Ear health
Cerumen management when wax is blocking hearing, a hearing test, or a hearing aid.
Earwax Removal
Wax is normal and most ears clear it on their own. It matters when it blocks the canal, clogs a hearing aid, or stops a hearing test from being accurate.
We look first. If the canal is blocked and it is safe to clear, cerumen management is done in the office. If what we see is a perforation, an infection, drainage, or an ear that has had surgery, you go to a physician instead.
Both offices do this. Harrison, at 550 Mamaroneck Avenue, is open five weekdays and is the shorter drive from Mamaroneck, Rye, Scarsdale, White Plains and across the line from Greenwich. Somers, on Route 100, covers the north and is the shorter drive from Mount Kisco, Katonah, Bedford, Yorktown Heights and Mahopac. Which one you book is a question about your week rather than a clinical one.
Step 1
We look into the canal before anything is touched.
Step 2
If the wax is safe to remove, it is removed here and the eardrum is checked afterwards.
Step 3
If it is not safe, or something else is going on, you leave with a referral rather than a procedure.
A fully blocked canal can drop hearing enough to be mistaken for hearing loss, and wax under a receiver makes a working hearing aid sound broken. Keep cotton swabs out of the canal: they push wax deeper. Home irrigation kits carry the same problem in an ear you cannot see into, and that is the part that matters. A blocked canal and a perforated eardrum can feel much the same from the outside, which is why this is done under direct visualization rather than by feel.
Before you schedule
The most productive hearing-care visits start with specific examples. Bring the moments where listening breaks down, the devices or apps you already use, and the questions you want answered.
One ear feels plugged and everything through it sounds dull. Your hearing aid sounds weak within days of being cleaned.
We look into the canal before anything is touched.
A fully blocked canal can drop hearing enough to be mistaken for hearing loss, and wax under a receiver makes a working hearing aid sound broken. Keep cotton swabs out of the canal: they push wax deeper. Home irrigation kits carry the same problem in an ear you cannot see into, and that is the part that matters. A blocked canal and a perforated eardrum can feel much the same from the outside, which is why this is done under direct visualization rather than by feel.
Yes. Wax clogs filters, receivers, domes, and earmolds, and the device goes weak or distorted.
No. If the ear is not safe to work in, or the picture suggests infection, perforation, or a surgical history, the right answer is a physician rather than a suction tip.
Ask before you do. What softens wax in a healthy ear is the wrong thing for an ear with a perforation, which is one reason we look before anything else.
Yes. Cerumen management sits within audiology practice, and it is routine here because wax is one of the most common reasons a hearing test cannot be completed or a hearing aid stops working. What an audiologist will not do is work in an ear that is not safe to work in, which is what the look at the start is for.
Whichever is the easier drive. Harrison, at 550 Mamaroneck Avenue, Suite 407, books weekdays from 8:30 to 5:00 on (914) 949-0034. Somers, at 325 NY 100, runs Monday through Wednesday and Friday morning and is closed Thursday, on (914) 556-6720. Records and hearing aid settings are shared between them, so it does not matter which one you started at.
Book it. It is a short visit, but the canal has to be examined before anything is touched, and that is not something to do in a doorway. Say on the phone that an ear feels blocked, because a wax visit is shorter than a full evaluation and gets scheduled differently.
Product information is educational. For personalized hearing aid recommendations, schedule an appointment with Audiology Associates of Westchester.