Clean Your Ears! Sweat, Wax, and the Dangers of Q-Tips, Etc.

[zippy2001]

Does anyone have moisture building up in their ear after extended listening sessions with their custom IEMs?

[LFF]

Does anyone have moisture building up in their ear after extended listening sessions with their custom IEMs?

Never had that problem with my 10's.

I can sleep in them.

[boomana]

Nope. I've worn mine for many hours, and accidentally slept in them a few times, including all night last night. I also wear mine to the gym where I sweat a lot.

Though maybe one of the docs can step in and correct me if I'm wrong, I don't think your canals sweat, and the outer lining has modified apocrine glands that produce ear wax rather than sweat. If you have a good seal, you should have no moisture in your ear, unless you had some there before (taking shower, swimming, etc.).

[zippy2001]

I've slept with mine in also or worn them for hours. When I take them out, sometimes there seems to be some moisture. Maybe my ears are different

It's not enough of a deterrent to keep me from buying some JH13s

[boomana]

Maybe give your ears a good swabbing with a q-tip before inserting your iems, and see if that helps. I actually keep q-tips with me, but I did that even before I had iems. I just like clean ears.

[Dusty Chalk]

Don't your ear canals open up to your sinuses? So presumably, moisture could get in that way.

[guzziguy]

No, the ear canals are totally external. The eardrum separates the outside from the middle ear. The middle ear is connected to the outside via the Eustachian tube, which connects the middle ear to the throat. This is necessary to keep air pressure equal between the outer and middle ears. Here is a diagram:

[Torpedo]

While Boomana is right and the cells producing wax are in the outer part of the external ear canal, in its outer most part where some hairs grow, there are sweat producing cells. Also in all the pinna.

That liquid can come from one of several of the following:

- Condensation from the humid air kept in the canal between the mold and the drum.

- Sweat from the outer most part of the canal, or even the pinna leaking inside through any tiny leak that might be.

- Liquid that was into the canal before inserting the molds.

- Suppuration from any external ear infection (not very likely since you don't have pain nor other symptoms, moreover that's purulent, not water clear).

- Other causes that would require an eardrum perforation.

[Voltron]

This thread is all of the sudden grossing me out and making me want to vomit!

[Dusty Chalk]

DOTU does not vomit.

[boomana]

This thread is all of the sudden grossing me out and making me want to vomit!

Don't let any vomit splash up into your ears.

[crappyjones123]

every single ent doc ive been to has been dead against using q-tips or any kind of bulby swabing thingamajiggy. instead of cleaning the ear canals, it packs the wax tighter and closer to the ear drum causing pain and hearing loss causing one to turn up the volume which in turn causes further damage. all of them suggested ear irrigation.

but im sure theres another side to the story.

[Dusty Chalk]

And then there's ear-wicking...

[HeadphoneAddict]

every single ent doc ive been to has been dead against using q-tips or any kind of bulby swabing thingamajiggy. instead of cleaning the ear canals, it packs the wax tighter and closer to the ear drum causing pain and hearing loss causing one to turn up the volume which in turn causes further damage. all of them suggested ear irrigation.

but im sure theres another side to the story.

As a pediatrician I would always tell parents to stay out of their kid's ears, and yet I still use q-tips inside my ears daily. But, I don't have any ear wax build-up so there is nothing to pack in. Mine be squeaky clean.

[Dusty Chalk]

One is "allowed" to clean one's ears with a Q-tip, if one knows what they're doing. It coagulates, so once you get some, you kind of have to pull it out, "reel it in" as it were. Think cotton candy.

Dusty are you getting a pair of these ridiculous things?

No. Not until I hear them for myself, anyway. (I.E. the universals.) Watching the great zombie migration never did anything for me (cf. Grados, Sennheiser HD650's, Qualias, R10's, etc.). I mean, yes, if I win the lottery or something, but I just don't have that kind of disposable income right now. Heck, I'm probably going to have to cancel my HF-2 order.

[catscratch]

Q-tips do take some practice in order to be used correctly. However IMO they are useless for deep cleaning, you will generally only compact the wax and make the problem worse. An ear syringe with some warm water is the best way to go.

[Torpedo]

every single ent doc ive been to has been dead against using q-tips or any kind of bulby swabing thingamajiggy. instead of cleaning the ear canals, it packs the wax tighter and closer to the ear drum causing pain and hearing loss causing one to turn up the volume which in turn causes further damage. all of them suggested ear irrigation.

but im sure theres another side to the story.

This is why I won't ever use custom IEMs. I don't like pushing the wax too deep into the ear canal, and even less making it too close to the drum. Universals don't get as deep inside. Moreover you can clean regularly the universal's tips as thoroughly as you want, or even replacing them , but you can't apply the same "treatment" to custom molds having the phones built in.

There's not a safe way to use Q-tips unless you just use them to dry the pinna and the outermost part of the canal. For that you don't need Q-tips, a good towel and your fingertips will do the same more safely.

[Duggeh]

I use a kirby grip to clean my ears.

[rlanger]

Scratch Miming for me.

[mirumu]

I tend to use cotton buds (local Q-tip equivalent), and if things still don't feel clean will follow up with Audiclean spray. I tend not to have any problems with this method, but have once or twice used their wax remover just to give things an even better clean out.

[Beefy]

One is "allowed" to clean one's ears with a Q-tip, if one knows what they're doing. It coagulates, so once you get some, you kind of have to pull it out, "reel it in" as it were. Think cotton candy.

Ugh. Who lets their ears get that dirty in the first place?

Every second or third day I clean my ears with warm water in the shower, then dry them out with a q-tip or similar. Products like Audiclean are a safe bet as well.

[Dusty Chalk]

When I have a sinus infection, it'll get that dirty in less than a day. Although I'm not sure what you mean by "that dirty" -- it has more to do with consistency than anything else.

[Torpedo]

Do you mean that nasal discharge goes out from your ear canals too? If so, you'd need to have your ears inspected.

[Aimless1]

I use a kirby grip to clean my ears.

Classic. I've seen people acutally use bobby pins.

[Dusty Chalk]

Do you mean that nasal discharge goes out from your ear canals too? If so, you'd need to have your ears inspected.

No, I think it's still wax, but the ear discharge seems to increase when I'm particularly suffering from allergies, I.E. nasal discharge. In other words, the two seem to go hand in hand, when one increases, so does the other, etc. Does that make sense, medically?

PS I just cleaned my ears with a q-tip.