Ear candling
WWCASE
mentioned that he used ear candles to help him hear better. No one
had heard of such a thing, so my daughters searched some out at the
local GNC store and lit me up. These things are about a foot long,
and you stick the narrow end in your ear and then light the cone that
is about an inch wide at the far end. You let it burn until there's
about four inches left, and during that time your ear is filled with
warm aromatic smoke, and it appears to suck crap out of your ear.
Holy psychic surgery! In the spirit of $500.00 cables, I must profess
that I do indeed seem to hear better after the process. I suppose
this is the complement of the Naim pitch about what's upstream in the
audio process - if it all leads to a dam it doesn't matter how pure
the spring is. Placebo, or is wax-free a more enlightened path than
oxygen-free? Hey, it was a $4.00 experiment, and the label even
lists ISBN 0-0672708-0-4 for Wally's 64-page Practical Guide to Ear
Candling "white paper", or visit http://www.wallysnatural.com.
Bill Case
MtryCraft
>Date: 8/11/01 5:03 PM !!!First Boot!!!
>Message-id: <9l3og...@enews1.newsguy.com>
Just another mythology that has made it to the world of alternate audio. You
may be interested in reading about it form other objective sources though:
http://www.quackwatch.com/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/candling.html
R. J. Salvi
something else you can try...get yourself a pair of foam ear plugs
(I use them for playing drums) and pop them in your ear about a half
to a full hour before you listen to any music. After that time frame,
pull'em out and listen. It's an interesting exercise unless your
loudspeakers are inherently bright. :-)
--
Robert J. Salvi, Ambiance Acoustics
http://www.ambianceacoustics.com
San Diego, CA USA
(858) 485-7514
"WWCASE" <wwc...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:9l3og...@enews1.newsguy.com...
PETEKOW
too close to my melon. The only positive result to post is that
nothing caught on fire.
Pete
Peter Larsen
> Not having done it, I can't comment on ear candles,
Even though alt.support.tinnitus occasionally resembles alt.warzone ear
candling happens to be one notion that I think there is UNIVERSAL
agreement on warning against, it is folly, it is madness, it is
quackery. DO NOT DO IT.
> but here's something else you can try...get yourself a pair
> of foam ear plugs (I use them for playing drums) and pop
> them in your ear about a half to a full hour before you listen
> to any music. After that time frame, pull'em out and listen.
Any transistion from earplugged to unplugged state should be done under
conditions of as silent as possible so as to allow the ear to gain
awareness that now it has to adapt to a world that is at most 40 dB
louder. Your suggestion is in my best opinion UNSAFE.
> It's an interesting exercise unless your
> loudspeakers are inherently bright. :-)
That really should have brought home the point for you. Now ... on to
the simple risk this is about:
> > I'll offer something off the wall. The wife of a music director
> > mentioned that he used ear candles to help him hear better. No one
> > had heard of such a thing, so my daughters searched some out at the
> > local GNC store and lit me up. These things are about a foot long,
> > and you stick the narrow end in your ear
VIOLATES RULE NR. ONE ABOUT EARS: NEVER INSERT ANYTHING SMALLER THAN AN
ELBOW. I will not contest that the required relaxation probably is
helpful. There is however a simple mechanical risk of irrepairable ear
trauma involved that rules this out as NOT EVER SAFE.
> > Holy psychic surgery! In the spirit of $500.00 cables, I must profess
> > that I do indeed seem to hear better after the process.
That puts it nicely in context. Relaxing helps you to hear better. A 15
minute nap also helps, simply because hearing is done WITH THE BRAIN, an
implement that is characterized by having best functionality when
rested.
> > I suppose
> > this is the complement of the Naim pitch about what's upstream in the
> > audio process - if it all leads to a dam it doesn't matter how pure
> > the spring is. Placebo, or is wax-free a more enlightened path than
> > oxygen-free? Hey, it was a $4.00 experiment, and the label even
> > lists ISBN 0-0672708-0-4 for Wally's 64-page Practical Guide to Ear
> > Candling "white paper", or visit http://www.wallysnatural.com.
> >
> > Bill Case
> >
--
*************************************************************
* This posting handcrafted by Peter Larsen, MCSE *
* My default email address is: muyio...@yahoo.com *
* My site is at: http://www.muyiovatki.dk *
*************************************************************
Matt Collier
some research. My understanding of this practice is as follows.
1. A burning ear candle creates no "vacuum" and hence no suction.
2. Unless you have a perforated ear drum, there is no "path" to suck
any "crap" from.
3. The "crap" is melted wax and other materials from the candle
itself.
4. The risk of burning material falling into your ear surely outweigh
any benefit real or imagined.
R. J. Salvi
news:9l7f83$ii0$1...@bourbaki.localdomain...
> "R. J. Salvi" wrote:
>
> > Not having done it, I can't comment on ear candles,
>
> Even though alt.support.tinnitus occasionally resembles alt.warzone ear
> candling happens to be one notion that I think there is UNIVERSAL
> agreement on warning against, it is folly, it is madness, it is
> quackery. DO NOT DO IT.
