It seems like using ear buds that require sticking them in pretty far isn’t a problem for your ears, and that using those foam ear plugs is good for your hearing. So how are those not pushing ear wax deeper into your canal the way a q tip does?
It seems like using ear buds that require sticking them in pretty far isn’t a problem for your ears, and that using those foam ear plugs is good for your hearing. So how are those not pushing ear wax deeper into your canal the way a q tip does?
Comments
An ear plug generally isn’t going nearly as deep because it’s way wider
Generally they’re not capable of getting as deep and doing the same damage but it’s also less about “no problem” than “less of a problem than going without ear protection would be”
ear plugs don’t go anywhere near far enough to damage your inner ear. Q-tips easily can. You also don’t try to dig around and stab inward with ear plugs.
Same reason a mouthguard isn’t as dangerous as trying to swallow a sword.
Q-tips can go a lot deeper in, and usually people sticking them in their ear aren’t just gently inserting them and then letting them sit there like they do with ear buds or ear plugs
The primary reason for not putting q-tips in your ears isn’t pushing wax in, it’s the risk of inserting the q-tip too far / fast and puncturing your ear drum. Q-tips have a long enough stick and a narrow end that can easily puncture an ear drum, where ear plugs are short and blunt and don’t carry that risk. (You can get a ear plug stuck, though.)
Your ear tunnel (ear cannal) forms a wax-like substance to clean itself and it will be gradually pushed out. Using q-tip can push the wax deeper into your ear, and if it is deep enough can even touch or puncture the deardrum at the back of the ear tunnel.
Earbuds can never push that deep. Any damage to your hearing comes from high volumes which create soundwaves that damage your eardrum at the back of the ear tunnel.
In addition to the depth people are bringing up, ear plugs tend to be softer. They’re an expanding soft foam material that can “gently rest against an ear drum” whereas q-tips are quite literally “a hard stick with a cotton swab on the end” that can very easily break through an ear drum. Push on the end of an ear plug, it more than likely will deform with the pressing. Push on the end of a q-tip, you’re going to feel the stick at the end.
One has a risk of puncturing your ear with the material and is strong enough and small enough to do so, the earplugs on the other hand sit inside the ear canal and generally can’t go deep enough and are not hard enough to puncture your ear drum.
Uhhh… you’re not supposed to shove ear plugs way into your ear canal either.
Just read the directions on any package of ear plugs.
A q-tip is several inches long and thin enough to pierce and damage waaaaaay down inside your ear.
Ear plugs are an inch or less, and big and fat. They can’t go anywhere or hurt anything.
Ear plugs are also bad for your ears. Wear earmuffs/headsets when possible.
Both can irritate and scratch the lining of your ear canal and open it up to infection.
And infections in your head are quite dangerous.