I'm sorry, I forgot first-hand experience is nothing compared to reading stuff on the internet. Silly me.
I have no doubt that you probably did get some form of relief from the candles. I'm sure that if they didn't give some form of relief, nobody would buy them. The point I am trying to make is that they do absolutely nothing to remove wax from the ear, and that using them does pose certain risks. If you don't believe me, ask a doctor. Get the doctor to examine yout ear before and after an ear candle treatment. If the candle manages to clear any wax from your ear, I'll retract everything I've said, and even change my sig to HEX it teh ROXXOR!!
I seriously suggest you try reading my posts before googling. When did I suggest they provide relief? I didn't. In fact I said they are no substitute for syringing. I also said they do not drip hot wax (what a design flaw that would be), and that the stuff that comes out is 100% not from the candle itself as I have tried burning them without being in the ear & they leave nothing at all. As for changing your sig, that's easy. I can do that anyway (p.s. I would like to point out that I got given many packs of Hopi Ear Candles for free. I probably wouldn't ever pay to use them, but that doesn't mean I believe people should start scare mongering about the "dangers" of them either.)
As TheoGeo says, cochlear implants work by having a dozen electrodes jammed in the cochlear to innervate thousands of Cochlear afferents each covering a different frequency. So the resolution is going to be quite low. More nerves run from the brain to the ear, than the other way around. These Cochlear efferents (as opposed to afferents, which transmit sound information back to the brain) innervate cochlear outer hair cells (and to a lesser extent, the inner hair cells) and thus enable the active filtering and attenuation of sounds in response to auditory information sent by cochlear afferents to the brain. This allows the brain to dynamically “tune” the cochlear to be sensitive to the phonemes and frequencies relevant to whatever language the person grows up in, and to be sensitive to relevant sounds in the person's environment. This auditory processing includes: Figure-ground discrimination - the ability to distinguish certain sounds from amongst background noise; Selective attention and sound localisation - the ability to consciously focus on the sound and its source; Sound discrimination - the ability to distinguish between different sounds and pitch (phonemes and intonation); Temporal ordering - the ability to perceive the phonology (timing, melody, rhythmic pattern) of sounds; Storage - the ability to retain sound information in working memory; Association - the ability to connect a sound with its physical reality. As you can gather from the above, "hearing" is not just a process of the Cochlear simply shoveling information into the brain. It is a circular dynamic process that involves a lot of brain activity and cross-matching to auditory information stored in memory. So people with Cochlear implants may, after a period of habituation, well experience their hearing as very "natural" even though it is not --their brain is filling in the gaps (much as it does with our rather flawed vision).
Went to the `docs today and he gave me a bunch of tablets called "Chlorphenamine". Just a small infection according to him, but i still think its wax build up.
Hey That's Cheating.... I agree, they are no substitute for ear syringing. When I orginally posted, I did not mean to start an argument. I just wanted to let people know about the potential risks involved with using ear candles. My point being that while using the ear candles may provide some form of relief from ear pain/wax blockages, there is a serious potential for burns from the wax that is used to make them. I'm willing to concede that your ear candles may have not dripped any wax at all, but some of them do. Whether it is from poorly made candles, or someone not following directions, people do get burns from these things. Also, It is a scientific impossibility for the candle to produce enough of a vaccum to remove anything at all from the ear canal, and if by some chance it could, it would not only suck out the wax, but very probably rupture your ear drum as well.
Well... I'm not so sure about the validity of this statement. If even a small pressure difference is created, any blockage in the ear could possibly be drawn out. As to whether or not an ear candle could create such a pressure differential, if the ear candle was heated up enough so that it heated up the air inside the ear, and some heated air escaped, and then the ear candle sealed up the passageway, and then the air in the ear canal cooled, the wax in the ear could be sucked outwards a bit. Actually, the candle would also be sucked inwards a bit. Hmm... Godboy_g: 1 points Science rationalization: 0 ACTUALLY, if the ear candle got hot enough to heat up the air inside the ear canal, and there was a pseudo-seal, then the warm air could expand the ear canal slightly such that the ear wax softened a bit and/or was loosened by the moving air, bringing it closer to the ear canal entrance. Hmm... Godboy_g: 1 point Science rationalization: 1 point LoL, I just went to drugstore.com, and this is what it said about a certain brand of ear candle that I randomly searched for: Godboy_g: 2 points Science rationalization: 1 point ear candles: -3 points Since reading this thread, my ears have started to hurt!
Actually, I bet the doc is right... here is why I've had more than a few ear infections, and I've had 5 surgeries on my ears so I've been around the block. I've had my ear drum break at least 7 times and more often than not, its caused by an inner ear infection. Your hearing works because there are some small bones in your ears (mallus, incus, and stapes) that vibrate when sound waves hit them (I have plastic bones in my ears... like I said, I've been around). If you have an inner ear infection and your ear (behind the ear drum) is full of mucus the bones won't be able to vibrate as designed. If you experience liquid leaking out of your ears you probably formed a hole in your ear drum. Its not as bad as it sounds, take some antibiotics, stay away from loud noises for a while and it should all heal up. Some people have mentioned using peroxide to clean out ear wax, its the best method. Using cotton swaps or any other pointy objects in your ear has the greatest potential for harm. Take care of your hearing, as soon as it goes, you're really going to miss it.
I once when deaf in one ear after I popped some bubblewrap right next to my ear. I had a ringing and everthing sounded really dull for about 24hours.
It could well be a combination of both. I had recurring ear infections from the age of about 3 until I was 17. My Dr would just look in my ear, say "oooh, that's red & going to burst" give me antibiotics and send me home. EVERY time. Then when I was 17 I saw a different Dr. She gave me some antibiotics and arranged for my ears to be syringed after the course was complete. I haven't had proper earache since then. I used to go deaf every single time I got a cold. I haven't even had as many colds since I got my ears syringed. Needless to say I was not a fan of my original Dr. He even gave me antibiotics for migraines...