I believe I said that I had *not* done it, but if it makes you feel better,
I have no compulsion to try it either.
> > but here's something else you can try...get yourself a pair
> > of foam ear plugs (I use them for playing drums) and pop
> > them in your ear about a half to a full hour before you listen
> > to any music. After that time frame, pull'em out and listen.
>
> Any transistion from earplugged to unplugged state should be done under
> conditions of as silent as possible so as to allow the ear to gain
> awareness that now it has to adapt to a world that is at most 40 dB
> louder. Your suggestion is in my best opinion UNSAFE.
Foam earplugs do not completely block sound. You can hear others speak to
you unless they're whispering and you can hear a CPU fan and keyboard
strokes while working on a PC. IOW, you're not in sonic "blackness," which
makes the difference in noise floor between plugged and unplugged far less
than 40dB in this case.
While I'm keenly aware that the #1 cause to triggering tinnitus is exposure
to loud noise, I sincerely doubt that most rational individuals are going to
make it a ritual to insert and remove foam ear plugs as a precursor to
critical listening at 100dB. However, if the individual is not "rational,"
then there is cause for concern. But "UNSAFE"? No, I'd say the 5th row back,
center stage at a Motley Crue gig is "UNSAFE."
> > It's an interesting exercise unless your
> > loudspeakers are inherently bright. :-)
>
> That really should have brought home the point for you.
It did...the heightened aural sensitivity to high frequencies after removing
the ear plugs was rather intense, but not surprising.
analogkid
easily clogged with wax. You used to have to raise your voice for her
to hear properly and the volume she watched the TV at was obscene. She
had the ear candling done (by someone who does these things for a living
(I hesitate to use the word professional), not by a home kit) and she
could hear much better afterward. I don't need to yell anymore :). The
candles work by wicking the wax from the ear by capillary action, not
vacuum effect. She said the earwaxy wicks when removed were rather
disgusting to look at. I'm not sure how the whole process works, maybe
there's more to it, but it did work. Just my 2 cents
-=analog kid=-
MtryCraft
>Date: 8/13/01 5:24 PM !!!First Boot!!!
>Message-id: <9l92cp$2st$1...@bourbaki.localdomain>
>
>well this is kind a bit off topic, but my mom has small ear canals that
>easily clogged with wax. You used to have to raise your voice for her
>to hear properly and the volume she watched the TV at was obscene. She
>had the ear candling done (by someone who does these things for a living
>(I hesitate to use the word professional), not by a home kit) and she
>could hear much better afterward. I don't need to yell anymore :). The
>candles work by wicking the wax from the ear by capillary action, not
>vacuum effect. She said the earwaxy wicks when removed were rather
>disgusting to look at. I'm not sure how the whole process works, maybe
>there's more to it, but it did work. Just my 2 cents
>-=analog kid=-
Sorry, the candling doesn't work, period, not by vacuum and not by wicking.
Just more mythology.
Please refer to this link:
http://www.quackwatch.com/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/candling.html
Peter Larsen
> well this is kind a bit off topic, but my mom has small ear canals that
> easily clogged with wax.
In which case she should go see an ENT for advice and diagnosis. There
might be a simple reason for her wax problem and there might be a
non-simple reason. Simple reasons can include improper earwax removeal,
too frequent earwax removal, mechanical irritation. The wax is there by
design. The safe non-prescription method is to use the Remo-Wax kit,
commercially available at your nearby pharmacy. It should NOT be used
withour prior advice and instruction by an ENT. It should probably not
be relevant to use it more frequent than say every three months. The
ears are by design self cleaning and the process should not be unduly
interered with.
Don Pearce
wrote:
>analogkid wrote:
>
>> well this is kind a bit off topic, but my mom has small ear canals that
>> easily clogged with wax.
>
>In which case she should go see an ENT for advice and diagnosis. There
>might be a simple reason for her wax problem and there might be a
>non-simple reason. Simple reasons can include improper earwax removeal,
>too frequent earwax removal, mechanical irritation. The wax is there by
>design. The safe non-prescription method is to use the Remo-Wax kit,
>commercially available at your nearby pharmacy. It should NOT be used
>withour prior advice and instruction by an ENT. It should probably not
>be relevant to use it more frequent than say every three months. The
>ears are by design self cleaning and the process should not be unduly
>interered with.
A leading ENT specialist got it right.
Don't ever put anything smaller than your elbow in your ear.
d
_____________________________
Telecommunications consultant
http://www.pearce.uk.com
Kenneth Kirkpatrick
Oh sure, you start with ear candles, then to get more of the effect,
you move up to the Blackcats. That should do the trick. :-) Really,
this is a bad idea. Don't your ears burn enough following a cd
session? Ken
amansker
long ago using emperical evidence. Its amazing how the human psyche
"wants to believe."
Andy
WWCASE <wwc...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:9l3og...@enews1.newsguy.com...
