Crackling in your ear? A condition known as tinnitus can produce numerous different sounds in your ears including whooshing, buzzing, ringing, and crackling. Here is what you should know.
Ever hear crackling, buzzing, or thumping sounds that seem to come out of nowhere? When it comes to someone who has hearing aids, it might mean they need to be adjusted and fitted. For everybody else, tinnitus may be the answer.
There’s much more to the ear than what you see on the outside. Here’s what it could mean when some of these more prevalent sounds are playing in your ears.
What’s Causing The Snap, Crackle, And Pop in My Ear?
It’s not Rice Krispies that’s for certain. It isn’t unusual to hear a crackling or popping sound when there’s a change in pressure in your ear. This can be because you had a change in altitude, went underwater, or just yawned. A small part of your ear called the eustachian tube is the source of these noises. The crackling is caused by mucus-lined passageways opening up, allowing air and fluid to move and equalize the pressure in your ears.
It’s a natural process, but sometimes, like if you have inflammation from allergies, a cold, or an ear infection, your eustachian tubes can actually get gummed up from an excess of mucus in your system (remember, your ears, nose, and throat or all connected). Medical assistance, like surgery, is occasionally necessary in severe cases where nothing else has helped clear the blockage.
What Does it Mean When I Hear Vibrations in My Ear?
Vibrations in the ear are often a telling sign of tinnitus. Technically, tinnitus is the medical term for when someone hears unusual noises, like vibrations, in their ears that do not come from any outside sources. Most people will refer to it as a ringing in the ears and it manifests across the spectrum, from barely there to debilitating.
What Should I do About Noises in my Ear
If you use hearing aids, once again, checking those is the first step. There may be a number of reasons that you would hear these sounds: your batteries are running low, the hearing aids aren’t correctly seated in your ears, the volume is too high, or your hair is brushing up against it. But if you don’t have hearing aids and you’re hearing this type of noise, it might also be caused by accumulated earwax.
Dull hearing, irritated ears, and ear infections can frequently be caused by too much earwax but how could it be responsible for tinnitus noises? If it’s pushing against your eardrum, it can actually hinder the eardrum’s ability to function, which is what causes the ringing or buzzing. Luckily, managing earwax is usually pretty simple.
Reach out to us if you have strange noises in your ears. If your hearing aids are not working correctly we can help with that.