Clogged ears are a common and most often mild symptom. It is, for example, associated with many hearing disorders and pathologies affecting the ENT sphere or with barotraumatic trauma (airplane, diving). To overcome this symptom, it is necessary to treat its cause.

Having your ears plugged is an unpleasant sensation, like a ringing, but frequent and usually not serious. This can happen when you get out of the bath or shower, on an airplane, while diving or be linked to conditions affecting the ENT sphere.

The symptom is accompanied by a hearing loss, more or less marked. Pain, fever, wheezing can also be associated with blocked ears, depending on the pathology or the situation that caused it.

There are many pathologies that have blocked ears as a symptom. Let us mention in particular those of the ENT sphere:

• la nasopharyngitis, otherwise known as the common cold;
• theotitis, and especially otitis media (an infection of the middle ear, which concerns the eardrum or the eardrum);
• la sinusitis (an inflammation of the mucous membranes lining the inside of the sinuses – the bony cavities in the bones of the face).

In addition, let us quote:

• earwax plug, which is the result of the accumulation of secretion from the external auditory canal (earwax);
• barotrauma in the ear, ie damage due to a change in pressure. This occurs for example during a trip by plane (at the time of take-off and landing), during scuba diving with a bottle, or in a pool when swimming underwater. In these cases, the external pressure differs from that of the internal cavities of the body and the organism has to adapt slowly;
• airborne barotraumatic otitis, which is an inflammation of the ear (otitis) caused by air travel. Logically, on-board personnel are more likely to be affected by this type of pathology;
• the presence of a foreign body in the ear canal;
• a sound trauma, for example following a concert during which the music was too loud;
• the tinnitus, which also give the sensation of ringing in the ears;
• the presence of eczema in the ear, or psoriasis;
• or Menière’s disease (which designates a condition of the inner ear which causes dizziness in particular).

Clogged ears are an unpleasant symptom that is often accompanied by poor hearing. An element that can eventually lead to the withdrawal of the person who is affected.

To “unclog” the ears, you have to tackle what caused their obstruction:

• thus, in case of otitis, it is advisable to disinfect the nasal cavities with physiological serum, to take antibiotics if the doctors prescribe them, or to use drops in the ear canal to help reduce the associated pain;
• in the event of barotrauma, it is advisable to pinch the nose between two fingers and to blow with the mouth closed (this is referred to as a balancing maneuver or a Valsalva maneuver);
• in the event of a cerumen plug, a cerumenolytic product must be used which will dissolve the plug.

In order to prevent obstruction of the ears, due to an earwax plug, it is advisable to:

• do not use a cotton swab, since they push any plug (of earwax) at the bottom of the ear canal;
• do not have too much hair in the ears, so that they are not an obstacle to the evacuation of earwax.