Chronic Earplug Use

[underdog]

Dear Dr. Steve,

I don't really have a fun or interesting question, but its a question on my mind anyway. I've fallen in love with sleeping with ear plugs in. The absolute silence they bring makes me sleep like a baby. I use the normal, foam ones you can buy in any pharmacy that you roll in your fingers and push into your ear canal. I've been using them every night for the last 3 weeks.

My question is, is there any long-term problem that may arise from using ear plugs all the time? They create a bit of pressure in the inside of the ear, can this lead to issues later in life?

I'll hang up and listen to your response.

[Dr Steve]

Dear Dr. Steve,

I don't really have a fun or interesting question, but its a question on my mind anyway. I've fallen in love with sleeping with ear plugs in. The absolute silence they bring makes me sleep like a baby. I use the normal, foam ones you can buy in any pharmacy that you roll in your fingers and push into your ear canal. I've been using them every night for the last 3 weeks.

My question is, is there any long-term problem that may arise from using ear plugs all the time? They create a bit of pressure in the inside of the ear, can this lead to issues later in life?

I'll hang up and listen to your response.

A really interesting question, actually!

If you're going to wear earplugs every night, it might pay to have an ENT lab make you some custom ones.

The earplugs you're using are probably cylindrical, and as you might surmise, the ear canal is not perfectly cylindrical in shape so the earplugs may cause some irritation to the canal or to the temporal mandibular joint (jaw joint) over time. If you put them in and trap water in the ear, you can cause an outer ear infection (otitis externa). if you cram them in, you can cause pressure trauma to the ear. Avoid this by compressing the foam earplug firmly, then gently insert it and let it expand into the ear canal, rather than just shoving it in.

Other than those things, I really can't think of anything bad that can happen, other than you not hearing the serial bumfondler that's crawled in thru your window in the middle of the night.


your pal,


steve

[Dougie Brootal]

Other than those things, I really can't think of anything bad that can happen, other than you not hearing the serial bumfondler that's crawled in thru your window in the middle of the night.


your pal,


steve
whoa doc! take it easy! youre blowing up my spot!

[hunnerbun]

The other thing that can happen is that you become dependent on them. My B/F is a shift worker and has been for 20 yrs. He took to sleeping with earplugs so he could get sleep during the day when he works nights. He is to the point now that he cannot sleep without them. If we are traveling and he forgets to pack some it is HELL. He absolutely can't sleep. Even if he wants to have a nap he needs them.
Its a slippery slope....beware!

[Dr Steve]

The other thing that can happen is that you become dependent on them. My B/F is a shift worker and has been for 20 yrs. He took to sleeping with earplugs so he could get sleep during the day when he works nights. He is to the point now that he cannot sleep without them. If we are traveling and he forgets to pack some it is HELL. He absolutely can't sleep. Even if he wants to have a nap he needs them.
Its a slippery slope....beware!

this is a VERY good point. Sleep "crutches" become very habit forming. My mother in law HAS to sleep with this awful "sound machine"...it is cheap and doesn't sound like rain or the surf or anything, it's just a sound like boiling pus with hair in it would make. Creepy and sickening, to me, soothing to her. If she forgets the damned thing on vacation, I have to hear about it the whole time. If she remembers it, I have to HEAR it the whole time. She's even tried to infect my kids with it...they sleep over and she turns it on in their room, they come home complaining that they dreamed of "monsters" all night.

I remember double vasectomy todd used a cricket machine with his kids. if the power went off in the middle of the night the cricket sounds would stop and his kids would raise hell.

so good point...the take home message is, if you get addicted to using them, don't forget them on vacation.

your pal,



steve

[underdog]

If you're going to wear earplugs every night, it might pay to have an ENT lab make you some custom ones.

Is that an actual possibility?

[chili_chest]

Is that an actual possibility?

I might want in on a good custom set of earplugs!

....been using foam ones for like 5-6 years due to odd shift work.

I just don't feel right with out one in the ear not on my pillow when I sleep on my side...

I do feel quite uncomfortable w/o them even on vaca as well...

as long as the custom molded ones are very cleanable and last for awhile it sounds like a good investment for me....

[boosterp]

Is that an actual possibility?

I had some made 8-9 years ago for shooting guns at a range. Regular earplugs build up pressure in my ears with the firing of weapons . These fit perfectly and had a lil BB in it that worked as a 2 way pressure device. I paid under $100, they were the best thing money could buy in my opinion. 2-3 years ago I dropped the case with them in it somewhere, maybe in getting in and out of my truck.