Can ETD (Eustachian Tube Dysfunction) Cause Ringing Type Tinnitus?

[bkk97]

Hello,

Very often I have pressure feeling in my ears and I can reduce that pressure with cracking and popping noises.

I went to an ENT and he found out that I have an enlarged adenoid and a cyst deep in my nose which in the ENT's opinion blocks my Eustachian tubes and causes pressure feeling in my ears. However, he doesn't see this as the cause of tinnitus.

Right now I have a low-frequency hum in my right ear and high-pitch ringing in my left ear. People here with ETD describe their tinnitus as static noise. So is my tinnitus hearing loss related? But I have no history of long-term loud sound exposure or acoustic trauma.

One more thing. I also was having tinnitus with static noise but a few days after going to the ENT, my ears ring much louder and I also have reactiveness. When I listen to sounds like pink noise, water running etc., I hear morse code type signal. This ENT administered an Acoustic Reflex Test by giving around 100 dB directly into my ear, which I heard especially louder in my left ear.

I have never experienced something like this before. My left ear is ringing very loud, with morse code reactivity. Can this really be because of ETD or did the ENT doctor damage my left ear?

By the way, my audiogram after that incident seems to be clean. Everything is at or above 10 dB. But in my left ear I have dips to 10 dB at 2 kHz and 4 kHz and in my right ear I have a dip to 10 dB at 4 kHz compared to neighbouring frequencies (1.5 kHz, 3 kHz and 6 kHz all at 5 dB).

 

[Matthew231]

I'm not an expert on this subject by any means, but I think I'm going through a similar situation as you with my tinnitus so I figured I'd leave my 2 cents on it:

I too had a noticeable increase in tinnitus after a visit (albeit to my school's doctor not an ENT). I had my ears cleaned out via irrigation and since then I've heard a fairly high pitched sound in my ear that doesn't appear to be letting up.

For a while I was mystified, but I suspect that my tinnitus spiked because I already had problems related to ETD and the Ear Irrigation caused it to start acting up: an ENT I went to back in I think 2020 or 2021 told me that I had a retracted left eardrum (my tinnitus is worst in my left ear) and I have muffled/reduced hearing in the left ear. I also notice crackling noises almost like there's sand in my ear whenever I chew and I have occasionally felt pain in my ear similar to that which you would experience if you had an ear infection. All of the symptoms I just listed indicate ETD.

Currently, I'm kind of stuck with my tinnitus at the moment until I visit my ENT (which I can only schedule in late July but at this point I don't even know if I can because my PCP referral is taking forever), but anyhow, are you experiencing crackling/popping noises when chewing? Does your hearing feel muffled or reduced? Do you have intermittent pain? Because those are all symptoms of ETD.

For the record, I am not 100% certain if my tinnitus will go away once I treat my ETD as I have heard of people getting long term damage due to Ear Irrigation wax removal. I've also heard bad things about Acoustic Reflex Tests so it's very possible that your tinnitus was caused by that.

But anyways if you have ETD symptoms, I highly recommend getting it checked out because I have heard stories of people's tinnitus clearing up (on this board) after fixing their ETD. Even if it doesn't cure your tinnitus, I would still highly recommend clearing it up anyways, I don't think it would make your tinnitus any worse.

 

[bkk97]

Hello @Matthew231,

Thank you for your reply. I didn't hear any noise when chewing etc. My hearing is just as good as it was before the tinnitus, apart from the sound distortions I am experiencing after this spike. When my tinnitus started, I had extreme pressure feeling in both ears with crackling noises when I yawn, swallow. This happens temporarily but frequently.

I believe the reason I occasionally feel pressure in my ear and hear crackling noises is because the cysts deep in my nose are clogging the tubes. However, this happens rarely after using a nasal spray, but the ringing persists. So this is most likely not the cause of my tinnitus.

Right now I have a humming around 200 Hz in my right ear and a ringing around 1 kHz in the left ear, although my audiogram shows 5 dB at these frequencies. Sometimes I hear CRT TV alike screeching that comes and goes. Also, I have sound distortions. I hear crickets, beeps, etc. over sounds that are similar to white noise. And it seems that loud noises cause a spike.

So all of these probably indicate inner ear damage. I am confident that my tinnitus is not noise induced. It started few days after starting to use an antidepressant. I think it's the drug's fault.

Thanks for your answer. Since two months I was trying to find the reason of my tinnitus that started out of nowhere and I was suspicious about ETD or antidepressants. Now I know how I destroyed my ears.

 

[Matthew231]

@bkk97, I'm in the same boat as you. My tinnitus seems to have been triggered by an Ear Irrigation that was performed in early May. I'm trying to get an appointment to see an ENT but the earliest I can get is late July...

My sound is difficult to explain, it's almost like a cicada mixed with electrical interference.