![]() That waxy component is slightly acidic, so it “creates an unfriendly environment” for the bacteria and fungus that tend to develop in the moist, dark environment of the inner ear, says Yu-Lan Mary Ying, M.D., an otolaryngologist–head and neck surgeon affiliated with Rutgers New Jersey Medical School in Newark. Indeed, earwax acts as a protective lubricant that coats the ear canal, repelling water and preventing the skin from drying out. “When ears are making the right amount of wax, it’s actually the sign of a healthy ear,” says Anh Nguyen-Huynh, M.D., an ENT-otolaryngologist affiliated with Cleveland Clinic. Eventually, when the waxy mixture reaches the outside of the ear, it typically flakes off. Jaw movements, such as talking and chewing, help move things along.Įarwax on its own isn’t bad. “These secretions keep a flow going away from the eardrum toward the opening of the ear, catching dead skin cells, tiny hairs that line the ear canal and other types of microscopic debris along the way,” explains Mark Vaughan, M.D., a family physician and medical director at Auburn Medical Group in Auburn, California. A small amount of earwax regularly migrates from deep in the ear canal to the outside of the ear - acting as a kind of conveyor belt - carrying a lot of bad stuff along with it. So what, exactly, is this stuff? Well, earwax - the medical term is cerumen - is a waxy oil secreted by the tiny sebaceous and sweat glands that line the walls of the outer ear canal. Knowing how to control that gunk will allow you to hear better and prevent infections, earaches and more. It may take a little time, but it can pay off with buds that look and sound as good as new.It may be something icky that you’d rather not think about, but earwax is a perfectly normal bodily secretion and a fact of life. If you have a favorite pair of earbuds that are either looking worse for wear, or have started to go downhill in audio performance, give them a good cleaning before giving up on them. ![]() Soap and water works fine for cleaning most, although foam ear tips generally don’t wash up as well as silicone versions. In this case, when I finished with the putty and tested the earbuds, they were back to both buds being at 100% volume.Īt this point you probably want to either wash or replace the ear tips. You may have to do this a few times to get everything. Pull it out, and the putty grabs the remaining gunk that’s clogging the speaker grill. I gently push the earbud into the putty so the grill makes contact (remember, don’t push too hard or you risk denting that grill). It’s sticky, but not too goopy or crumbly, so I don’t have to worry about it seeping through the grill or breaking off in the grill. I use the stuff meant to stick paper to walls. Putty can pull out any debris stuck in the earbud's driver grill. And an hour of cleaning returned the earbuds to like-new condition for both looks and performance. That raised immediate suspicions that the wire had been pulled out of contact on the right bud -especially with kids, who can be tough on these things- but further investigation confirmed the issue was a build up of earwax. Here’s a walkthrough using a recent example of a pair of high end earbuds that lost sound in the right channel. As a result, cleaning earbuds that have seemingly failed has become second nature. I have three kids and test a lot of earbuds. In some cases, one or both earbuds can experience a noticeable decrease in volume or even stop working altogether -in a symptom similar to a connecting wire being pulled out- leading to the buds being thrown out, when all they needed was a good cleaning. This doesn’t just mean earbuds that can look a little icky, it can result in degraded performance. After all, they’re shoved in your ear canal, home of ear wax. Earbuds are a convenient way to listen to music, but they can also get pretty gross looking.
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