This is wrong (not that ears are self-cleaning, but that you never have to clean your ears yourself), or else ENTs wouldn't pick earwax out of ears and doctors

This is wrong (not that ears are self-cleaning, but that you never have to clean your ears yourself), or else ENTs wouldn't pick earwax out of ears and doctors wouldn't do ear flushes. Like me, I have Tinnitus in my ears, and when the earwax builds up it gets 2-3x worse. I was starting to get real distressed about it, then went to an ENT, and he picked out a bunch of ear wax, and now the Tinnitus is manageable again. Still there, but quieter and easier to ignore. I agree (and have been told by doctors) you should never use Q-Tips, though. That often does more harm than good (pushes ear wax further into your ear). But there are other things, like Debrox, that can help you remove earwax without sticking Q-tips in your ears.