This isn't the latest in headphone tech—it’s actually a new ear-cleaning machine called OtoSet. The yellowish fluid inside the device is water mixed with earwax!
Glands in our ear canals produce earwax to protect the delicate skin inside ears and to trap and remove germs and dust. Most people don’t need to clean earwax from their ears because the goo moves out of the ear canal naturally as you talk and chew. But for about one in five adults, and 1 in 10 kids, earwax builds up and becomes impacted, blocking the ear canal. “Sometimes earwax has been in there for decades,” says Diwan Sahil, co-founder of SafKan Health, the company behind OtoSet.
Impacted earwax can cause ear infections, dizziness, and difficulty hearing. But doctors warn that people shouldn’t try to remove blockages with cotton swabs or picks. This risks pushing wax deeper into the ear canal or puncturing the eardrum—the vibrating membrane at the back of the ear that allows you to hear.
Certain doctors can safely scrape or rinse out wax with special tools. Depending on the extent of wax buildup, removal can take up to 20 minutes. But OtoSet, which has recently been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, does the job in only five, completely hands-free, says Sahil. The machine has two chambers. Clean water from the upper chamber sprays into the ear canal, loosening earwax. Then the gunk is gently suctioned out of the ear into the lower chamber. Last, the earwax water is dumped out, and patients are left with wax-free ears.