First a disclaimer, the information provided below is intended for clients of UE Pro who have had their ears inspected, had impressions made, and now want to maintain healthy ear canal. This is NOT for everyone - especially if they don’t know what is in their ear canal. To get a sense of how your ears are doing you need to visit an audiologist near you.
Having said that, for the UE Pro client who has had impressions made and has IEM’s or Musician Ear plugs, here is the scoop.
We spoke to Ann Mundell-Noel, MA, gifted audiologist and founder of http://www.ultimatehearing.net/ about ways to keep the ear canal clear and clean. Not only can ear wax can lead to a decrease in hearing levels as it builds up, but can affect the quality of the sound you hear from from your UE Pros as that sound has to get through to wax to get to your ear drums.
HI Ann, Tell us a little about ear wax. and how we can keep our ears clean.
Wax happens- it is there to prevent bugs and other foreign objects from getting into the canal and injuring the ear drum.
Once a professional- audiologist or doctor type person has confirmed a clear ear canal free of debris, THEN, and ONLY THEN do I recommend using a Q-tip to swab dipped in hydrogen peroxide to SWAB THE OPENING OF THE EAR CANAL WHERE THE MONITORS SIT.
If your monitors come out of your ear “sticky” that is your clue that you are starting to form wax…use the Q-tip dipped in hydrogen peroxide and swab the ear canal. If, when you swab the ear canal, you hear “gurgling” it is the hydrogen peroxide dissolving the wax. The purpose is to dissolve/eliminate the wax build up so it doesn’t plug up your monitors. So- you don’t need to go deep with the Q-tip, only swab as deep as your monitors go - and keep that area clean. How often you do this depends on how oily your skin is and how much wax you build up….Use your monitors as a gage…if sticky… use hydrogen peroxide and Q-tip to PREVENT THE WAX FROM GOING INTO THE MONITOR AND NEEDING REPAIR!
Ear wax, if it builds up can cause a decrease in hearing levels, but it can also distort the sound coming out the monitors because hit has to go through the wax to get to the ear drum. The key is, once you have been told it is clean- keep it clean— Like brushing your teeth, do it to be proactive!