Ear Getting Clogged After Exposed to Relatively Loud Sounds

[Aravind Pillai]

Hi all,

I have had tinnitus for over one month, I believe it's caused by stress. One day when I woke up, I had right ear clogged and ringing in that ear. After a month, I still have the ringing however clogged ear is on and off. I do notice that when I am exposed to relatively loud sound like my kid crying really loud or shrieking, it leads to my right ear getting clogged.

I saw an ENT and an audiologist and both reported no hearing loss. I don't see any fluctuations in my tinnitus level but I have this ear full sensation only in the right ear.

Also I am super scared, if I am doing more damage to my ear. Wearing ear plugs all the time is also not an option.

Has anyone experienced something like this?

Regards
Aravind

 

[Thuan]

Have your ear felt hot before this happen (could be from an infection that you did not notice)? Do you have allergies (sometimes they can cause ETD issue or infection)? Do you have jaw pain or neck pain (TMJ disorder)? Does your right ear hear sound a little bit lower in volume than your left ear (perhaps hearing loss)?

I would strongly suggest you go to your doctor asap (say it's urgent and make some excuses that it's urgent) to see if he/she can identify any obvious causes. If not then ask to for him to refer you to an ENT specialist and see if he can find anything your regular doc can't to rule out obvious causes. The ENT can also schedule for an audiologist for a hearing test to see if you have any hearing loss.

Don't wait on medical help! Sometimes they can help you if there's obvious causes or sometimes it's unfortunately here to stay. My biggest regret is waiting for medical help when I had an ear infection. Don't make a mistake like me and wait.

I would suggest you find some way to protect your ears. There's some ear muffs that doesn't completely block your hearing so you can still hear your kid crying. If your ears are damaged, relatively loud noises can cause more damage. It's a tough situation when you have to take care of your child but it's ultimately your decision to do some compromise if you want to protect your ears from future damage. If I were your situation I would find some way to wear ear muffs. Those kid screams and crying are too loud for my ears.

If you do try to protect your ear, be careful of ear plugs because putting them on wrong can cause more damage. There's also something call the occlusion effect (like the echo) that can make wearing earplugs worse.

 

[Mister Muso]

Firstly my tinnitus is noise induced. I still get a clogged ear feeling after a year of tinnitus. It's usually there in one ear most of the time, and gets worse after loud sounds. Apart from that, my symptoms have stabilised into a reasonably predictable pattern, so it isn't necessarily a cause for concern.

As you are raising a small child however, I fear you will need to always keep ear plugs in your pocket, and be ready to use them if you think your child might be about to cry. My kids were older when I got my tinnitus so I don't have practical experience of your situation though. If your tinnitus is stress related then it may go away again. I wish you good luck and hope things settle soon.

 

[Aravind Pillai]

Hi

@Thuan - I already went to an ENT and Audiologist. They both did all the tests and said the ears are fine and there is no hearing loss.

"Have your ear felt hot before this happen (could be from an infection that you did not notice)?"

What do you mean by this? When I am in a quiet place and hear the sound I feel my ears are hot. I thought that is because I am paying too much attention to the ear. What do you mean by mentioning an ear infection? Even if there was one, would it clear off by itself? Please let me know.

Regards
Aravind

 

[Thuan]

I don't think your ears can get hot by just reacting to sounds, at least that has never happened to me but I hope others can chime in with their experiences.

What I mean is that when your ear feels hot, there might be some inflammation going on inside, which could be a number of causes such as allergies, blocked eustachian tube and etc. However, if your ENT says it's fine, then unfortunately we're in the dark with unknown causes like many people in this forum. I'm so sorry that T developed for you. We know how scary it and stressful that is.

Since your T has developed early, there is still a good chance it will go away by itself. There are some success stories in the forum where people recover after a few months or even years. It takes a long time for some people to recover in their success stories.

If you think your ears could be very reactive to noise, then I would suggest you limit yourself to loud noises, which is hard to do in your situation but try as best as you can whenever you can get away with wearing ear muffs.

Don't give up hope and try to lessen your stress. But, don't hope on it everyday because it will just depress and stress you when it doesn't improve the next day.