Are you constantly finding that your ear feels blocked? Feeling like your ears are blocked from time to time is perfectly normal. For example, you might have a sensation of full ears after swimming, flying, waking in the morning, or taking a shower or bath—a natural response to water in the ears or changes in pressure.
However, ongoing sensations of blocked ears can make it hard to hear properly, disrupt your ability to chat or watch TV, and cause a real problem where sounds are muffled, and the muffled sensations seem to get progressively worse.
For many people, the primary culprit of blocked ears is simply a build-up of wax, which we can remove quickly, safely and effectively with a gentle, pain-free and advanced micro-suction treatment. That said, it is essential that we check for other potential causes before recommending any solutions, therapies, or approaches.
Key Facts About Blocked Ears and How to Tackle the Problem
- Most people with blocked ears have a blockage or build-up of ear wax or another obvious cause, such as travelling or flying at high elevations. There are, though, other possible reasons that require medical or audiology treatment, making it important to seek help if the sensation of blocked ears does not go away.
- If your ears unblock themselves naturally within a day or two, it is most likely nothing to worry about, although a full hearing assessment and ear health check may be beneficial if the problem recurs or seems to last longer each time.
- At-home remedies can be worth trying, but a hearing evaluation is the best way to rule out any underlying factors contributing to blocked ears and ensure your ear and hearing are otherwise healthy.
[lwptoc]
Common Reasons to Feel Like Your Ears Are Blocked
We often assume that blocked or clogged ears are always due to ear wax, and in most cases, this is correct. However, it remains important to avoid trying to clean your ears using a cotton bud since this often pushes wax further into the ear canal, worsens the symptoms, and increases the risk of infection.
Below, you’ll find a list of some of the leading reasons for ears to feel blocked, from those that will self-correct to issues that require treatment from an audiology or medical professional.
High Altitudes and Ear Blockages
The eustachian tube within your ear is responsible for managing pressure and ensuring it stays equalised in the middle ear. However, this becomes difficult at different altitudes, which is why many people feel changes in their hearing or unusual sensations during and after a flight.
This can also occur when driving to higher elevations, such as travelling up a mountain or when scuba diving. The pressure should normalise fairly quickly, but a hearing check is beneficial if the problem occurs persistently or doesn’t go away.
Blocked ears after a flight could also be caused by barotrauma, better known as aeroplane ear. This condition is usually accompanied by hearing loss, soreness, and dizziness.
What do our experts say?
Blocked ears can be a common and often straightforward issue to address, but it’s vital to identify the underlying cause before pursuing treatment. While ear wax build-up is a frequent culprit, persistent blockages may signal more complex issues like infections or eustachian tube dysfunction. At Regain Hearing, we combine advanced diagnostics with gentle, effective solutions like microsuction to ensure every patient receives tailored care and the best outcomes for their hearing health.” – Lee Fletcher
Blocked ears can be a common and often straightforward issue to address, but it’s vital to identify the underlying cause before pursuing treatment. While ear wax build-up is a frequent culprit, persistent blockages may signal more complex issues like infections or eustachian tube dysfunction. At Regain Hearing, we combine advanced diagnostics with gentle, effective solutions like microsuction to ensure every patient receives tailored care and the best outcomes for their hearing health.” – Ear Blockages Caused by Infections
Ear infections are common and there are two very common types of ear infections connected with feeling like your ears are full:
- Outer ear infections, also known as swimmer’s ear or otitis externa, happen when water enters your ear, normally after swimming, but doesn’t drain quickly enough. Moisture inside the ear can promote bacterial and fungal growths, contributing to pain, fluid build-ups, redness, fever, and hearing changes.
- Middle ear infections, or otitis media, are different types of infections, although they have similar symptoms of inflammation, pain, impaired balance, hearing loss, and fever.
In either scenario, a full hearing test can identify the presence of an infection or inflammation and help us suggest the best treatments to restore hearing and protect ears from further infections.
Experiencing Ear Blockages Due to a Wax Build-up
Ear wax is a useful and normal aspect of the way our ears clean themselves and protect the delicate inner ear from contaminants, dirt and debris. The issue is when ear wax is produced in excessive quantities or becomes hard and forms a blockage.
Clogged ears linked to impacted ear wax are often also associated with earaches and soreness, ringing within the ears, sensations of muffled hearing, and potentially dizziness or difficulties balancing.
