Ear Health Check and Wax Removal

The demand for ear and hearing healthcare services is growing rapidly due to an ever-increasing ageing population, exposure to loud noises such as music and machinery, the increased use of headphones, and even the way we clear our ears using cotton ear buds has an adverse effect to our daily lives.

The current patient pathway to ear and hearing healthcare can be both disjointed and relatively inaccessible. Many patients move from appointment to appointment, spread over several weeks, if not months. The average waiting time for patients to receive treatment was 12-16 weeks (pre-Covid), this has now grown substantially. Not only that, but most GPs have also stopped offering wax removal as a service (BBC), which has a significant impact on access and wellbeing.

Delivering ear and hearing healthcare services within communities makes care more accessible for all, and helps to reduce the outpatient burden on secondary settings, in line with the “NHS Long Term Plan.”

For younger people, hearing loss can affect their education and social life. For older people, it can lead to social isolation, dementia and an increased risk of falls.

Proactive Physical Health

Why Hearing Health Matters?

Good ear and hearing health is important to people of all ages and helps us to get the most out of life. When our ability to hear deteriorates it requires more energy for us to listen and participate in daily life, which can lead to becoming socially isolated as people find it harder to engage with loved ones.

Whilst it is common for certain people to attend routine health check-ups such as eye and teeth procedures on a regular basis, our ears are often left forgotten. This should not be the case. Hearing loss has huge social implications on our quality of life. Hearing loss, if left untreated, can lead to increased risk of falls, social isolation, and is also known to be the single largest modifiable risk factor for the prevention of dementia. Not only that we are often unaware of what we cannot hear, that’s why regular ear and hearing health check-ups are essential.

Proactive Physical Health

Signs to look out for:

There are a range of signs to watch out for which could indicate you have an ear or hearing problem:

Loss of hearing
Earache
Discomfort
Discharge
Ears feeling full
Ringing
Itching
Loss of balance
Dizziness
Coughing
Turning up the volume
Moving closer to those talking
Asking people to repeat themselves
Concentrating harder than normal to listen

These can be signs that a change has occurred in your ears and you should get them checked.

Proactive Physical Health

The Solution:

The Tympa system is the world’s first all-in-one ear and hearing healthcare assessment device. It is the most advanced, comprehensive, handheld ear and hearing healthcare device and diagnosis platform available to healthcare providers.

This technology brings together three different diagnostic and treatment systems into one hand-held portable system;

High-definition digital otoscopy (to capture HD image and video)
Microsuction wax removal (The industry gold standard)
Hearing screening test…

…All in a single 30-minute appointment.
This information can be quickly and easily shared, via a professional PDF, with ENT surgeons, audiologists or GPs, should the patient need onward specialist treatment.

Our experienced Specialist Nurse Practitioner has been trained by the Tympa Health experts in Audiology and ENT, and is officially accredited by ENT UK, The British Society of Audiology (BSA) and The British Society of Hearing Aid Audiologists (BSHAA). No other programme in the UK offers this unique level of accreditation.

Proactive Physical Health

Simple diagnosis & treatment:

During a Tympa appointment your clinician will be able to assess your ears, and if wax is present, gently remove it with microsuction. Microsuction is the gold standard of wax removal and is considered safer than other methods such as irrigation.

Once wax has been removed a hearing screening can be performed. This will identify whether you have a level of hearing loss. If you do have a hearing loss your clinician may refer you to an audiologist for further investigation. However, in many cases, the initial problem could’ve simply been down to the presence of wax itself.

Proactive Physical Health

Key Stats:

“In the UK, it is estimated that 2.3 million people each year have problems with earwax sufficient to need intervention.” (The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence)
“1 in 5 adults in the UK alone are affected by hearing loss.” (Royal National Institute for Deaf People)
“Hearing loss will overtake diabetes and cataracts as one of the top 10 UK disease burdens by 2030.” (Action Plan on Hearing Loss)
“Out of 96 million outpatient procedures performed in the NHS during 2019/20, Ear, Nose and Throat procedures were in the top 10.” (Hospital Episode Statistic Data 2020).
“In 2018, 435,500 microsuction wax removal procedures took place, costing on average £140 per patient,” (NHS Digital 2018/HES data).
“Hearing loss is the largest modifiable risk factor for age related dementia – responsible for over 8% of cases of dementia among older adults.” (WHO, World Report on Hearing, 2021).