I Developed Sound Distortion in One Ear — Will It Go Away?

Hi all,

About ten days ago, I started noticing a sound distortion in my right ear. I did not take any new medicine and there was no noise exposure.

There's a sense of vibration and sound distortion in that ear when there are sounds near it. This also happens when someone talks close to the ear (but not too close of course...).

Has anyone had that and did it clear out of its own? Looking for hope...

 

Depends on what's causing it. Some things do improve or resolve.

Have you seen an Otologist or an ENT?

 

Not yet, when I first developed tinnitus, they just told me to deal with it, but perhaps this time it could be ETD.

 

I got sound distortion from working out.

4 months later I still have it but it’s slowly getting better. It could be ETD, allergies or hydrops. Not sure to be honest. It’s horrible.

Take it easy and rest your ears and no exerting pressure on your head. No lifting heavy. This advice has been helping me.

 

Hi and thanks for replying. So you’re saying you got distortion from lifting weights?

 

Yeah, I had normal mild tinnitus in my right ear with mild hyperacusis. From lifting too much weight with earplugs in, it did something. I still can’t figure out what. I woke up the next day with bad sound distortion and bad hyperacusis. It sucks because all the ENTs think it’s from shooting guns 4 years ago.

It does not seem possible to me. I also think it could have something to do with getting COVID-19 back in November which was a month before the worsening. Also could be ETD. I still have no idea lol.

 

Oh you did the lifting with earplugs.

Luckily mine resolved itself after two weeks. I hope this helps whoever is reading this.

 

Hi, I am glad the distortions have been resolved for you but I want to note one interesting thing what I learned from reading this thread.

You say that you got dysacusis and even hyperacusis from lifting weights, therefore it means that hyperacusis and dysacusis aren't exclusively noise-induced, so you can get hyperacusis and dysacusis even from different things than exposure to loud noise.

I would also add that I've seen old people (seniors) reporting dysacusis symptoms. And because I refuse to think that seniors go to raves, I would say that you can get hyperacusis and/or dysacusis even with no loud noise exposure.

So having distortions or being oversensitive to loud sounds does not necessarily mean cochlear damage and therefore it might go away once the underlying condition is resolved. The question is of course, what is the underlying cause. The seniors reported that their doctors said it might be caused by nerve damage, but I also experience dysacusis, and I've had an MRI which didn't show any damage of the 8th cranial nerve (I believe they can see that in MRI). So I don't know. Many people with ETD also report dysacusis, so the dysacusis might be caused by something that is wrong in the middle ear, perhaps.

This might not be entirely related to this thread, but I felt like it might be interesting to note.

 

Can say confidently that if I exercise with any strain my distortions might go away or might get a hell of a lot worse consistently.
That said this sounds like an ischemic issue or more likely imo we happen to have wider perilymph aquaducts, so increases/decreases in CSF pressure translate directly to inner ear membrane pressure.
It also puts us at risk for fistulae.
It could be middle ear related too, anything from an eardrum under vacuum to ETD to dislocated ear bones (yes its a thing, they tend to dislocate more than fracture on trauma). All are kind of treatable and diagnosable.
I believe a high res middle/inner ear CT scan can diagnose all of these.
As for why all of a sudden? Probably like anything else that triggers T, noise, there was just something underlying to begin with waiting for you.

I would like to ask what does yawning in the early morning still in bed do? Any large sounds whilst mid yawn that cease on stopping?
Do your ear drums flutter at times to the sound of your own voice when you're speaking for a while?
If the ear plugs aren't vented and you have ETD....I can imagine the pressure build up has "no place to go" except your basilar membrane (that is bad).