http://www.clearearsclinics.co.uk/

Clear Ears Clinics, Oldham (2025)

15/09/2025

ALWAYS USE A QUALIFIED AUDIOLOGIST: A CAUTIONARY TALE

Anybody can perform wax removal and they don't need to have any qualifications whatsoever. It is not yet a regulated service. It’s something that I repeat to my clients regularly, but when it comes to wax removal, always seek out a qualified audiologist.

The danger of this becomes apparent in the following story.

I was called out on a home visit recently to see an elderly lady who has become housebound due to experiencing dizzy spells, which led to a serious fall earlier in the year that resulted in a fractured cheek.

She called upon my services after noticing that she was unable to hear from her right ear, even when using her hearing aid.

When I first looked in her ears, it was apparent that she had a total blockage of wax in her right ear. There was a lot of wax in her left ear, but it wasn’t completely blocking the canal.

The wax was removed fairly easily with microsuction.

Following wax clearance, I had a closer look at her canals and eardrums to make sure that everything looked healthy. It was while performing this post-procedural check that I noticed something unusual in her right ear.

Upon questioning, she reported that she was still unable to hear from this ear, even though the wax had been removed.

There was a white mass just behind her eardrum that was causing the eardrum to bulge a little. This was completely absent from her left ear. To the untrained eye, it may not be noticeable or could easily be dismissed as something or nothing.

I immediately thought it looked like a cholesteatoma. A cholesteatoma is a collection of dead skin cells that forms in the middle ear (behind the eardrum). It’s a non-cancerous growth. If left untreated, it has the potential to become infected and can eat away the eardrum and the fragile bones of the middle ear, which contributes to a permanent hearing loss.

Worse still, if left unchecked, an infection resulting from a cholesteatoma can eat away into the skull and infect the lining of the brain leading to meningitis.

I wrote a letter to the client’s GP recommending an urgent referral to Ear, Nose and Throat at the hospital for further investigation and issued it to the patient to pass on to her GP as this would be the fastest route.

I was contacted by her husband the very next day to say that she had been urgently referred to neurology at the hospital, had been seen that very morning and had a scan where they confirmed a cholesteatoma as the diagnosis. They’re going to perform surgery as soon as possible.

The sad part of this story is that this lady had been suffering with symptoms of dizziness and hearing loss for over 12 months and had been to see someone else for wax removal twice within this timeframe and the cholesteatoma had been missed both times.

Before booking in for wax removal, always check the clinician’s credentials and make sure they’re an audiologist!

01/10/2024

This video demonstrates what happens when your ears 'pop' in a healthy ear.

The eardrum is in its usual position. Then the patient performs a Valsalva manoeuvre. This is when you try to forcefully exhale while your airways are closed, i.e. mouth closed and holding your nose closed too.

Doing this forces air up through the Eustachian tube which links our airways to the middle ear and it pushes the eardrum outwards. This stiffens the drum so it cannot move freely or vibrate in response to sound, causing everything to sound 'dull.'

You can see the range of movement of the eardrum.

Follow this up with a yawn or swallow to open the Eustachian tube and release the air and you'll see the eardrum return back to its usual position once more.

Blink and you'll miss it!

01/10/2024

WHY DO MY EARS 'POP' ON PLANES?

Have you ever taken a packet of crisps and a bottle of water on board an aircraft? If so, you may have seen some of the effects that also happen inside your ear.

If you take a packet of crisps on board and you don’t open the bag, take a look at what happens once you reach altitude. The packet swells up like a balloon. If you open the packet, you’ll notice a rush of air escaping from the bag.

This is all down to the difference in air pressure from the ground to the sky. Air molecules are more dense on the ground, as we get higher, the molecules move further apart. So this causes the air inside your sealed plastic bag to expand, pushing outwards on the packet. As soon as we open the packet, the air that was pushing outwards bursts out of the bag.

A similar thing happens inside your ears. Behind your eardrum is the middle ear, which acts very much like this packet of crisps. It’s an air-filled cavity that’s sealed so air can’t escape. As we take off, the difference in air pressure causes the air in our middle ear cavity to expand. This pushes outwards on our eardrum causing the eardrum to stiffen. This means it can’t vibrate in response to sound and everything sounds ‘dull.’

So how do we open our biological packet of crisps to relieve the pressure so we can hear normally again?

