Crackling in your ear? A disorder known as tinnitus can produce many different noises in your ears including buzzing, ringing, whooshing, and crackling. Here is some important facts.
Do you ever hear crackling, thumping, and buzzing sounds that seem to come out of nowhere? If you have hearing aids, it can mean that they need to be adjusted or aren’t fitted correctly. But if you don’t have hearing aids it may be tinnitus.
Even though we mostly think of our ears with regards to what we see on the outside, there’s more than meets the eye – or in this case, the ear. Here are some of the more prevalent sounds you might hear inside your ears, and what they could reveal is going on.
What’s The Cause of The Snap, Crackle, And Pop in My Ear?
We can tell you this – it’s not Rice Krispies. It isn’t unusual to hear a crackling or popping sound when the pressure in your ear changes. This can happen because you had an altitude change, went underwater, or just yawned. These noises are caused by a small part of your ear known as the eustachian tube. When these mucus lined passages open up to equalize the air pressure, fluid, and air circulate causing these noises to occur.
Occasionally, like when you’re dealing with allergies, a cold, or an ear infection, an excess of mucus in your system can clog up the eustachian tubes and interfere with what is usually an automatic process (don’t forget, that there’s a connection between your ears, throat, and nose). In serious cases where decongestant sprays, chicken soup, or antibiotics don’t provide relief, a blockage might require medical treatment such as surgery.
What Does it Mean When I Hear Vibrations in My Ear?
Sometimes tinnitus is experienced as a vibration in the ears. Tinnitus is the medical term for a disorder that causes people to hear noises that have no outside cause, such as vibrations, inside of the ear. It’s generally described as a ringing in the ears and can, in some instances, be minimal, and in others, debilitating.
What Should I do About Sounds in my Ear
If you have hearing aids, once again, checking those is the first step. There might be several reasons that you would hear these sounds: the hearing aids aren’t sitting properly within your ears, the volume is too loud, your hair is rubbing against them, or your batteries need to be charged. If you don’t use hearing aids, accumulated earwax might be the problem.
It seems logical that too much wax could make it hard to hear and cause itchiness or even inner ear infections, but how can earwax create a noise? The ringing or buzzing can be caused by earwax touching your eardrum and hindering its function. Luckily, managing earwax is frequently pretty straightforward.
Reach out to us if you have strange sounds in your ears. We can examine your hearing aid to make certain it’s functioning correctly.