WEIRD SCIENCE

Heavy metal that left mechanic deaf

A MAN was left temporarily deaf from a DIY accident after a drop of molten metal solidified in his ear canal.

The 60-year-old Australian was lying under his car using a welding torch when a drop of hot liquid steel fell into his left ear.

He says that he heard a ‘firecracker’ sound before losing all hearing in the ear, according to the medical journal BMJ Case Reports.

Doctors found that his eardrum had torn, which had caused the hearing loss, but also that the metal had solidified in his ear.

The man had to wait eight weeks for surgery, but in the end surgeons got the metal out and his hearing returned.