What is the function of earwax?

Answer 1

Ear wax helps protect your inner ear from foreign bodies (dust, insects, etc.), it also serves to help absorb sounds. Sometimes excess wax can build up and cause problems. Do not stick things into your ears, but you can clean the ear with a washcloth and warm water. If wax becomes a problem, see a doctor or many health spas offer to do wicking to remove excess wax...it's painless and feels great.

Answer 2

We wax our tables and we wax our cars in order to protect the surface. That is exactly one of the functions of earwax (cerumen). A waxy surface repels water -- it will bead up and the water will not adhere. Another protective function of earwax is preventing infection. Earwax is acidic, and bacteria does not thrive in an acid environment. If you take out the wax, you change the acidity of the ear canal lining and you are asking for an infection. If you take out earwax every few days, or even after every shower, your body will just make more and more. Why? Because it is supposed to be there. You should no more remove all of the saliva from your mouth, or the tears from your eyes, than remove the wax from your ears.


Ears are self-cleaning (just like the eyes or nose). By gravity and body heat, the wax will gradually make it to the opening where you can wipe if off with a washcloth or rinse it away in the shower. That is all you really need to do with earwax.


You can have too much of a good thing, however. We can't be like the movie character Shrek, who made a nice candle from earwax. If we have a wax impaction, it will cause a significant conductive hearing loss. It will also trap water behind it and cause all kind of annoying "sloshing" sounds. It is only when you have a wax impaction that you can clean out your ears.

Answer 3

Earwax, also known by the medical term cerumen, is a yellowish, waxy substance secreted in the ear canal of humans and many other mammals. It plays an important role in the human ear canal, assisting in cleaning and lubrication, and also provides some protection from bacteria, fungi, and insects. Excess or impacted cerumen can press against the eardrum and/or occlude the external auditory canal and impair hearing.

Cleaning

Cleaning of the ear canal occurs as a result of the "conveyor belt" process of epithelial migration, aided by jaw movement. Cells formed in the centre of the tympanic membrane migrate outwards from the umbo (at a rate equivalent to that of fingernail growth) to the walls of the ear canal, and accelerate towards the entrance of the ear canal. The cerumen in the canal is also carried outwards, taking with it any dirt, dust, and particulate matter that may have gathered in the canal. Jaw movement assists this process by dislodging debris attached to the walls of the ear canal, increasing the likelihood of its expulsion.

Lubrication

Lubrication prevents desiccation, itching, and burning of the skin within the ear canal (known as asteatosis). The lubricative properties arise from the high lipid content of the sebum produced by the sebaceous glands. In wet-type cerumen at least, these lipids include cholesterol, squalene, and many long-chain fatty acids and alcohols.

Antibacterial and antifungal roles

While studies conducted up until the 1960s found little evidence supporting an antibacterial role for cerumen, more recent studies have found that cerumen has a bactericidal effect on some strains of bacteria. Cerumen has been found to be effective in reducing the viability of a wide range of bacteria (sometimes by up to 99%), including Haemophilus influenzae, Staphylococcus aureus, and many variants of Escherichia coli. The growth of two fungi commonly present in otomycosis was also significantly inhibited by human cerumen. These antimicrobial properties are due principally to the presence of saturated fatty acids, lysozyme and, especially, to the relatively low pH of cerumen (typically around 6.1 in normal individuals).

Answer 4

Think of it as the Chapstick for the ear canal. It is not dirty, it does not need to be cleansed out of the canal, just in the auricle(outer part) when/if it comes out of the canal. Protects this warm, moist area from infection. It is only when people go digging in the canal that it becomes a problem. Some folks keep pushing it in with Q-tips, until it forms a hard plug, then might need flushing out with warm water.

Answer 5

It's supposed to keep dirt and other particles from reaching your inner ear. Dirt should stick to the wax instead of going further into your ear.

Answer 6

wax is like a natural barrier to keep small and tiny things from getting inside your ear canal.. it gets out by its own.. i mean as a doctor i dont advice people to use Q-tips.. instead wipe the external ear surface to avoid cleaning out all the wax (and thus loosing the natural barrier) or impacting the wax..

Answer 7

It helps keep dirt out of the ears. The wax catches particles like that, that enter the ear.

Answer 8

Lubrication and cleaning, keeping bacteria down to a minimum.

Answer 9

it helps ladies 2 listen less n resist speaking!

Answer 10

its designed to ge dug out and eaten!