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Why Can’t I Hear Clearly Now?
Our hearing is really important to us so it can be pretty distressing when we start to notice that we can’t hear as well as we used to be. When our hearing starts to become muffled, we start to panic that we’re going deaf or something equally terrible is happening to us, and we’ll never be able to enjoy our favorite music or nature sounds in the same way again. Most of the time, muffled hearing is nothing too serious (although it can be).
Check out some of the common causes of muffled hearing to see if they could be causing your issues:
Compaction of Earwax
The ear naturally secretes ear wax if you are healthy because it helps to protect the inner ear from dust and dirt that could damage it. However, sometimes our ears produce too much wax, and it can become hard, blocking the passageway that allows us to hear the world around us. If you haven’t cleaned your ears in a while, try a cleaning spray, or have an ear doctor remove the wax for you and see if that allows you to hear clearly again, if not it could be one of the other issues in this post that is causing your problems.
Ear Infections
Ear infections are pretty common, and they come in many forms, but a lot of them cause the ear canal to swell, and this can lead to muffled hearing or ears that feel like they have been blocked in some way. Most of the time, the condition will clear up on its own in the fullness of time, but if the infection is more serious, you may need to take a course of antibiotics.
Cold and Flu
Colds and flu viruses can cause the ear to swell in much the same way as an ear infection, causing the same muffling sensation. Unfortunately, if that is the cause of your lack of aural clarity, you’ll just have to ride it out.
Perforated Eardrums
If your eardrum is ruptured, it could cause your hearing to become less clear. Perforation can be caused by the compaction or earwax or by an injury caused by inserting something into the ear that you really shouldn’t. Depending on the severity of the injury, either antibiotics or surgery will be needed to resolve the issue.
Faulty Hearing Aids
If you already have some hearing issues and you wear a hearing aid as a result, it could be that your device is faulty. Before you take it in for repair, try cleaning it because it could be that a build-up of wax is muffling the sound. If that’s not the case, your local hearing aid professional should be able to identify the problem and fix it pretty quickly.
Unusual Growths
If you notice that there is a growth in your ear that is causing you to hear with less clarity, you must see a doctor immediately because, although it is likely to be something minor, like a buildup of fluid, it could also be a tumour, and that will need to be investigated with more vigour.
Although this post has hopefully given you some idea of what could be wrong with your hearing, I would suggest that you see a medical professional for your complaint, just to be on the safe side.
