Ear Scope turns wax removal into primetime entertainment

If there's one thing more satisfying than picking one's nose, it's shoving a finger or Q-tip deep into your ear canal and emerging with that big hunk of wax which has been muffling your hearing for the last few weeks. Now ear cleaning is usually part of a multi-tasked routine -- you dig around in there while watching TV, taking a bath, or sitting in a meeting -- but if you'd like to take your aural hygiene to the next level of fun and excitement, Japan's Coden has just the tools to kick it up a notch. Imagine if you can the wild and crazy times you could have with the company's line of Ear Scopes, which combine a pick with a small video camera and allow you to actually watch what's going on while you scrape around and try to avoid puncturing your eardrum. The GXL model comes with a personal eyepiece which is employed in the manner pictured above, while the Ear Scope TV sports a separate LCD screen for a bigger view and possible screening sessions for your weirdo friends. The 'Scopes start at about 16,800 yen ($140), but the hours of enjoyment you'll get from viewing your own ear pr0n are priceless. Also, if anyone owns one of these, please send us some screencaps of your favorite picking sessions: we'll take the best action shots and post 'em up in a gallery. Keep reading to check out the ESTV along with some hot in-ear footage...

[Via Plastic Bamboo]

[Andrew @ Mar 1st 2007 1:22PM]

fucking awesome... I'm gonna get one and hook it up to my projector!

[Chris Harrison @ Mar 1st 2007 1:43PM]

Oooh... a video game for the elderly!

[R @ Mar 2nd 2007 1:15AM]

Hey, I resemble that!

[CowboyGA @ Mar 1st 2007 1:53PM]

Ohh, me want. How weird is this? The dangers of popping you eardrum made for a real life video game. At least it's better than going to the doctor to have a humiliating irrigation.

[am @ Mar 1st 2007 1:57PM]

1080i or p?

Ok, so this seems like the perfect time to ask: What kinds of implements do Engadget readers use for ear wax picking?

My tools of the trade:

- End of eyeglasses (always handy!)
- ballpoint pen cap (contoured edge)
- Less frequently: scissors (don't try at home); screwdrivers (flathead); paperclips

Need something more gadgety? Ok, my Sony in-ear headphone pick up a bunch of stuff sometimes. It's gross, but an interesting window into the dynamics of your ear canal.

If I had one of these cameras, I could put together a pretty nice Flickr stream of the relative merits of each implement.

[D @ Mar 1st 2007 2:32PM]

Wow... I use the same things!

I try mostly to stick to Q-tips, but I've occasionally had to resort to toothpicks. Once I had to use a small stick I'd stripped the bark from when a bug flew in my ear while I was out hiking.

[amy @ Mar 1st 2007 2:36PM]

am: what about the end of the plastic spoon that you get with delivered Chinese food? That extra little membrane-piercing nub of plastic acts as a professional-grade wax excavator.

[Paul @ Mar 1st 2007 2:33PM]

Dude, you left off my standby. Pencaps. They are awesome, but in a pinch a long fingernail works great.

Paper clips if I am desperate.

[Andy @ Mar 1st 2007 5:17PM]

Just go to any Japanese grocery or convenience store near you and buy an inexpensive ear pick. They sell them especially.

And don't use Q-tips, the doctor told my friend (before he professionally flushed his ears with pressured hot water) that q-tips push most of the stuff, instead of pulling it.

[Nick @ Mar 3rd 2007 1:28PM]

I use an old CPU-removing tool that I used to use to, well, pull out CPUs from mobos while working.
It's basically a long thin metal prong with an angled bit on the end that's brilliant for scooping and excavating that troublesome wax!

[Richard Lai @ Mar 1st 2007 2:00PM]

And the next version will include MP3 playback in the pick. Let the fun begin!

[Gil @ Mar 1st 2007 2:03PM]

I want this to hack it. It's basically a cheap optic fibre periscope

[kaybee @ Mar 1st 2007 2:10PM]

"...please send us some screencaps of your favorite picking sessions: we'll take the best action shots and post 'em up in a gallery."

^ I hope you aren't kidding because this could potentially double your hit count to engadget.com

[Brian @ Mar 1st 2007 2:15PM]

Yes, this device clearly needs video out. Imagine rooting around in your ear canal in 60-inch plasma goodness!

[am @ Mar 2nd 2007 10:51PM]

I mentioned the pen caps. As i type this, I am using the tube from the pump assembly of a Purell bottle. Pretty effective for wall-scraping.

[Ashish @ Mar 1st 2007 2:36PM]

That's disturbing... the device itself and the gallery of action shots.

[CBMTTek @ Mar 1st 2007 2:39PM]

I have a question.

Must I use this for the ear canal only? Or, can I put it into service for any bodily orifice?

I'm going to have to go in for a colonoscomy this year, and I was hoping to avoid that embarassement of getting it done at the doctor's office.

[Jeff @ Mar 1st 2007 4:08PM]

CBMTTek: You could probably use it anywhere although I would think if you went rectally with it that would be the only place it would go from then on. Especially if you were hankering to check out your nose or mouth :)

Actually something like this would be fantastic for anything... I have a 'something" up on the inside of my nose (in that cavity right behind the tip) like an ingrown hair, plus I have a coupe errant hairs in my ears which make a "thwapping" noise that I'd like to pluck but can't see (obviously). Plus being able to look inside your own mouth would be much cooler than having the dentist do it for you (and trust he's honest in what he sees).

