Improving My Hearing

I was going to post this as response to another’s question, but then thought I should make a new thread so more people could see it. 
 

I have seen comments here regarding hearing difficulties as we get older.  At 71, I am not immune (though I have friends whose hearing is worse).  While I was seeing my doctor regarding another issue, I told her about a clicking noise from one ear — I thought maybe I had water stuck and tried to get it out, to no effect.  She asked me if I wanted to have my ears cleaned — “You do that here?  Sure!” 
 

She had a nurse that cleaned ears as a specialty.  The lady came in with her kit, examined my ears and then started flushing them with fluid.  She probed my ears with tweezers and had to flush them again.  Whatever was in there had adhered itself to my ear canals, and as she pulled and pried, I felt pinching pains.  Eventually she gets a grip and extracts a wad of furry content — it looked like a bee had died in my ear.  That was the ear I had problems with.  But then she removed a wad the same size from my other ear.  I was astounded!  I had tried on my own to clean my ears and felt the same pinching, but never produced much debris.  This was really stuck in there!  Afterward, I noticed that I could hear better. 
 

A friend my age has noticeable hearing loss and I was telling him about this.  He expressed interest and I asked the nurse about his getting such service.  She said my friend should ask his doctor, who would either have someone on staff to do it or could refer him to an ear-nose-throat specialist.  I thought maybe this information would be beneficial to members here.  We got to take care of our own equipment too!