One of the most annoying signs of aging is the loss of hair where it should be and an abundance of hair where it wasn’t before. For men especially, ear hair grows faster and thicker as you get older, which can cause issues for your hearing aid performance.
It’s not a topic that’s especially fun to talk about, but it’s an important one to address to ensure your devices serve you as best they can as you get older.
Ear Hair: What Is It, and Why Is It There?
Two different types of ear hair can be found in and around the ear, known as vellus hairs and tragi hairs.
Vellus hairs are short and soft, similar to hair described as peach fuzz. These hairs grow on the outer portion of the ear, and as you get older, these hairs can grow longer and thicker.
Tragi hairs are stiff, thick hairs that grow in the outer portion of the ear canal, more commonly found in men than women. Fun fact: they take their name from the Latin word for goat, “tragos,” as they’re often likened to a goat’s beard!
Ear hair protects the ear canal from impeding dust, debris, and even wayward insects, but if the hair grows too thick too fast, your hearing aids can’t provide strong hearing help due to the blockage.
Hearing Aid Fitting and Performance Issues Caused by Excessive Ear Hair
When thick tragi hairs grow to obscure the ear canal, they can cause several hearing aid performance and fitting issues, including:
In-the-Ear Hearing Aids Won’t Stay Put:
Thick tragi hair pushes against earmolds and hearing aids, which prevents them from fitting snugly in your ear. They feel like they’re on the verge of falling out constantly, and fiddling with them gets frustrating.
Poor Acoustical Seal:
Excessive ear hair can also prevent your earmolds from achieving the needed acoustic seal to provide strong hearing aid performance.
Earwax Buildup:
Excessive ear hair can stop your earwax from naturally making its way out of your ear canal; both ear hair and earwax can decrease hearing aid performance by blocking your ears.
Improper Ear Impressions:
When fitting custom earmolds for hearing aids, your audiologist will take an impression of your outer ear canal, so your ear hairs must be trimmed to get the closest ear impression.
How to Deal with Excessive Ear Hair
Excess ear hair can decrease the performance of your hearing aids – so how do you deal with too much ear hair before your hearing aids fall out?
We recommend using round-tipped scissors or ear & nose hair trimmers to remove the excess ear hair; ask a loved one for help with looking into your ears so that your ears can be most effectively looked after.
Scissors with a pointed tip, nail clippers, or waxing solutions can do more harm than good for the delicate inner workings of your ears, so we’d recommend avoiding those.
Permanent laser removal is also an option to consider if your ear hair is too much for you to keep ahead of. When performed by a licensed professional, it’s a safe and painless way to remove excess ear hair for good.
Concerned about Your Hearing Aid Performance?
We’re happy to look under the hood of your hearing aids to ensure they’re working as needed.
If you’re concerned that your hearing aid performance is limited by moisture, earwax, or excess ear hair, bring your devices to us – we’ll take a look and see what we can help with.
Simply request a callback to tell us what’s going on or give us a call at (936) 632-2252 for a more immediate chat.
