I was experiencing some slight hearing loss because of a noisy environment at work. The audiologist looked in my ears and said she was worried that I might have done compacted earwax and asked if I used Q-tips. I sometimes did. She told me to stop and to clean them out by putting olive oil in each one, holding it for a while then letting it run out into tissue paper. I can't remember how much or for how long, but it definitely did the trick.

I can relate to the picture, very much, even though I don't use Q-tips any more.

I use drummer's ear buds now and they're great because my hearing recovered quite a lot, the tinnitus went away entirely and I can hear what people are saying when I'm wearing them.