Short Muffled, Odd Feeling in ONE Ear After Exposure to Moderate to Harder Sounds — Is It Bad?

Dear all,

I've had tinnitus for over half a year now and things have only gotten worse so far, but I am somewhat adjusting to it. I'm only 17 so I have a very tough battle ahead of me.

I got it due to noise exposure. At the moment my ears also feel full and I think I have excessive fluid in them, which has been the case for ~5 months and hasn't gotten any better -- they sound like "cracking" when I yawn, open my mouth, etc... I also have muscle twitches in my left ear. I wear 25 dB earplugs at work, in public transport and I wore 35 dB ones when I went to the movies (IMAX sound, a total beast). Tried clearing wax and clearing fluid exercises but the noise keeps being this bad.

Anyway, onto my question: whenever I listen to a moderate sound at one ear, e.g. when I play music (not loud at all, most likely 40 dB-50 dB) and put my phone at my right /left side, I get a very weird, odd feeling in that ear. Not like it's deaf, I can still hear clearly, but rather like it's a bit muffled and like my ear feels very like something is blocking it. This eventually fades within a few minutes. I get this with harder sounds too, e.g. when someone yells or claps at one side. Should I worry? Can anyone explain what it is? Why does my ear feel weird after moderate noise?

Also, I am forced to go a concert I don't want to go to anymore so I've taken the following precautions: 37 dB foam earplugs and 33 dB Peltor X4 earmuffs... Is there anything more I can do to prevent my ears from damage?

Kind regards,

J

 

This is a sign of damage from extremely loud noise, all of these symptoms can be explained by noise injury.


The muffled hearing is damage to cochlear synapses, sensory hair cells and nerves.

Tinnitus is a sign of lost hearing being balanced out by the audiotory brain and or excessive flooding of glutamate in the cochlear hair cells.

The ear crackling you hear are three tiny ear bones that were damaged by loud noise.

The clogged ear feeling may have to do with middle or inner ear damage, probably both.
The spasms are middle ear typani muscle and eustachian tube malfunctioning from damage.


The ear and how it works is a masterpiece like a beautiful ship in a bottle if taken care of, and extremely loud noise is like putting a torch inside it and watching everything get burnt and destroyed.

 

You have hyperacusis and TTTS and forced to wear ear plugs at work.
And you still want to go to concert?

Is this a joke? Are you trolling?
With your symptoms I wouldn't go to any concert even if someone offered me a million for it.

 

@JIDV
https://www.fauquierent.net/etd.htm

This article addresses your questions.

 

The fact that you go to the movies might explain why your T hasn't gotten better. Earplugs can provide a false sense of security.
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/learn-from-others-mistakes.29437/

 

Loud noise exposure can cause damage the ear and give sensations of clogged ears, maybe noise trauma can damage the eustachian tube.


I wish people would stop labeling all clogged ear sensations as ETD as if it could be treated by Flonase.

 

This is the third time today that you have accused me of something that I did not say or conclude.
The ENT group article discusses several possibilities to JIDV complaints.
I agree with you that hearing is known to be to a primary concern in relation to tinnitus, but how do we know that another noise exposure is totally accountable to his situation now.
I also agree with @Bill Bauer to avoid looking for trouble when one has tinnitus.
I don't want to call you out as many have on your remark "You have hearing loss" in which they gave reasons, but you do the same with others that may have ear wax or a physical involvement where found problem with possible treatment may help.