1. Clean Your Earwax Buildup
As wax builds up inside your ears, it can sometimes interfere with your hearing. See your doctor to determine if impacted earwax is the cause of your hearing loss, and consider removal options, such as ear-drop solutions. Ear candling is an alternative-medical practice that uses a hollow candle placed just over the ear to remove earwax. While the candle burns, the flame produces pressure that gently pulls out wax. The process generally lasts for 15 minutes, and one or two candles are burned for each ear.
While some people have cited the benefits of this type of treatment, some medical researchers disagree. Since dripping wax from the candle could seriously damage your ears, it's essential that you use a protective dish to secure the candle and collect the runoff. These candles are widely available in alternative-medicine stores, but you should have a professional give you the first treatment before you try it at home.
2. Use Phase Inversion to Block Tinnitus Symptoms
Many audiologists have had success "tricking" the human brain to cancel constant ringing in the ears. With phase inversion, the doctor works with the patient to discover the pitches of the ringing that are heard in each ear. The doctor can then program a small hand-held listening device to play back the same pitches but at various degrees out of phase. The patient is instructed to listen to the playback with headphones each day.
Over time, the brain becomes accustomed to hearing the out-of-phase pitches. Since the sounds are out of phase, they can cancel out the ringing of tinnitus. With regular use, the effects of tinnitus can diminish or disappear completely, even when the patient isn't using the listening device.
3. Practice Active Listening to Focus Your Hearing
Centering your attention on your sense of hearing is a natural method to train your ears to pick up on subtler sounds. You can do this activity with a variety of different mediums, such as the radio or television. You can also do this with a piece of music or in an environment with rich ambient sounds.
Make sure that the volume or background noise isn't too loud so that you'll have to make your ears go to the sound. Try closing your eyes and listening deeply to the music, television or environment, making a mental note of all the different sounds you hear. Listen for the subtle sounds in the background and see if you can distinguish where they are originating. You may find that music with lots of interaction, layers and harmony, like jazz or classical, is well-suited for this activity.
Try this type of listening for 20 minutes to 1/2 hour each day. As you become more accustomed to using your hearing actively, you may notice that your passive hearing naturally improves, too.
