I can hear clearly now the rain has gone

[cjwatson]

I went to get my ears syringed today, after getting fed up with a few months of being partly deaf because they were blocked. I haven't heard things so clearly for ages - tiny noises were audible in complete clarity because I wasn't used to filtering them out, and I nearly deafened myself again with the clatter when I closed the door after getting back. What would it be like if I'd always been deaf, I wonder? Would my brain have any clue how to deal with the stuff my ears were telling it?

Unfortunately the thing that they use to perform this wondrous operation feels and sounds rather like a dentist's drill, applied to a place that really wasn't designed to be drilled. So I now have a vicious headache and am going to collapse for as many hours as I can get away with.

Comments

[simonb.livejournal.com]

IKWYM having had my ears syringed a couple of years ago... AFAIR they use something like high pressure bursts of water.

They normally recommended that you use special ear drops for a week or so before hand to help loosen up the ear wax before they do the syringing to reduce the amount of work they do using the water.

[cjwatson]

They recommended olive oil drops to me; unfortunately the appointment was made two days in advance because I was going to be off work that day anyway, so they said "we recommend you do this three times a day for three days ... er, wait". :)

Fortunately the headache seems to have gone now.

[nassus.livejournal.com]

Welcome to the lj virus *grin*. It spreads daily. Now all we need is fanf and the household has been overrun!

[cjwatson]

'ello. Working on it, give us time :-)

BTW you know ceb has moved to Relativity now, don't you?

[ghoti.livejournal.com]

Did it make any difference to normal hearing? I find it helps with the little fiddly rustly noises, but not with conversation or music or useful things.

(The electric syringe is much nastier than the old style water syringe, too, but apparent;y it's safer)

[cjwatson]

Yay for answering comments nearly three years later.

I think it did help with conversation for a while, yes. I found it easier to pick out from background noise (even if there was more of it all, if you see what I mean).