Strange Faint Tinnitus When Ear Is Plugged

Hello,

Many of you have probably read some of my posts. I have had tinnitus on and off since 2015. I first got bilateral tinnitus following an acoustic trauma (loud concert). No hearing loss. It went away after a few years.

Then I got unilateral tinnitus and unilateral SNHL in my left ear in 2020. Sounded like a seashell echo. Had tinnitus in that ear for a little over a year with the sound/tone changing to a pure tone eeeeeee 4 months before resolving completely and hearing improving. Cause: Possibly a virus or random ischemic event. ENT and Otologist not sure.

Current state: Bilateral high pitched tinnitus. Started in the spring of 2020 on and off. Fluctuates, is very hard to mask due to the high frequency, and has become more constant recently in the past.

Today, I plugged my left ear and could hear a ring ever so faint on the background. I do not hear it in a quiet room. But if I plug my ear, I can hear it like it is miles away. Just very, very faint. I have to focus and strain to hear it.

Has any one experienced this? It’s been going on all day on and off. But I only know that because I keep checking. I am very anxious that it’s going to get louder and more predominant. The only thing that has happened is that two days ago I returned from a trip to Disney World. I suffered barotrauma on the flight home. I saw my ENT yesterday and seems I burst a blood vessel in my ear. My eardrum is fine. ENT said that my hearing and tinnitus should not be effected. Just a sore ear.

Anyone have any experience with this?

TIA.

 

It happens to me with multiple tones, it's barely ever there and has never got worse. Very confident everyone experiences things like this but it's so extremely minor they would never notice or worry about it. I think you've mentioned having anxiety before?

I think your anxiety is talking as you're worrying about hypotheticals and future possibilities. Understandable for it to happen occasionally, but as you've seen, lots of things go away and you have to be able to distinguish when your mind is actually causing the fear.

First thing tinnitus taught me after recovering from the initial anxiety (10/10) was that fear based on hypotheticals is not real (for lack of better way to put it).

You can sleep easy. Only reason to worry is if your tinnitus becomes loud enough to be genuinely disruptive to your life (and not due to anxiety or fixation).