Anyone who experiences a problem of plugging or ringing in the ears and this problem recurs should speak to a doctor to determine the cause.

One of the most common causes of clogging and ringing in the ears is stuck earwax. This is a substance produced by the ears that protects against any ear infections and provides a kind of barrier against water or insects. Usually the body removes earwax on its own, but sometimes this mechanism fails and the substance accumulates.

It is important to remember that it is not always a good idea to remove ear wax yourself. This is because ear wax has natural protective and antibacterial properties. People who experience discomfort in the ear, hearing deterioration, a stench, ringing in the ears or pain or dizziness should take at least one of the following 3 actions:

• go to the doctor to have the ear cleaned,
• rinse out the ear wax with a jet of warm water. Ear rinsing is safe and effective, but there is a small risk of perforation of the eardrum,
• use cerumenolytic agents to loosen and disperse the wax and reduce the need for rinsing or manual removal with instrumentation.

It is interesting to note that there is research into who is most at risk of earwax clogging. If people have already had a similar experience, there is a high risk that the problem will occur again. Also children, the elderly or those wearing hearing aids or earplugs are among the fluke of people at risk of ear plugging.

This is because hearing aids and earplugs can interfere with the natural self-cleaning mechanism of the ears. Foreign bodies, such as hearing aids, can stimulate the production of earwax.