High Pitch Tinnitus from Nowhere — Crackling Noise When Talking, Muffled Hearing When Working Out

I have been suffering from tinnitus for around 4 months with mine being a high pitch noise in my left ear.

I've been to see the GP once who said to go back but thanks to COVID-19 we have a 8 week wait so have had 2 telephone consultations.

The ringing is worse at night or in silence when I can hear it and I've noticed it appear in both ears now and then. I've tried a few home remedies without any success. My main symptoms include a weird crackling noise in my ear when I'm talking (I do a lot of presentations in my job) which seems to come and go. When I work out, my ear seems to be slightly muffled. I can't blow my left ear when holding nose and blowing out. The GP first suggested ETD but then backtracked as I had no pain or hearing loss. I just don't have any faith in them to diagnose me correctly and going private is going to be rather expensive.

Has anyone experienced anything similar and what worked? I've read about ear suction as a possible solution but ideally I want to identify what is going on.

 

ETD can get diagnosed using the camera that an ENT will put through the nasal passages... otherwise they do a Valsalva test. Without either of these, they cannot conclude anything about ETD.

Any thoughts?

Any reference for the ear suction method?

 

Your GP may not be the doctor to diagnose ETD. I agree with above poster that you need to see an ENT instead.

 

I have been struggling with tinnitus since January and recently it is starting to become very difficult. It appeared from nowhere in January, along with ETD, but then seemed to go away and reappeared in May.

I went to see the GP in February who put this down to stress COVID-19 has led to me loosing my business and sent me away with a few things to read and manage. It did seem to subside for a couple of months but returned and has not gone away since May. I had symptoms of ETD at the same time with crackling in ear, unable to blow ear etc but he said I have two separate issues.

I was referred to the hospital who carried out an audiology test and said there is no hearing loss - in fact, the audiologist commented it was the best hearing he had worked on for some time. He also commented its stress related and the fact it appears to be in one ear could be a one-off and it is actually in both ears but concentrated on one. They offered an MRI scan but kind of talked me out of it as he said it is unlikely to find anything given the perfect hearing and no other symptoms. I go to the gym 4 times per week and noticed that when my heart rate is very high, it does seem to be even worse. Also, if I sneeze the tinnitus goes very loud before subsiding again after a period of time.

I've started to experience a little of an ache in the ear and it just feels full even though I am able to clear it now by blowing my ear. I've even paid for a private consultation and he said he could not find anything obvious so to go back to NHS.

I was thinking it is stress related but small things recently have made me think it could be a combination of stress but also some form of ETD. Is it worth going back to the doctor again?

I do have a slight discomfort in the ear but when I was there in July he looked and said all looked good.

The constant ringing is starting to get me down a little now without any real reason why this is happening. I am just not happy to put this down to stress as its one ear but I am also having the crackling in ear etc.

 

Sorry to hear you’re having a tough time and many here can relate. The first ENT I saw in public basically told me to get used to it. I had to find a private ENT willing to test me for everything under the sun. They didn’t find anything wrong in my case, but they may have better luck with you. Keep in mind that some people got worse tinnitus from a noisy MRI machine, so perhaps take your own appropriate earplugs if you go down that route. Best of luck.

 

Given some of the symptoms that you have listed, and the fact that you have no sensorineural hearing loss, I’m wondering if you have TMJ. Are you a clencher or grinder at night? I really think that’s one of the reasons that stress is blamed for tinnitus is because it causes you to tense your jaw a lot, or clench or grind. Those muscles and nerves are all interrelated and can have a real impact on your hearing and tinnitus. I would see an ENT and get their advice as to whether or not that might be the cause.

Good luck.

 

I have been doing more research into this and I do think this could well be the case. I do have a very clicky jaw and I do have a tendency to grind my teeth. In fact, I often wake up with a sore mouth so this would explain it. The tinnitus does seem to change tone when I'm eating something hard for example or even moving my jaw.
I am speaking with my GP next week again and am hoping to take some guidance on the next step to help resolve this.

 

TMJ for sure.

 

Has anyone had any success with at home relief for somatic tinnitus?

I'm suffering badly at the moment with ringing in the left ear, and the tone changes when moving jaw (significant) and head to the left and right and front (less so).

I've watched some YouTube videos but not sure how effective they are.

I'm booked to see a chiropractor soon too.