There is a very narrow tube (Eustachian tube) that links the middle ear space to our airways (to the back of the nose and throat). This tube is permanently closed. The only time it opens is when we yawn, swallow or if we force it open by performing a valsalva manoeuvre (trying to exhale while closing our mouth and holding our nose closed - see accompanying image).

Once this tube is open, the air that was pushing outwards is allowed to rush out, which allows our eardrum to return to it’s usual position where it is free to vibrate once more and our hearing returns back to how it should be. We get the sensation that our ear has ‘popped.’

So what about this water bottle?

Have a drink while in the air, screw the lid back on and watch what happens as the plane comes in to land. The bottle appears to ‘cave in.’

This is once again due to the air pressure differences at different altitudes.

When you’re in the air, and you’ve sealed the bottle, as you descend, the reverse to the crisp packet scenario occurs. This time, the air molecules that were far apart when in the air, start to come closer together as the plane descends. In other words, the air ‘shrinks.’ This has a kind of vacuum effect and it pulls the walls of the bottle inwards.

The same thing is mirrored in our ears. Instead of the air pressing outwards and causing our eardrum to bulge, this time our eardrum is 'sucked' inwards. This stiffens the drum and causes it to become less mobile so it cannot pass on sound waves. Everything sounds 'dull.'

This process can actually be quite painful. This is why you always hear babies and children crying on landing. Their ears are hurting and either they haven’t yet learnt how to open their Eustachian tube by yawning/swallowing, or their Eustachian tube is so small and floppy that it won't open and the air cannot rush in to equalise the pressure and allow their eardrums to return to a normal position.

Other factors can be at play with children’s ears too which causes a more painful experience… But that’s for another blog post.

And if you’re unfortunate in that you experience issues like this as an adult, there are multiple reasons why this may be happening to you and there are several things you can try that might help. I’ll write another blog post about this soon.

21/09/2024

The amount of times someone has come to Shaw Therapy Centre and commented that they’ve driven up and down Beal Lane thousands of times and never noticed the building!

So we’ve decided to throw open our doors to showcase everything that’s available at our clinic.

We’re not selling anything, we’re just welcoming people in for a chat. There will be free teas, coffees, cakes and I’ve even baked some fresh shortbread ears complete with lemon curd ‘earwax’ to promote my earwax removal service. 🤣

Please see the timetable of events for stuff going on in the main room throughout the day. There are introductory sessions to first aid, yoga, counselling, hypnotherapy and reiki.

But even if you don’t wish to join in the sessions, we’ll all be there just for a chat.

So please come and support us and see what services are available on your doorstep, any time tomorrow from 11am until 3pm.

18/01/2024

Some recent reviews from lovely clients 😊

02/01/2024

Some recent reviews on Google ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

02/01/2024

EMERGENCY HOME VISIT ON NYE

I had a call on New Year’s Eve from a gentleman who was in urgent need of wax removal. His ear felt full on his right side, his hearing was affected and it was causing him such discomfort that he was unable to sleep.

My usual clinic wasn’t set to resume until 3rd Jan, so I offered him an emergency home visit and I was there within an hour.

In under 10 minutes, I had cleared both his ears, removing a hard plaque that had been pushed up against the drum in his right ear. Following this he was able to hear better and the pain had subsided. However his hearing hadn’t completely returned to normal.

Examination following the wax removal showed a healthy left ear, normal colour with good light reflex in a cone shape. The right eardrum was red, the light reflex is distorted and the eardrum appears retracted i.e. sucked inwards possibly as a result of negative pressure in the middle ear, like what happens when you go uphill in a car or on a plane and your ears feel like they need to ‘pop.’ This frequently happens following a cough or cold and usually returns to normal by itself, but not always.

I explained everything to this gentleman, gave him some suggestions of things to try to encourage normal middle ear function again. I also gave him a report with images of his eardrums should he need to show this to his GP.

He very kindly left me a review on Google. 🤩

14/12/2023

CASE STUDY: EAR INFECTION OR TUMOUR?

A 60 year old gentleman attended for earwax removal. He explained that he had visited Thailand 11 months ago and since then has had problems with his LEFT ear. He feels as though it is blocked and cannot hear anything from it. It has gradually worsened over time. The day before this appointment, he reports having felt very unsteady, was unable to walk straight and felt nauseous too. Then he started to see darkness creeping in from the top of his vision before his vision fully disappeared. He said that his vision returned to normal after approximately 5 minutes. He is also experiencing a constant high pitched hissing/ringing on his left side only. He reports no history of migraines.

