Deaf beardie?

I know that beardies are supposed to hear very well and be able to sense vibrations, but mine doesnt seem to react to noise other than tapping on glass which sends vibrations through the tank, or maybe he can hear it, idk. Is it obvious when they hear a noise and react? I read about beardies tilting heads reacting to different voice tones. Also I did a very bad thing the other day and feel very bad, I gave my beardie a bath and his ear was fully of water so I took a q tip to dry it out and he jerked his head twords the swab (which didnt have much fluff) and jammed it into his ear. While I think hes fine because his behavior hasnt changed at all and he doesnt seem stressed, and the skin membrane looks perfectly fine compared to the other one, is there any chance that this caused damage that I cant see or would it also be obvious.

Edit: also he didnt react to sounds since I got him, this isnt a new thing that happened after the cotton swab incident, I rode with him 9 hours in an old loud uhaul and he didnt seem to care at all for example (this is also before the q tip

From what I've seen they don't always react to sounds even if they can hear them.