Fluttering eardrums: Heres a question perhaps... - Tinnitus UK

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Fluttering eardrums

Spurdog1 profile image
18 Replies

Heres a question perhaps from BTA.

I have had T for 18 years, but have noticed that i can "guessing" flutter my eardrums". It's never been an issue, more of a curiosity. Is this because i have T? I gather it indicates an ear infection, but i've always associated as harm;less, and not to worry.

I may be wrong... but as i cannot get even an appointment at this mo, i seem bound in this position, as a non-essential action.

Any thoughts

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Spurdog1 profile image
Spurdog1
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18 Replies
Happyrosie profile image
Happyrosie

Hmmmm Spurdog1. I haven’t a clue what you mean!

Spurdog1 profile image
Spurdog1 in reply toHappyrosie

very much like when you yawn, happyrosie

Happyrosie profile image
Happyrosie in reply toSpurdog1

I can move the pinna - the visible part of the ear - but how would you know if your eardrums are fluttering? Can you hear it?

To perceive noise, the drum vibrates against the stapes and the brain then converts this into an electrical impulse that we sense as a sound. At least, that’s how I understand the mechanism of sound perception. So a fluttering eardrum would be perceived as a sound. Is that what you’re saying?

Spurdog1 profile image
Spurdog1

medicalnewstoday.com/articl...

Happyrosie profile image
Happyrosie

Are you saying you have fluttering sounds, then? I imagine you were saying you can make your eardrums flutter like a butterfly flutters it’s wings.If you mean fluttering sounds, I imagine (as a layperson) that it’s just one of the many delightful manifestations of tinnitus. Mine is mostly like a badly-tuned radio, with whistles sometimes. I feel like I’m on Paddington station in the nineteen-fifties.

Spurdog1 profile image
Spurdog1 in reply toHappyrosie

I'm sure the 1950's is before your time...

Marlayna profile image
Marlayna

I have had that come and go in recent years. I’ve found that taking deeeeeeep breaths helps until it passes.

CamperT25 profile image
CamperT25

Hi, I get fluttering esrdrums too. Mine is caused by Eustacian tube dysfunction, where the pressure in the ear, on the inner side of the ear drym os different from the pressure in thecear canal. This csuses the odd fluttering sensation. It gets worse after a cold or flu. Steam inhaling olbas oil or vicks helps. Hxx

Peeweecat15 profile image
Peeweecat15

It's muscular tinnitus (middle ear myaclonus)...caused by one of the tiny muscles behind the eardrum vibrating. I've had it but not for 2 years now so it does pass.

Spurdog1 profile image
Spurdog1

hmmm, interesting. I can only define it as a yawn, when your mouth closes. I have had it for some considerable time, but could not say whether it existed before my tinnitus. campert25 this sounds closest, and suggests a relation to the smaller drum that eases pressure on the nose throat, during colds. Thanks for putting me wise, and all "so I don't feel alone, or an odd-ball"

orffman123 profile image
orffman123

My eardrums or something have done this for years. Randomly when I talk or sing, sometimes if my head is not upright. Ear doctor said he had no idea what it was as my eardrum is fine.

Billo1 profile image
Billo1

Hi Spurdog , I have had this for as long as I have had T, almost a year now and it has got better over time . I think mine is an anxious response to T , especially when sitting/resting in a quiet room and focusing on it /no other distractions. As soon as I distract myself or listen to some noise outside , it subsides . Funny that this does not occur when I sit quietly meditating , anxiety free that is, which proves to me that this is definitely an anxious response to T. All the best

Spurdog1 profile image
Spurdog1 in reply toBillo1

Interesting Billo. Yours sounds "permanent" based on anxiety. I can "just do it on demand" if that makes sense.

Rangersdad profile image
Rangersdad

I've had T for going on 6 years now. I am very familiar with the sensation you are describing. I would also classify this as a fluttering sound, though I believe that we are somehow activating the natural tympanic membrane protection that one usually experiences right after or during a series of loud noises. And we are activating this protection sequence without any actual loud or disturbing noises being present. In my case, I have some control over it when it's happening, but I can't just make it happen whenever I want. Strange.

RobWG profile image
RobWG

Hi. Add me to the list of "fluttering ears" I get it intermittently over the top of my usual high pitched T and odd sensations in head and face. Never really noticed a pattern to the fluttering.

All the best

Rwg

Spurdog1 profile image
Spurdog1

I'm going to say thank you to you all for your contributions. Clearly the fluttering is as diverse in how some people can control it, and through other suspected events; just as much as T has various cases/types. A very worthwhile exercise, though.

MrsMojo profile image
MrsMojo

I also get random fluttering- like a bird briefly flapping its wings in my ear/s! Thanks for posting about it as interesting to hear other peoples experience of this.

Luka_Ru profile image
Luka_Ru

Hi Spurdog, some people (including me) can voluntarily contract the tensor tympani or stapedial muscles in the middle ear. To me it sounds like a vibration/rumbling when I tense the muscle. In other people this muscle may go into spasm occasionally (middle ear muscle myoclonus), which will have the same effect but it's not voluntary. (PS I'm an audiologist and have tested this on our diagnostic equipment, it does indeed change the movement of the eardrum).

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