Bending Over, Yawning, and Pressing on Ear Cause Tinnitus to Increase

Hi Everyone,

I am new here. I've been reading through lots of posts and there seems to be a wealth of knowledge amongst the members, so I was hoping you could help educate me.

Up until about 3 months ago, I've had very mild tinnitus for as long as I can remember. I experienced it as a very high pitched and constant ringing in both ears that I mainly only heard in complete silence. It never bothered me and was completely used to it. 3 months ago though, I noticed one night in bed as I was lying on my left ear, that the sound was much increased and had changed a bit. The constant ringing is still there, but louder, and there's also this oscillating, non-rhythmic lower pitch ring as well. It's only in my left ear and the volume increases substantially when I bend-over, yawn, or press on the left ear.

Can anyone explain the mechanism of why those actions would increase the volume and if that might point to a particular cause?

I am a 40-year-old male, have no history of trauma or other related medical conditions, and have not been to a doctor yet.

Thanks!

 

Welcome to the forum. Tinnitus is sometimes hard to predict or find its cause(s). Being not a doctor without an examination, all we can do is speculate on your condition. First thing comes to mind is that you have somatic tinnitus. That means your tinnitus can be affected by some body action or posture. There can be many possible reasons, such as ETD, blood pressure, or some issues with inner ears like fluid or wax build up. The best thing is to find an ENT to rule out anything wrong inside first. Then once the cause is found, you can try to fix it and hopefully your T will diminish or back to base line as it used to be. Good luck. Take care. God bless.

 

I have somatic tinnitus more extreme than yours that changes pitch/volume with a lot of movements. I went for massages, chiropractor, acupuncture as well as numerous tests, but they did not help. I went through a long period of search for the cause, but now I think it was caused by loud noise exposure as I was exposed to loud music numerous times during that period. I was also under a lot of stress during that period. Hope this helps.

 

Hi,

I have the same thing. Not when I yawn but when I bend and when I press on the effected area or on my head on the side of my temporal lobe the tinnitus starts getting more high pitched. It sounds like sand hitting a glass real quick.
I’m going to go to an upper cervical chiro and physio to check it out. I dont have any noise trauma so I believe it may be that. I’ll keep you posted.

 

Hi,

Has it quitened down for you at all? And did you go to an upper cervical chiro?

Thanks.

 

Yes, I went to a NUCCA chiropractor for seven months but saw no difference in my sound.

 

Ahh that’s no fun. Have you tried anything else that has helped out at all or just come to accept it. Is your tinnitus reactive at all? I find somatic ones a little more reactive like when I'm next to electronics or driving even it goes haywire and makes sure to scream on top of any external noise.

 

I have come to accept it, since I believe it is noise induced and there is not much I can do. I did a hearing test up to 20 khz and have some mild hearing loss in the upper ranges; the hearing loss is a bit worse in my right ear so is my tinnitus. I think I have reactive tinnitus but not as others describe. Mine doesn't really get worse or louder with outside noise, but the sound itself changes in pitch. But I have gotten temporary new tones that dissipated (from the plastic pop sound of containers, etc.). I know it reacts to sound sometimes. However it reacts more to movements. I think the tinnitus is caused by hearing loss, but the stress made it somatic.

 

I always have high pitched tinnitus regardless but when I press the temporal artery I hear a whoosh every single time in my left ear which is obviously because of a change in blood pressure. God knows how that can be fixed.

 

I have the same issue. Bending over or lifting anything moderately heavy puts pressure in my head and it increases tinnitus. I do have moderately high blood pressure: 140-145/80-85.

Waiting to take doctor ordered MRA, sleep study etc. And my ENT ordered ear MRI.

Right now I sleep with a wedge pillow, which seems to help slightly. I can't turn my head to the side and sleep because that makes my tinnitus explode like it did 10 minutes ago... Aaghh, this is tiring.