We’d reiterate that cleaning your ears at home is highly inadvisable since this almost always pushes the ear wax further backwards into the ear.
Blockages to the Eustachian Tube
The eustachian tube runs between your throat, the back of your sinuses, and your middle ear. It performs tasks such as equalising pressure and draining fluid and mucus that occur within your sinuses and that are produced by your ears.
If fluid becomes trapped and clogged in the middle ear, it often causes an infection, which can feel more like the flu, a cold, or sinusitis. It isn’t always obvious that the issue is a blockage within the ear rather than something else.
People also have very similar symptoms when they experience allergic rhinitis, which can cause the same type of eustachian tube blockage.
Feeling that your ears are blocked and also having sneezing, a sore throat, and coughing may mean the clogged ears are due to this type of infection. Treating and unblocking the tube is essential to prevent more serious illnesses or viral infections impacting the delicate inner ear.
Cholesteatoma and Blocked Ears
Finally, it is possible that some people’s experiences of blocked ears could be due to a cholesteatoma, a small area of skin growth behind the eardrum. This growth is generally harmless and can be present from birth or develop after a middle ear infection.
The typical symptoms are a sensation of pressure or blockages inside the ear, discharge from the ear, sometimes with an unpleasant odour, and progressively worsening hearing loss.
Like many of the other potential causes or contributing factors that make your ears feel blocked, it can be difficult to differentiate between a cholesteatoma and an ear infection. That is why a thorough physical ear and hearing test is key to ensuring you receive the right advice and treatment options.
At-Home Remedies to Try and Relieve Blocked Ears
If your ears feel blocked and haven’t self-corrected over a couple of days, you could try an at-home solution. This may be effective if the blockage is due to an imbalance of pressure, but it shouldn’t make any other cause, such as an infection, feel worse. These include:
- Chewing gum, yawning, or swallowing, which can help prompt your eustachian tubes to open. The Valsalva manoeuvre is also an option, where you inhale deeply, pinch your nose carefully, and blow out. It is often a way to ‘pop’ your ears after flying.
- Suspected sinusitis or allergies that are exacerbating ear blockages can be treated with over-the-counter remedies like antihistamines, anti-inflammatories, and pain relief and with a heating pad or warm compress applied to your face. Gentle softening ear wax drops are also available from almost all pharmacies.
- Steam can be a good way to relieve ear blockages if there is little concern they are linked to anything serious. Steam therapies or sitting in a steam room at a spa or leisure centre for up to 15 minutes can help loosen ear wax.
If your blocked ears are accompanied by symptoms like pain, soreness, redness, or a fever, it is wise to seek professional help. An infection, illness, or irritation inside your ears is unlikely to go away without treatment, and the faster you seek help, the sooner you will experience relief.
Treating a Blocked Ear Within Regain Hearing’s Clinic Network
Clients coming to see any of our accomplished audiologists with complaints of a blocked ear will be initially offered a full hearing and ear health assessment.
This key aspect of our service involves taking a thorough and careful look inside and outside your ears while analysing your hearing to understand what is happening and why.
Like most issues impacting your ear health and hearing quality, the treatments or therapies we recommend are based wholly on the outcomes of those initial tests, your symptoms, and your medical history.
Microsuction to Remove Ear Wax Blockages
For many, a quick, simple microsuction ear wax removal process is the perfect solution; we use a tiny suction device to gently remove all traces of ear wax, including stubborn blockages, with zero fluids, pain or contact with the delicate inner ear.
Microsuction is highly preferable to conventional syringing as there is no mess or irritation to sensitive or infected ears. The fine vacuum device is technologically advanced and removes wax more effectively and within just a 30-minute appointment time.
Managing a Blocked Eustachian Tube
Depending on why your eustachian tube is blocked, we might suggest a course of antibiotics, nasal sprays or antihistamines, treatments to improve your ear hygiene and health, and over-the-counter pain relief to sore and relieve irritation while your ears heal and recover.
Hearing Tests to Diagnose Causes of Blocked Ears
Lastly, we’ll perform a series of targeted hearing tests to verify that your hearing function is working correctly or to determine if you would benefit from other therapies or treatments, including, but not limited to, hearing aids.
The best way forward is to get to the root cause of your ear blockages, determine why this is happening, and provide private, tailored suggestions. This will avoid any preventable ear health or hearing conditions and ensure you have all the information you need to take back control over your hearing.
