Hearing and Noisy Environments

Ealing Hearing Centre • August 21, 2022

No matter where we live, we often deal with noisy situations. It can be tricky to understand conversations in a noisy place with or without hearing challenges. The challenge is more impactful for deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals.

To combat such a beast, you merely need a boost in your hearing ability, and voila! Your conversation skills will improve, leaving a positive impact on your life.


Try the following tips to improve your hearing in a noisy environment.


Seek Your Audiologist's Help

First and foremost, seek help from your Audiologist like Sid and Sukhina, here at Ealing Hearing Centre. They may be able to adjust your hearing aid or suggest a different device to increase your hearing in a noisy environment.


Practice in Noisy Environments

Your hearing aid picks up many different sounds, both wanted and unwanted. While your hearing aid does the heavy lifting, it is up to you to separate noise from verbal conversation.


Practice talking with your friend while in a quiet environment. Later, try having a similar conversation in a busy environment. If you don't see immediate results, don't quit, your progress will likely be slow, but sure.


Learn From Others

It can be tiring when you start using hearing aids. At first, your brain will register many sounds, making the adjustment period challenging and overwhelming.


An Audiologist or other hearing professional can help you navigate this change. They might offer practical counsel about your experiences and expectations. Or they can put you in touch with people who've dealt with such situations. You might be surprised to discover a community of experienced users who come to your help. Get in touch with us to find out more.


Use Assistive Hearing Devices

An Audiologist might recommend supplementary devices to enhance the signal-to-noise ratio in rare cases of severe hearing deficit. This term refers to the difference between the noise and the speech signal. Typically, most people understand and hear speech better when the difference is bigger.

An Audiologist might successfully maximise the signal-to-noise ratio using assistive listening devices (like FM systems or remote microphones). These work together with hearing aids to achieve the desired effect. The speaker typically wears the devices; alternatively, they might pass the devices between speakers, thus sending the speaker's voice directly into the hearing aids.


Before adopting such a procedure, consult your Audiologist. Likely, your Audiologist will thoroughly examine the situation and which assistive devices may be best. Let us help you hear better, today.


A noisy environment is not the end of conversations for you. With the proper hearing aids and ample practice, you can easily keep up and interact with others. Please contact us at Ealing Hearing Centre today.

By Aarti Raicha January 17, 2026
If your hearing feels blocked and getting to a clinic feels like more effort than it should be, you’re not alone. That’s usually when people start looking into mobile earwax removal. This often comes up when the problem has been hanging around for a while. The first thing you’ll notice is sounds feel duller, or that one ear feels blocked on and off. At first, you think it’ll go away on its own. Then it doesn’t, and you tell yourself you’ll book an appointment, but life gets in the way. By the time most people book, the wax has usually been there longer than they realise. However, not every blocked ear needs immediate attention. If it just started, or if it's mild and not affecting your day-to-day life, waiting a week or two is usually fine as earwax does sometimes clear on its own. But if it's been there for weeks and is getting in the way of conversations or work, then you probably need professional help. How earwax turns into a problem Earwax is normal, everyone has it. Most of the time, it clears on its own as the skin inside the ear slowly moves outward. The trouble starts when that process doesn’t work properly. This can happen if your ear canals are narrow, if you wear hearing aids or earbuds a lot, or if you’ve tried to clean your ears with cotton buds. Instead of helping, cotton buds often push wax further in. Once the wax is compacted, drops can help soften it, but they don’t always clear it completely. What does mobile earwax removal actually mean? Mobile earwax removal simply means the appointment happens in your home rather than in a clinic. The steps don’t change. The visit starts with a look inside the ear using an otoscope. This checks whether wax is present, where it’s sitting, and whether it’s safe to remove it that day. If the ear can’t be seen properly, removal doesn’t go ahead. When removal is appropriate, microsuction is usually used. It’s a controlled suction method done under direct vision. No water is involved, and the process can be paused at any point. What a home visit is like in real terms
By Aarti Raicha December 29, 2025
For many adults, wax-related ear problems show up quietly. Speech may start to sound less clear, one ear may feel slightly fuller than the other, or listening may feel more tiring than usual, without any obvious pain to point to the ear as the cause. When symptoms develop this way, wax is rarely what people think of first. Changes in hearing or comfort are more often blamed on tiredness, sinus pressure, or simply getting older, and the ear canal is not always considered until the problem has been there for a while. Changes in Hearing Clarity Hearing often feels different before it feels reduced. Voices can start to sound flatter or harder to pick out, especially in places with background noise, even when nothing feels obviously quieter. It also tends to vary. Some days, one ear feels more affected than the other, or things seem clearer at one point in the day and less so later on, which makes it easy to assume the problem is temporary rather than ear-related. Because these changes build gradually, many people adapt without realising how much extra effort listening has begun to require. A Feeling of Fullness or Pressure Another change people commonly notice is a sense of fullness in the ear. This is often described as pressure or blockage, similar to the feeling some experience after swimming or during changes in air pressure. The sensation can become more noticeable when chewing, yawning, or lying on one side, and it may shift slightly depending on how the wax sits within the ear canal. As it is rarely painful, it is easy to tolerate for longer than expected. Over time, this constant awareness of the ear can become distracting, even if it never develops into sharp discomfort. Ringing or Internal Sounds
By Aarti Raicha December 20, 2025
Blocked ears are rarely dramatic at first, and for many adults the sensation builds gradually, with a feeling of fullness, mild muffling, or pressure that comes and goes, often becoming more noticeable in quiet rooms or during conversations where speech suddenly feels less clear than it used to. When this happens, the instinct is to “unblock” the ear as quickly as possible. People search for ways to clear wax, assuming it is a simple obstruction that needs to be removed. In practice, earwax blockage is more complex than it appears, and many attempts to unblock it at home end up making the problem harder to resolve. Why Ear Wax Builds Up in Adults Earwax is a normal and necessary part of ear health. It protects the ear canal, traps dust and debris, and helps prevent infection. In most people, wax gradually moves out of the ear on its own as the jaw moves during talking and chewing. In adults, however, this process does not always work as smoothly. Wax can become drier with age, ear canals can narrow slightly, and the natural movement that helps wax migrate outward may slow. Hearing aid use, earbud use, and repeated attempts to clean the ears can also interfere with this self-cleaning process. Over time, wax that would normally exit the ear can compact deeper inside the canal, leading to blockage. Misunderstanding Blocked Ears Many people think of blocked ears as similar to a blocked nose, something that can be cleared quickly with the right technique. This comparison is misleading. Ear wax does not dissolve easily, and once it has compacted, it often behaves more like a plug than a soft build-up. Attempts to flush it out, soften it too aggressively, or remove it manually can push it further in rather than clearing it. This is why people often report that their ears feel worse after trying to unblock them themselves, even though they intended to fix the problem. Common Home Methods