Winter’s coming: Your guide to taking care of your ears in cold weather

placeholder image — Charlwood Hearing Care

As the temperature drops and the nights draw in, this advice will help you take extra care of your ears.

Cold weather, illness and extra moisture can all have an impact on our ears. Which means it’s the ideal time to put a little extra effort into protecting our hearing, according to Neil Charlwood.

The owner of Charlwood Hearing Care, an independent, family-run hearing care service with centres in Scarborough, Filey and Hunmanby, York, Harrogate and Knaresborough, and Helmsley, Neil has decades of experience of looking after our hearing.

“Our ears are delicate instruments that can do with a little extra care at this time of year,” he explains. “If you wear a hearing aid, it’s helpful to know what changes to look out for too.”

Read on for Neil’s top tips for protecting your hearing this winter.

Dealing with congestion caused by illness

Winter coughs and colds can cause congestion and inflammation. This can put pressure on the tiny tubes called Eustachian tubes, making sounds muffled and your ears feel blocked.

“Generally, this is nothing to worry about – the feeling of extra pressure in your ears should ease as your cold clears up,” says Neil. “This can take a couple of weeks, particularly if you suffer from sinusitis.”

However, in some rare cases ear infections can cause lasting damage. If you experience severe or sharp ear pain, a sudden fever or have fluid or pus draining from your ear, you should seek medical help immediately.

How changes in temperature affect our hearing

Our ears are very sensitive to cold weather, so it makes sense to wrap up warm when it’s blowing a gale.

"When the cold air hits your ears, your blood vessels constrict to protect your core body temperature," explains Neil. The reduced blood flow can make your ears feel uncomfortable or even numb, so remember a hat or pull up your hood to keep them protected.

Too much moisture can also cause problems, so aim to keep your ears as ventilated as you can, which means removing ear pods or headphones indoors where possible.

Excess wax causing you problems?

The dry winter air can make your ear canal feel irritated and sometimes itchy too. “To combat this, your body ramps up the production of earwax to protect the ear canal,” says Neil. “Winter also causes earwax to thicken and become more stubborn.

“At Charlwood Hearing Care we deal with blocked ears efficiently and fast in a very safe, clean clinical environment. We specialise in microsuction, which is a safe and effective method for removing wax; we also use irrigation and dry removal.”

Don’t let winter hamper your hearing aid

“Modern hearing aids can usually cope well with the wind noise if it's stormy outdoors, but moving from cold to cosy warm temperatures can sometimes cause condensation,” he adds.

“The other main issue is that batteries can run down a little faster when you spend time outdoors. If you notice any changes in performance or you start to get static noise or sound distortion from your device, let us know and we can help.”