A man thought he was losing his hearing, but a medical consultation reveals to him the presence of an earphone tip in the ear canal, forgotten for five years.
- Exposure to noise is one of the main causes of hearing loss.
- But they can also be linked to illnesses, accidents, traumas, etc.
- According to Inserm, 65% of people over 65 suffer from deafness.
Years of rugby, a professional career in the aeronautical industry: Wallace Lee had found several explanations for his progressive loss of hearing. However, the cause was much more atypical. This 66-year-old Briton had an earbud in his ear, which had been stuck there for five years.
An earphone tip forgotten during a trip prevents him from hearing well
“Five years ago, when I was visiting my family in Australia, I bought these little earplugs in which you can put different accessories, depending on the noise you want to eliminate during a plane ride“, he explains to the BBC. Little by little, he loses his hearing, and thinks he will gradually become deaf. Once, her left ear became infected, but her GP failed to notice the small piece of plastic, covered by ear wax buildup. Wallace Lee tries to relieve himself, with ear drops or hot water inserted using a syringe. For several years, he tried different techniques, without success.
Wallace Lee immediately regained his hearing after removing the earbud
Then, he buys a small endoscope to use himself, and notices a small white object. He goes to an ENT doctor. “He first tried to suck it out, but since it had been there for a very long time, with the buildup of hard earwax, it wouldn’t budge at all.“, says the sexagenarian to the BBC. “So he used miniature tweezers that he inserted into this other tube in the ear canal. I could really feel it pulling, and all of a sudden it popped.” The relief is immediate: suddenly, the man can hear again. “The fog that had been in my head for all these years is gone and I can hear perfectly well.”, he confides. He observed other improvements in his daily life: for several years, this golf player noticed that his level was dropping. “It clearly affected my balance, which probably made me worse. I used to be a pretty decent golfer, but over the last few years my handicap has been going up.”, he recalls. Since removing the earbud from his ear, his level has returned to normal, and he is pleased with “very good to play”.
Hearing loss: a disorder that must be taken care of by a healthcare professional
To the BBC, ENT surgeon Neil De Zoysa says there was little risk of the man hurting himself with this self-examination of the ears, but he cautions: do not try to remove a stuck object yourself in the ear. Indeed, such an operation can either cause an infection or cause various disorders later. In any case, if your hearing decreases, suddenly or not, it is important to talk to your doctor about it. If there is a problem, this healthcare professional will refer you to a hearing doctor.