Audio Guy
ear. ( a white candle does not produce brownish, yellowish looking
crap). I have not gone to the site referenced earlier but I did see
the wax that came out of my ears. I need to have my ears cleaned out
regulary (via the more traditional approach) so the fact that this
worked on my ears is not suprising.
The person who performed this on me put oil in my ear and massaged
all around the ear why the candle burned. Trust me---it worked.
Now whether it helped me enjoy audio to any greater extent is another
point of discussion
"amansker" <aman...@pacbell.net> wrote in message
news:9lrr8...@enews4.newsguy.com...
David M. Cook
>I have had this done and it was NOT candle wax that came out of my
>ear.
Have you tried sticking one of these candles in, say, the top of a
bottle, and then checking what happens?
>( a white candle does not produce brownish, yellowish looking
>crap).
Yes, it does. The products of *burning* can certainly be brownish or
yellowish. Does white paper produce only white ash when it burns?
>The person who performed this on me put oil in my ear and massaged
>all around the ear why the candle burned. Trust me---it worked.
I'm sure you're a fine fellow, but I don't think you're information
is very trustworthy on this particular issue. From the Quackwatch
site:
Dangers Reported
Candling poses several dangers, the most serious of which involve
burning caused by the hot wax. Candle manufacturers claim that
their candles will drip only down the outside of the ear, but
shamefully few direct the user to hold the candle horizontally to
prevent this. A 1996 survey of 144 ear, nose, and throat
physicians, found that 14 had seen patients who had been harmed by
ear candling, including at least 13 cases of external burns, 7
cases of ear canal obstruction with candle wax, and 1 perforated
eardrum.
Another case was reported by The London Free Press, a Canadian
newspaper. A woman who experienced stuffiness in the nose and ear
pains while scuba diving went to a local health-food store and was
referred to a "qualified" candler. During the "treatment," she felt
an intense burning in her ear. At the emergency room, attempts to
remove wax that had dripped from the candle onto her eardrum
failed. Surgery was required, and a hole in her eardrum was
discovered, which presumably was caused by the procedure. She
recovered fully, and luckily her hearing was not affected. The
practitioner apologized, compensated the woman, and stopped
performing ear coning.
See the Quackwatch site for the literature cites:
http://www.quackwatch.com/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/candling.html
Dave Cook
Alex Eisenhut
> ear. ( a white candle does not produce brownish, yellowish looking
> crap). I have not gone to the site referenced earlier but I did see
> the wax that came out of my ears. I need to have my ears cleaned out
> regulary (via the more traditional approach) so the fact that this
> worked on my ears is not suprising.
>
> The person who performed this on me put oil in my ear and massaged
>
What? "brownish, yellowish looking" oil perhaps?
Richard D Pierce
>I have had this done and it was NOT candle wax that came out of my
>ear.
How do you know?
>( a white candle does not produce brownish, yellowish looking
>crap).
Candles are notoriously inefficient combusters of hydrocarbons
like paraffin. Partially burnt candle was is typically stained
yellow to brown, depending upon how fuel-rich the flame is. IN
extreme cases of oxygen-poor burning, it leaves aresidue that's
almost black. Combined with other partial combustion products,
it can be oily or waxy.
>The person who performed this on me put oil in my ear and massaged
>all around the ear why the candle burned.
And that oil was WHAT color?
>Trust me---it worked.
Uh, well, from what you have said so far, in fact, it has only
strengthened my resolve NOT to have some beaded cook sticking
flaming objects in my ears.
Which reminds me of an "alarm clock" my grandfather bought on a
trip to New York one time. It was a 12" long candle, with the
shaft marked off in times, like "5:00 AM" "5:30 AM", "6:00 AM,"
and so forth. The instruction booklet read something like,
"insert up your butt until it reaches the desired wake up
time. Light the candle and sleep on your side."
--
| Dick Pierce |
| Professional Audio Development |
| 1-781/826-4953 Voice and FAX |
| DPi...@world.std.com |
MtryCraft
>Date: 9/4/01 9:42 PM !!!First Boot!!!
>Message-id: <9n3hr...@enews1.newsguy.com>
David, thanks for the detailed info on the side effects. I wonder how
much good it will do for many as they may turn it around and say that
no one is saying how many are helped:-) Some will just never be
skeptical, just accept any idea as having merit, a very common
attribute in audio and I in the general population as well. No
surprises.
John La Grou
>>dc...@redhat.com (David M. Cook)
>>Date: 9/4/01 9:42 PM !!!First Boot!!!
>>Message-id: <9n3hr...@enews1.newsguy.com>
>>
>>On 4 Sep 2001 15:48:32 GMT, Audio Guy <audi...@mindspring.com> wrote:
>>
>>>I have had this done and it was NOT candle wax that came out of my
>>>ear.
Forget ear candling. Get some Carbamide Peroxide 6.5% solution. Put a
few drops in your ear and let it sit there for a few minutes. Then
take a soft bulb ear syringe and gently rinse away the built-up wax.
Works every time, and your ENT will love you.
Best,
JL