through the liquid state. Ice typically goes from a solid to a liquid, then to water vapor, which is a gas. We studied the transformation of substances in grade school through the three physical states: solid, liquid, and gas.
How did the wax get there? I believe the answer is sublimation. It was approximately two inches from the earwax in his ear canal to the ear hook. How did this happen? Another patient wearing a behind-the ear (BTE) hearing aid has a small amount of earwax lodged in the upper curve of the BTE's hook. One patient came in with a clean ear, yet her hearing aid was plugged with earwax.
What kind of dark magic moved the wax one foot from the ear? Our tympanometer was repaired last year because the air pressure tube was plugged with earwax 12 inches away from the ear probe. Earwax has a mysterious nature, and can be found in seemingly impossible locations. (See FastLinks.) I received many great ideas. I asked HJ readers in September what they use to remove wax from sound tubes. All hearing aid practitioners must be skilled at cleaning impacted sound tubes. Numerous solutions have been implemented, but to my knowledge, no simple, effective solution keeps wax out of the sound tube. This problem plagued us when I started in this business, and is a major headache today. How often do you see hearing aids clogged with earwax: twice a week or twice a day? I have seen thousands of dead hearing aids during my 35 years of practice from small amounts of earwax getting lodged in the sound tube, preventing transmission.