How Often to Get Earwax Cleaned If You Must Sleep with Earplugs?

[nay]

Because of insomniac neighbors who stomp around multiple times overnight, the only way to guarantee I won't be woken up by sounds is to wear earplugs to sleep.

It seems like the main thing to watch out for is impacted earwax. Can this be mitigated with more frequent earwax removals, or perhaps as shallow insertion as possible? It probably doesn't take a ton of blockage to at least lower the footstep sounds to something that won't wake me up in the middle of the night. For all I know, I sleep through the stompings sometimes.

I've had earwax accumulate to the point of painfulness twice before but both were after years of not getting my ears cleaned, so I'm hoping regular cleanings can make this a non issue?

Oh and if I use olive oil or something to soften the earwax for removal, is it safe to use if I don't have a lot of earwax? I mean I don't really know if I have a lot or not, so could the oil reach my eardrum?

 

[Mister Muso]

I've never needed earwax cleaned from my ears in my life. I've been sleeping with earplugs regularly for the past 20 years, and since my ears have been getting inspected more regularly over the past 2-3 years, I've been told my ear canals and eardrums are clean. Maybe I'm just lucky in this one category of ear care, whilst being less lucky in other areas. I clean my ears with a wash cloth in the shower, rather than cotton buds which I don't put anywhere near my ears.

I use olive oil around once a week which seems to be enough to make things more comfortable.

 

[Snake]

I use earplugs regularly everytime I'm outside (not everyday tho as I spend a lot of time at home) and don't have earwax buildup at all.

There are sprays to buy at pharmacy that you can use for earwax removal, after using them there's a high chance that earwax will come out on its own. For sure sprays based on oils don't do any harm whatsoever when it reaches the eardrum (I'm sure it will reach but it's ok assuming you don't have perforated eardrum).

 

[CrazyBison]

I get impacted earwax every couple of years and have to get them irrigated. I just have the type of earwax that doesn't come out on its own. I don't put anything in my ears. I just got hyperacusis, and I'm afraid having to get them irrigated in the future for fear of setbacks.

 

[SonOfUhtred]

I get impacted earwax every couple of years and have to get them irrigated. I just have the type of earwax that doesn't come out on its own. I don't put anything in my ears. I just got hyperacusis, and I'm afraid having to get them irrigated in the future for fear of setbacks.

I recently had my ears irrigated and I also suffer from hyperacusis. I was dreading doing it but really had no option. I tried manual removal which I found too uncomfortable so went for the irrigation. I can't say it made any difference. I was just super careful for a few days as everything sounds louder!