How do you maintain good ear health?

Question

There was a question here a little bit ago asking about ear protection during mixing. A broader question for us all that use our ears for a living is: What do you do to maintain ear health?

Do you go for regular checkups? Clean ears with something specific? Keep ear plugs with you at all times? Do you have an audiologist? Have you insured your ears?

I also have a question specific to myself that maybe some of you have come across. I wear headphones for many hours a day, as well as being on the phone with a headset. My right ear (phone ear) tends to get a "swimmers ear" problem - holds water when I wash my ears, a lot of wax buildup. I feel like the headphones/ear pieces I use don't breathe at all and cause moisture to build up in my ears. Have any of you experienced this from a lot of headphone or in-ear use? Is there anything I can do to prevent it in the future? Are there better headphones that allow air flow?

Thank you!

Answer 1

Here is my list I wrote down a few years ago and always try to follow. Ear is our most valuable investment in this occupation and it is neither upgradeable nor replaceable.

• Always mix at a reasonable volume.

• Take frequent breaks when you need to work/mix at loud volumes.

• Carry ear-protection with you. Use them in loud places. (Clubs, stadiums. etc.)

• Find a good audiologist and go for regular check ups. (Every 6 months) Do not confuse audiologist with Audiometrist or Ear-Nose-Throat Specialist.

• Do not clean your ear yourself with chemicals or Q-tips. Ear cleans itself.

Answer 2

I mix at a reasonable volume, and wear ear plugs whenever I'm doing something louder than my normal bedroom jamming, which includes going to Guitar Center or working on my house.

I love Q-tips and hydrogen peroxide, and I pay close attention to the health of my ear-skin (having a couple hard-cartilage piercings makes that a must, anyway).

I don't do regular checkups, and I haven't seen an ear-specialist, but I probably should.

I noticed when I was wearing ear buds, my ear canals were ALWAYS tender, and had more buildup, and I felt like the SPLs were getting worse every day... In that case, having my iPod w/ ear buds stolen was probably a good thing. I haven't had problems like that with cans.

Answer 3

A very smart mixer once told me that you should take grandma's advice and "not put anything larger than your elbow into your ear", ie. nothing. I think it makes sense to respect your ears, and not meddle with them too much unless there's an obvious problem. Try to limit your exposure to excessive SPLs and NEVER EVER use earbud headphones.

Answer 4

I always have two pairs of foam earplugs in my wallet. I've been told they are not ideal but at least you can fit them in something as flat as a wallet and go out without your little box of more sophisticated SPL attenuation system. I usually pull them out every time I go to a place there is loud/live music.

I clean my ears with water under the shower by getting water in and pressing on the tragus repeatedly to agitate the liquid in the inside. I do that a couple of times and then I just use an earbud to dry the inside otherwise it keeps tickling, that involves hardly any pressure on the walls of the ear canal.

Once I'm back to France I'll go to the "ear-ologist" to check my hearing and discuss the cleaning thing.

Answer 5

I take frequent breaks when working (every 1/2 hour to 1 hour if I can). Not only do the breaks help with the ears, but they also help my back and wrists. I try to listen at lower volume levels as much as I can. I always wear ear plugs if I go to a loud event; concert, shooting range, etc.

The fact of it is that we put our ears in danger because of our work. There is no way around it. What we do for a living is not the best thing for ear health. Using common sense will help your ears last. Listen at lower volumes, take lots of breaks, and learn to recognize when it is time to stop and give your ears a longer rest.

Cleaning your ears is a bit of a controversial topic among doctors, or at least their may have been new research to contradict old ways of thinking. I've had doctors tell me to clean my ears out daily with Q-tips and I've had other doctors to tell me to NEVER use Q-tips in the ear and not even worry about cleaning them at all. Through research, I'm now of the opinion that frequent cleaning does more harm than good and you should never stick Q-tips in your ears. If you have issues with excessive wax build up, talk to a doctor about other cleaning methods.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earwax#Cleaning