[RichC @ Mar 1st 2007 2:44PM]

You've proceeded to gross out my lunch: "-- you dig around in there while watching TV, taking a bath, or sitting in a meeting --" Ugh!
;-)

[Craig @ Mar 1st 2007 2:59PM]

If this were available in the US, I'd buy one just so I could claim to have punctured my eardrum with it. A quick phone call to a personal-injury lawyer and I'd be sitting on a big fat stack of cash! Booyah!

[CBMTTek @ Mar 1st 2007 3:21PM]

I believe there is a test or reasonableness on that type of lawsuit. A reasonable person would stop shoving an item into their ear canal when it starts to hurt. While I know there are dozens of lawyers that would take on the case, I am pretty sure it would never make it to trial.

[kjans @ Mar 1st 2007 3:30PM]

Does anyone know where this can be purchased in the US?

This device has hundreds of uses for a technical person.
Come-on people, think outside the box, it's not just for
looking in your ear!

Is anyone from Thinkgeek.com listening?

[Scooter @ Mar 1st 2007 3:45PM]

Wow... There really is air in there.

This is a cool gadget to have around the house, but at $140 dollars... pass...

Scooter
http://www.gadgetgrid.com/

[Ted Brown @ Mar 1st 2007 4:21PM]

"Upon buying this device I'd be inclined to peer into my girlfriend's vagina."

Ladies and Gentlemen, someone on the internet has a girlfriend.

[dan @ Mar 1st 2007 4:32PM]

I want one too!

Can anyone read Japanese?
http://www.coden.co.jp/earscope.htm

Here's a few videos of it in use:
http://www.coden.co.jp/Apercu1.mpg
http://www.coden.co.jp/Attentions1.mpg

[Husker @ Mar 1st 2007 4:57PM]

This almost looks like more fun than masturbating.

[Leo Lee @ Mar 2nd 2007 6:03AM]

Any Asian market will do. Ah... the good ol' days when you had to have the ladyfriend dig your ear out while you laid your head in her lap...

My grandpa used to use the mouthend of his thin Asian little pipe thingy... sick... I'm pretty sure earwax doesn't work as well as Blistex or Chapstick... :Op

[timak @ Mar 1st 2007 5:17PM]

Lab 14 - That was the first thing I thought of as well...

[nd4speed @ Mar 1st 2007 5:29PM]

Hi-Def garlic enemia action coming to TV near you. Just the thing to whet you're appetite before lunch. Fire up those Slingboxes and Tivos everyone.

[mike @ Mar 1st 2007 6:38PM]

I dont think your girlfriends would enjoy having their vagina poked with a pointy tip, it could be painful. And if your the type who has that "special" type of girlfriend, you may poke a hole in her and she would deflate.

[Dave @ Mar 1st 2007 9:10PM]

You can find these on eBay. Search for "ES74-GXL."

I got one a few months ago.

[acemenace @ Mar 1st 2007 9:51PM]

This is nothing but a DIY Mod of a home Colonoscopy test.

[My Next Auctions @ Mar 1st 2007 10:04PM]

Cool gadget, do they have this stuff on eBay? I would love to bid it on my next auctions!

http://www.myauctionfeedback.com/

[choihochong @ Mar 2nd 2007 2:48AM]

Can it use Wiimote to play?

[djmcmanus @ Mar 2nd 2007 8:59AM]

Yes, but how will it be used for Porn?

[AiboPet2003 @ Mar 2nd 2007 10:15AM]

LOL! First thing I thought of was all the technical stuff I could do with this. Look REAL close at a motherboard, see what the inside of my Viewsonic monitor looks like without tearing it apart. Look inside an engine cylinder for scoring, an intake manifold....etc. Look inside of or around anything you don't wanna get "into".

[Wesley @ Mar 2nd 2007 10:35AM]

hey guys.. speaking from a medical perspective..

there is no need for ear digging. your ear has its own hairs that can remove the wax that it produces. ever remember a point of time when wax just drops out of your ear without any digging? when digging, especially using cotton buds, just pushes the wax deeper into the ear where there is no hair to sweep it out. essentially u'd be packing your ear canal like how u pack tabacco into a pipe.. that is when u'll have to head down to the docs for an irrigation..

[am @ Mar 2nd 2007 10:52PM]

i agree with you re the q-tips, but digging does work if you have a delicate touch. you can pull all kinds of stuff out that just doesn't get ejected by your body. it's like your nose: sometimes you have to....blow it.

[Jappleng @ Mar 3rd 2007 11:49PM]

I'm waiting for the 'Doom' mod. Common, wouldn't it be neat if it could recognize different chunks for different monsters and show up as Imps and stuff on-screen?

[Rosie @ Mar 25th 2007 7:31PM]

Instead of looking into your ear, is there a button you can flick so that you can hear your eye?

[glenn @ Nov 21st 2007 3:32PM]

How can one purchase these???