I'll share my experience from this morning which was the first time I had been to an audiologist. My appointment was a little scattered as they apparently had me down for a hearing aid - even though I specifically stated I was getting custom in ear musicians monitors and needed ear impressions when I called. Anyways, I had added a hearing test so I could get a baseline. At that time, she checked my ears and noticed the left was clear and right was pretty blocked. She fit me in with the ENT across the hall and rather than flushing my ear, he used a tool to pluck the wax and I won't lie, it was fairly uncomfortable but only for a really brief time. I didn't realize how blocked it was until he did that! I asked what I could do at home to keep this from happening and they said not to change a thing. Ear wax is naturally produced by the body to remove foreign bodies, water and dirt and at times, we can build up too much. If you think there's an issue, you should call your primary care doc or ENT and they can quickly remedy the situation. With customs being fairly deep, he mentioned I would know there's an issue if I start seeing wax when I remove them. If the office has ENT's they should be able to clean your ears as I don't think (but am not positive) that audiologists do this. That might be why some folks have been asked to reschedule. Maybe call the office and check so you're not surprised?
The impressions: they put in the otto blocks and it was kind of uncomfortable and then fill your ears for the impressions. It's kind of fun to hear how much sound it takes out of the room. The audiologist I saw did two sets - one with a bite block/mouth open and one with my mouth relaxed and closed to cover all bases. You will drool with your mouth open - kind of unavoidable. My charge was $50 total and they put them in a box with all of my info on the side and gave it to me to mail out. They're on their way to Dale and his team as we speak
I really can't wait to see the end result!