[woodsyi]

I had one of those WOW moment earlier this week.  Overnight the music just got a whole lot better.  It was like several layers of veils were removed.  Windex never cleared my window this clear.  I was seeing right through the speakers into the concert hall and the music carried me to a blissful moment of epiphany.  The dog stopped whimpering and my wife came down to congratulate me on achieving the perfect sound. (not  )  But you know what I mean. 

What did I do? 

Nothing.

My ears just drained or something after a long miserable bout with a nasty flue.  I though I was over it a couple of weeks ago but the ears finally came back just this week.  Be healthy -- that's the best tweak for your system.

[TomS]

Really good point and I find this quite often.  Nothing in the system changed, though I assumed it has because it just seems "different".  Maybe not WOW, but different.  As you say, in fact, it was me that really changed, whether my ears or my mood

[nodiak]

same thing here woodsyi. Have some new speakers and was thinking they were a little darker sounding than expected, until I started getting over this bug and they/I cleared up.

[BradJudy]

I know ear cleaning has been covered here before, but I made the mistake for a while of using q-tips which ended up pushing earwax back down and eventually resulted in some ringing.  I stopped doing that and got myself one of these - http://www.ototekloop.com/ which I used once every week or two.  I don't know if I hear better, but my ears feel nice and clean.  Plus, it's great if you get an itch in your ear. 

This might be the new audiophile ear gadget - http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/gadgets/ear-wax-cameracleaner-169325.php

[nathanm]

Oww!  My hearing was damaged by this excessively loud subject header!  Come on woodsyi, leave some exclamation points for the rest of us!

[ricmon]

This might be the new audiophile ear gadget - http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/gadgets/ear-wax-cameracleaner-169325.php

I was not surprise to see the reference to the Japanese ear cleaning.  A friend of mine dated this Japanese girl and she use to clean his ears with this kind of ear chopstick.  It was funny watching him trying to relax while she did it.  I guess it's just a little weird if you don't come from a culture that does things like this.

[Glen]

I find that taking an Advil about a hour before I start listening really clears the head up nicely...........

[JRace]

We used to have a vidoe otoscope to show people what it looked like inside their ears. No one really wanted to see though. It was great for the person who would state "There is no way there is wax in my ears, I clean them everday with qtips."

Just do not EVER get your ears candled.

[Turnandcough]

I'm glad to see this topic come up. For the past couple of weeks I've had this intermittent ringing in my ears. Sometimes it gets so loud it feels like my whole head is ringing. I've all but stopped listening to music and am really concerned that this may be a case of incurable tinnitus. I was in fact listening to a lot of late night TV with headphones lately but was also using Q-tips and baby oil to clean my ears so I'm really hoping it's just wax. My doctor told me to give my ears a rest for a couple of weeks and to avoid loud noises. He said that if it doesn't go away by then it's probably permanent.
A couple of months ago I started suffering from burning stomach(acid reflux?) so I took a break from the wine and cut down my caffeine intake - two of my favorite things if life. Fortunately, for now at least, the problem appears to have subsided.
Now it appears I may not be able to enjoy my other favorite thing - music/HI-FI. What's next - erectile disfunction?     

[TheChairGuy]

I've always found semi-regular chiropractic treatments to align the spine and neck help, as well.   

John

[BradJudy]

A friend of mine dated this Japanese girl and she use to clean his ears with this kind of ear chopstick. 

I have one of these - a friend brought it back from Japan for me as a weird gift.  The idea is similar to the item I use, but you have to be careful not to do damage.  I like that the one I linked to has a guard that keeps you from poking anything important.

[BradJudy]

I'm glad to see this topic come up. For the past couple of weeks I've had this intermittent ringing in my ears. Sometimes it gets so loud it feels like my whole head is ringing. I've all but stopped listening to music and am really concerned that this may be a case of incurable tinnitus. I was in fact listening to a lot of late night TV with headphones lately but was also using Q-tips and baby oil to clean my ears so I'm really hoping it's just wax. My doctor told me to give my ears a rest for a couple of weeks and to avoid loud noises. He said that if it doesn't go away by then it's probably permanent. 

This sounds a lot like my experience.  I used some of the drip-in earwax remover a few times for a couple of weeks (basically glycerin with a warm water wash) and then switched to just using the ear pick.  After a couple of weeks, there was no more ringing and there hasn't been since.

[Russell Dawkins]

We used to have a vidoe otoscope to show people what it looked like inside their ears. No one really wanted to see though. It was great for the person who would state "There is no way there is wax in my ears, I clean them everday with qtips."

Just do not EVER get your ears candled.

Just curious - why not? I never understood the theory behind ear candling, anyway. Can you enlighten me?

and BradJudy - are you saying this "drip-in" ear wax remover (link?) works and so does the Japanese earpick?

I am curious because I have noticed low level tinnitus for about three years now and had presumed it was permanent.

This is interesting.

[BradJudy]

and BradJudy - are you saying this "drip-in" ear wax remover (link?) works and so does the Japanese earpick?

There are several brands of the drip-in removal stuff, but it's all the same stuff.  I just picked it up at Walgreens.  Here's a link that shows a few brands - http://www.walgreens.com/store/productlist.jsp?CATID=100218

This is the one I got: http://www.walgreens.com/store/product.jsp?CATID=100218&navAction=jump&navCount=0&skuid=sku3091020&id=prod3092187

Which included the squirt bulb thing.  Basically, you drip this stuff in your ear, let it sit there for a few minutes then wash it out with warm water using the squirt bulb.  It's a strange sensation to have the drip-in stuff roll into your ear. 

I also got the little pick at Walgreens: http://www.walgreens.com/store/product.jsp?CATID=100218&navAction=jump&navCount=2&skuid=sku359744&id=prod359743

I can't say that your problems are earwax related, only that mine were.  My conclusion, if you like your hearing, drop the q-tips and get one of the Orotek picks.  It was definitely the best $5 I spent on audio. 

[S Clark]

Some of us have lived a lifetime with tinnitus - and being a good sothrin boy, I have spent way too much time behind a 12 ga. shotgun.  Well needless to say, there isn't much high frequency left .  Interestingly, I have spent many an hour at Danny Richie's house and have no problem hearing superiority of one system over another. Danny's hearing is nearly perfect, and really excellent for his age. Yet when grading speakers, we usually agree.  One year Danny, Gary Dodd, and I placed the same three speakers 1,2,3 in a student DIY contest.  Once again, it all comes back to what sounds real to you.

[jhm731]

Has anyone tried this one:

http://www.murine.com/earigate.htm