Your alarm goes off in Portland, Oregon, you (reluctantly)
get up, find your way to the shower, belt out your favorite pop tune at the top
of your lungs, towel off and clean out your ears with a cotton swab. Do any of the parts of your normal morning
routine sound like it could damage your hearing? Turns out, one part can. If
you guessed the ballad you just nailed the high note to, you would be wrong;
while it may be (emotionally) damaging to those within earshot, it is not
dangerous to your own hearing. Turns out, cleaning your ears with a cotton swab
can cause damage. Seems crazy, doesn’t it? A soft cotton swab being capable of
permanently damaging your hearing. It’s
true! Placing a foreign object into your ear can lead to a perforated eardrum.
Your eardrum is a thin membrane that separates your outer
ear from the middle ear. The eardrum is an important part of the process of converting
the sound wave that enters the ear into the vibration that then moves through
the rest of the ear and eventually is transformed into an electrical signal
that is sent to the brain. Your eardrum is also responsible for preventing
pieces of debris, bacteria and water from entering the middle ear, which can
lead to infections.
Placing a cotton swab into your ear puts your eardrum in
serious danger. Even the gentlest pressure can cause the eardrum to rip. This can
result in a sudden sharp pain in the ear, drainage from the ear (either clear
or bloody), a buzzing sounds and even hearing loss.
If these symptoms sound like something you have recently
experienced, you may have ripped your eardrum. You should visit your Portland audiologist as soon as
possible. Once there, they will look in your ear with an otoscope, a lighted
instrument, for visible signs of damage. Your audiologist may also perform a simple
hearing test to determine if your hearing has been affected. The good news is
that hearing loss caused by a perforated eardrum is usually temporary.
A perforated eardrum does not typically require treatment,
as it can heal on its own. In order to prevent an infection, antibiotics may be
prescribed and if you are experiencing pain, over-the-counter medication may be
recommended. If the eardrum is not healing in a timely manner or the hole is
too large, surgery may be needed. The outpatient surgery repairs the hole with
a piece of your own tissue.
Tomorrow, when you inevitably feel the urge to clean your
ears out with a cotton swab after your morning shower, stop. Think about the
consequences. Any debris or earwax trapped in your ear will usually be washed
out in the shower. If not, your Portland audiologist has the tools to easily clean
out your ears for you.
