Ear care tips for tradies to do on their own

Here are some tips for taking care of your ears and cleaning them safely to avoid further hearing damage.

HEARING: People tend to underestimate the impact of hearing on their health. Picture: Barabasa

AN IMPORTANT part of taking care of your ears is giving them a break when you get the chance.

According to EarQ, researchers found that your ears need 16 hours of quiet, on average, to recover from exposure to loud noises.

While this can be a difficult task in the middle of a rostered work week, it's important to either get a big break afterwards, or at least schedule mini breaks during your shift to offer some noise relief.

If you're open to considering more ways for ear care, you'll want to make sure your ear care methods aren't actually further damaging your ears and hearing as a result.

According to Hear-It, this includes putting foreign objects into your ears, like cotton wool or buds, even in the effort of cleaning them.

Hear-It also advises against putting fingers or cloths into your ear, as all of these foreign objects can push wax into your eardrum, which will either damage your eardrum and skin or even increase the production of earwax.

Since these ways of cleaning your ears are actually damaging, here are some safer ways you can be on top of your ear care.

According to Healthline, there are products like earwax softener that will use natural oils and saline to help reduce built up earwax.

You can also use a syringe to flush and rinse out the ear canal using either a water or saline solution, however, as water can also be damaging and cause infections in the ear, you'll want to be careful on your approach and follow directions closely.

If your ears continue to show original symptoms, or if the symptoms worsen, Healthline advise you to see a doctor or ear specialist.

Originally published as Ear care tips for tradies to do on their own