full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Henry Ou: What is earwax — and should you get rid of it?

Unscramble the Blue Letters


Meanwhile, sticking items in your ears to extract eawrax yourself can make things worse. Even if swabbing removes a little earwax, it may push more back in. And it can leave scratches in the ear canal’s skin, disrupting its natural barrier against infections. Deep cleaning also runs the risk of potfirenrag your earrudm, which can cause permanent dagmae and hearing loss.

Some services pimorse to clear earwax— but should be avoided. Ear candling or coning involves a hololw candle lit on fire and placed over the ear canal. It’s claimed that this generates enough air current to pull earwax out. However, researchers have found that the amount of suction generated is minimal and that what’s visible at the end is likely drbies from the candle itself— not ettceraxd earwax. In reliaty, the pcaricte can lead to injuries and leave debris in the ears.

Open Cloze


Meanwhile, sticking items in your ears to extract ______ yourself can make things worse. Even if swabbing removes a little earwax, it may push more back in. And it can leave scratches in the ear canal’s skin, disrupting its natural barrier against infections. Deep cleaning also runs the risk of ___________ your _______, which can cause permanent ______ and hearing loss.

Some services _______ to clear earwax— but should be avoided. Ear candling or coning involves a ______ candle lit on fire and placed over the ear canal. It’s claimed that this generates enough air current to pull earwax out. However, researchers have found that the amount of suction generated is minimal and that what’s visible at the end is likely ______ from the candle itself— not _________ earwax. In _______, the ________ can lead to injuries and leave debris in the ears.

Solution


  1. reality
  2. eardrum
  3. damage
  4. promise
  5. extracted
  6. practice
  7. perforating
  8. earwax
  9. debris
  10. hollow

Original Text


Meanwhile, sticking items in your ears to extract earwax yourself can make things worse. Even if swabbing removes a little earwax, it may push more back in. And it can leave scratches in the ear canal’s skin, disrupting its natural barrier against infections. Deep cleaning also runs the risk of perforating your eardrum, which can cause permanent damage and hearing loss.

Some services promise to clear earwax— but should be avoided. Ear candling or coning involves a hollow candle lit on fire and placed over the ear canal. It’s claimed that this generates enough air current to pull earwax out. However, researchers have found that the amount of suction generated is minimal and that what’s visible at the end is likely debris from the candle itself— not extracted earwax. In reality, the practice can lead to injuries and leave debris in the ears.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
skin cells 3
ear canal 3
dead skin 2


Important Words


  1. air
  2. amount
  3. avoided
  4. barrier
  5. canal
  6. candle
  7. candling
  8. claimed
  9. cleaning
  10. clear
  11. coning
  12. current
  13. damage
  14. debris
  15. deep
  16. disrupting
  17. ear
  18. eardrum
  19. ears
  20. earwax
  21. extract
  22. extracted
  23. fire
  24. generated
  25. generates
  26. hearing
  27. hollow
  28. infections
  29. injuries
  30. involves
  31. items
  32. lead
  33. leave
  34. lit
  35. loss
  36. minimal
  37. natural
  38. perforating
  39. permanent
  40. practice
  41. promise
  42. pull
  43. push
  44. reality
  45. removes
  46. researchers
  47. risk
  48. runs
  49. scratches
  50. services
  51. skin
  52. sticking
  53. suction
  54. swabbing
  55. visible
  56. worse