A UK man has revealed how he feared he was going deaf — just to find a part of an earbud had been stuck in his ear for five years.
Former navy engineer Wallace Lee, 66, told Bournemouth News & Picture Service that he initially blamed his hearing loss on the 24 years he’d spent working next to the roar of military helicopters.
With the issue not only hurting his hearing but this balance — and golf game — Lee tried every thing, including getting it checked by a physician, who missed the buried bud due to a buildup of earwax.
At his “wits’ end,” he bought his own Bluetooth-connected endoscope — and spotted something in his left ear, but “had no idea what it was.”
His doctor couldn’t get it out, so he ended up going to an ear, nose and throat (ENT) surgeon at a hospital near his home in Weymouth, Dorset.
His doctor couldn’t get it out, so he ended up going to an ear, nose and throat (ENT) surgeon at a hospital near his home in Weymouth, Dorset.
“At first the doctor tried to suction it nevertheless it was stuck too deep, so he got these miniature crocodile tweezers,” he told the local news service.
“He tugged and rapidly it went, ‘pop’, and I had clarity again,” he said.
The shock of immediately having the ability to “hear perfectly again” was then matched by the surprise of seeing the surgeon holding up the wax-covered plastic part that appears to have come free from a noise-blocking ear plug he had put in years ago.
“I hadn’t used one in every of those earbuds for five years,” he said, dating his mishap back to a visit to 2017 flight to Australia when he’d last used such a noise-defender device to assist him sleep.
“I had no idea it had been in there,” he admitted.
Still, “it seems like I actually have a latest lease of life,” he said — insisting it had also immediately improved his golf, which he reckons was harmed by his hearing issues also handicapping his balance.
His wife, Jeanette, is “also very relieved as she was convinced I used to be going deaf,” he said.
A UK man has revealed how he feared he was going deaf — just to find a part of an earbud had been stuck in his ear for five years.
Former navy engineer Wallace Lee, 66, told Bournemouth News & Picture Service that he initially blamed his hearing loss on the 24 years he’d spent working next to the roar of military helicopters.
With the issue not only hurting his hearing but this balance — and golf game — Lee tried every thing, including getting it checked by a physician, who missed the buried bud due to a buildup of earwax.
At his “wits’ end,” he bought his own Bluetooth-connected endoscope — and spotted something in his left ear, but “had no idea what it was.”
His doctor couldn’t get it out, so he ended up going to an ear, nose and throat (ENT) surgeon at a hospital near his home in Weymouth, Dorset.
His doctor couldn’t get it out, so he ended up going to an ear, nose and throat (ENT) surgeon at a hospital near his home in Weymouth, Dorset.
“At first the doctor tried to suction it nevertheless it was stuck too deep, so he got these miniature crocodile tweezers,” he told the local news service.
“He tugged and rapidly it went, ‘pop’, and I had clarity again,” he said.
The shock of immediately having the ability to “hear perfectly again” was then matched by the surprise of seeing the surgeon holding up the wax-covered plastic part that appears to have come free from a noise-blocking ear plug he had put in years ago.
“I hadn’t used one in every of those earbuds for five years,” he said, dating his mishap back to a visit to 2017 flight to Australia when he’d last used such a noise-defender device to assist him sleep.
“I had no idea it had been in there,” he admitted.
Still, “it seems like I actually have a latest lease of life,” he said — insisting it had also immediately improved his golf, which he reckons was harmed by his hearing issues also handicapping his balance.
His wife, Jeanette, is “also very relieved as she was convinced I used to be going deaf,” he said.