Upon examination his RIGHT ear canal was lined with tiny white flakes - this could be a type of skin condition or some sort of infection and the patient was advised to see his GP, but as the patient wasn't having any symptoms at all on this side the focus of this case study will be on his LEFT ear. No abnormalities were seen on his left eardrum, the typical landmarks that we look for are present. There doesn't appear to be any fluid build up behind the drum. The drum doesn't appear bulging or retracted and he isn't experiencing any pain, which indicates no involvement of the middle ear. He said he was unable to cope any longer as he cannot concentrate on anything because of his symptoms.

It could be labyrinthitis, an inner ear infection. It is most commonly caused by a virus, but can also start off as an untreated bacterial middle ear infection. Labyrinthitis symptoms are consistent with what the patient is experiencing; balance problems and difficulty walking, nausea, inability to concentrate, hearing loss, ringing in the ears, ear 'fullness' and rarely visual disturbances. Treatment often includes corticosteroids to reduce nerve inflammation, antiviral medication (or antibiotics if there's a sign of bacterial infection) and sometimes anti-sickness medication if the patient is experiencing nausea due to vertigo. However, labyrinthitis lasts for only days to a few weeks and usually goes away by itself without treatment; this gentleman had been experiencing these issues for almost a year.

Another possible explanation is that he has developed an acoustic neuroma, also known as a vestibular schwannoma. This is a non-cancerous tumour that grows on the hearing nerve. It is usually not life-threatening unless left unchecked when it can begin to press on the brain stem which controls basic functions such as breathing. They are very very slow-growing and treatment isn't always required. Symptoms can include hearing loss, tinnitus, balance problems, a feeling of 'fullness' in the ear and sometimes facial tingling or numbness. If the tumour is particularly large, it can press on other surrounding nerves and could affect vision. More often than not, acoustic neuromas only develop on one side. 95% of acoustic neuromas occur without a specific cause. Along with a full hearing assessment, it would require a head scan to diagnose.

Treatment is case-dependent and can include targeted radiation to stop further growth, surgery to remove it (hearing often doesn't return and surgery can make hearing worse, but it can help with any balance issues and facial numbness). Sometimes the patient will just be monitored instead with regular scans.

Outcome: No wax removal was required. Instead, I wrote a letter to the patient's GP to suggest a referral to Ear, Nose and Throat for further investigation.

27/11/2023

5⭐️ review on Google from a happy customer.

27/11/2023

Our Shaw clinic is perfectly located and easy to find. From the centre of Shaw, head towards the tram stop, cross the tram lines and you'll see a mini roundabout. Our building is just off the mini roundabout. It's a pink and white building and we have free parking right outside the door!

27/11/2023

At Clear Ears, we can identify the typical landmarks that represent a healthy ear and we can tell when there is something unusual that requires treatment or further investigation.

Some things that we have identified and referred on are:

- Basal cell carcinoma of the pinna (skin cancer on the top of the ear),
- Possible acoustic neuroma (benign tumour close to the brainstem that affects hearing and occasionally balance),
- Exostoses (bony growths in the canal),
- Otitis Externa (a condition that causes inflammation of the ear canal),
- Otitis media with effusion (glue ear),
- Myringosclerosis (calcium build up on the eardrum),
- Perforations (holes in the eardrum),
- Cholesteatoma (abnormal collection of skin cells in the middle ear)
- Ear infections (creamy discharge with distinct odour)
- Stenosis of the ear canal (narrowing)…
..amongst other things.

If you have unusual symptoms and wish to have an ear examination, we can help with our years of experience.

27/11/2023

Meet Kay, your wax technician at Clear Ears.

A little bit about me:

I earned my undergraduate at the University of Liverpool where I achieved a first class Bachelor of Science with Honours. I went on to graduate with a distinction in my Masters of Science degree in Audiology at the University of Manchester in 2009.

I continue to work as an audiologist for the NHS as well as running Clear Ears. Having been looking down people’s ears for the past 14 years, you can rest assured that you’re in safe hands.

Clear Ears Clinics

15/09/2025

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21/09/2024

18/01/2024

02/01/2024

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14/12/2023

27/11/2023

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27/11/2023

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