Ear Fullness and Aching

I have Ear Fullness and Aching in both ears going on 3 months since I got slight high frequency noise induced hearing loss (NIHL) with tinnitus. I was wondering if anyone else has experienced this from NIHL for such a long period of time. I've read that NIHL can cause this, but I haven't read any cases where it lasted more then a few weeks.

 

hello , depends on the severity , some times last weeks , months , years . but in general no one can say "it will last this or that time"

 

Hi mate. I am in a very similar boat to you!

Around 3 months ago, I also acquired tinnitus and a slight high frequency loss, but only in one ear. I got mine from listening to music through earbuds. I also had a bad reaction to some medication a couple of weeks prior to the hearing loss, which I think might have left my ears more susceptible to damage.

Like you, I also still experience fullness and a dull ache in my affected ear. We are most likely suffering from Tonic Tensor Tymany Syndrome (TTTS). This is when small muscles inside the ear contract in an effort to protect us from sound. This contraction is a normal occurence when anyone is subjected to extremely loud, harmful noise. However, with TTTS, these muscles contract even for normal, harmless noise, which leads to aches and feelings of fullness.

TTTS occurs very commonly after suffering a hearing loss. It might occur because we have devleoped a negative emotional reaction to sound, or it might also be a side-effect of hyperacusis, where our brain has turned the volume up too high in response to the hearing loss. See these links for more information:

http://hearinglosshelp.com/blog/do-i-have-tonic-tensor-tympani-syndrome-ttts/
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23571302

In any case, if you are indeed experiencing TTTS, it will not do you any harm, so try not to worry about it. It is simply your tensor tympani muscle working over-time. From reading around this forum, it seems to be extremely common in the months following a noise-induced hearing loss. Luckily, it almost always resolves within a few months to a year. I imagine that this happens because our hyperacusis and negative emotional reaction to sound subsides with time.

Anyway, good luck! I'm right there with you!

 

I had a feeling of 'tired ears' and mild aching that developed about a month after being exposed to a gunshot indoors. It lasted for a couple of weeks on and off but mostly went away after i spent a week in very quiet surroundings staying at my parents house. For weeks after i had a slight feeling of pain that would come and go, mostly at night in one ear or the other for short amounts of time. Now it seems to have gone away.
Give it time, stay out of noise for a long while and get lots of rest and eat/live healthy

 

@patrick james I'm not sure if you are still chasing an answer.

After the stupid rock concert my T - ears started to ring. I got ear fullness and aching to add to the noise like @Sebastians a month after too. It took to the 4th month for the pressure and soreness to start to reduce. By month 7th it was more soreness and aching and 13 months later that's where I am still at. Honestly i dont know if i hate the ear pain or tinnitus noises more!

I'd be extremely happy if one day I didn't feel any ear discomfort ever more! It sucks.

 

I am in a similar boat now too. Went to a rock show in a club almost 4 weeks ago. My tinnitus has been louder but I also hear things more muffled and my ears feel sensitive and full all the time. It's gotten only slightly better since it started but loud noises seem to set it off again. I don't have hearing loss as I just literally took a hearing test an hour ago and passed it. My ears just feel so strange. I wish I would have stayed home that night.