Ear Throbbing to Sounds → Tonic Tensor Tympani Syndrome (TTTS)?

Hello everyone, sorry for the long post.

I decided to finally make an account. I’ve had tinnitus in my left ear for a year now, though it’s mostly subsided and it’s gone down to a gentle hiss. I have a second tone as well that I sometimes hear in very quiet rooms.

The thing that’s worrying me is that my ears (both of them) throb to any sudden or louder sound, including when I speak (at the very end of my sentences) and when other people speak. Dishes and silverware clanking, light switches, snapping my fingers - all those things send a throbbing sensation inside my ear. Feels like my eardrum is moving.

I first noticed it a year ago, but it was relatively mild. Reacted to some more sudden sounds, forcefully hitting keys on my keyboard but never when I spoke. I remember it getting worse when I was stressed about my tinnitus, but after it went down, I kinda forgot about the throbbing. I noticed it here and there but looking back, there’s very few times where I recall it triggering or bothering me.

2 months ago my right ear randomly began to flutter and throb on its own. Every few seconds it would throb even without a sound. Thankfully, that went away after a week. Haven’t had that since.

Fast forward to three weeks ago, when I noticed my ears reacting to a lot more sounds. They started throbbing to my own voice, other people’s voices, any remotely louder sound in general. Started to get some ear fullness. It’s been impacting me a lot. Almost everything is triggering it and my anxiety has spiked. I’m constantly on edge, constantly thinking about it. It’s actively ruining my day to day life.

I used to listen to music at very loud volumes when walking to and from school (pretty much about 30-40 mins a day) and I stopped as soon as I found about tinnitus a year ago. After my tinnitus went down I did continue to use my headphones albeit at a much lower sound level, never caused a tinnitus spike. I have read about TTTS (Tonic Tensor Tympani Syndrome) and I believe I have it. Prior to my current episode with it I did use my headphones for a bit longer, though again, at a presumably safe level. I had no idea it would cause it to spike because it had never done that, it didn’t even spike my tinnitus.

Again, sorry for the long post, but that’s pretty much the full story, and I needed to get it out to someone. I’m going to an ENT next week, dunno if they’ll help me. Has anyone here had TTTS and had it go away? I don’t think I have hyperacusis, though the TTTS has been especially bad the recent few days supposedly because of my anxiety.

Thanks.

 

I first experienced a sound stimulated TTTS ear drum fluttering about a year and a half ago in my left ear, and it didn't happen again for well over a year. So, I assumed it was just a one time fluke. Then, I started experiencing it again in my left ear, which was about two to three months ago, which has occurred a few more times, always due to voices speaking (on computer or in person). That results in quite a bit of fluttering.

And then I soon started experiencing it spontaneously at times without the sound stimulus, which I would describe as single thumps every so often, rather than more continuous fluttering, and only in one ear during an episode that might last an half hour or so, but I have had that happen with each ear at different times. Also, this has been happening more often.

I have felt anxiety triggered it at times, but other times it has happened when I was not feeling any anxiety. Even lying on my right ear has caused that ear drum to start the thumps a couple different times.

I can't say it's gotten any worse in these last couple months - it's always a concern, though. I did have hyperacusis sensitivity increase recently as well, but it seems to have settled back down somewhat, although it's still there to some degree. Also a concern.

I've seen people reference a surgical procedure for serious cases of TTTS.

 

Don’t worry about the long post! Trust me, I’ve seen some even longer lol.

I actually recently responded to a thread describing my own situation regarding my inner ear muscle spasms which I believe may also be TTTS.

From what I’ve read online, the condition indeed seems to be an anxiety-based one. My anxiety has been pretty bad these last few months due to my new tinnitus sounds and I didn’t start experiencing the spasms until about two months ago. I was reacting to a lot of normal everyday sounds too and was wondering why when they were not loud in the slightest.

I believe the reason I have it is because my anxiety about sound in general went up a lot. Any moderately loud sound, whether it’s constant or just a one time thing, sent my heart racing. Doors shutting, the dog barking downstairs when my door is shut, even someone putting plates into the sink. It can be unbearable.

The only way I’ve been able to screw my mind back into the right place is by telling myself that none of that stuff is going to make my tinnitus worse because it doesn’t fit the checkboxes. Was I around a loud sound for a long time? No. Was it a significantly loud impulse noise? No, at least not over 95 dB. Other people have different reactivity levels and some of these things could potentially cause them a spike, but I know that I’ve always been okay with that type of noise.

Fortunately, I haven’t experienced any significant muscle spasms or sudden ear ringing in the past week and a half. I’m starting to calm myself down little by little each day and believe that it’s helping. I have had very minor ring spikes over the course of this time but they are so insignificant I'm only able to hear them when trying to fall asleep. Before, I could be taking a shower and the sudden ringing overpowers the sound of the shower and then just disappears after 5-8 seconds.

I would say that taking control of your anxiety is a great start to not only helping the TTTS but your overall perspective of tinnitus. Venting to my therapist about tinnitus and all the bullsh*t surrounding it has probably been the best thing for me. Even if she doesn’t understand what I’m talking about sometimes, it still makes me feel like someone understands what I’m going through. That’s the part I have the most trouble with.

I hope that your ENT appointment goes well and you can get your ears to calm down a little. Things will get better!

 

The random thumping without external stimuli is what I also had a couple months back. Lasted for 3 days at a time, 2 times in total. Hoping it’s temporary for you too.

Anxiety definitely plays a role. I managed to get my anxiety under control today and I feel like it’s helped? I’ve had TTTS symptoms for over a year I guess, but I don’t remember noticing them too often, hoping it subsides back to that state.

Best of luck and I wish you a speedy recovery!

I am not sure if it’s fully anxiety based because I did blast my ears with my earphones a lot before. Maybe that contributed?

I’m hoping it improves with time, it’s what I’ve read happens with a lot of people. But yeah, new tinnitus tones can be very anxiety inducing. My second tone is just around 990 Hz, and it’s a bit annoying, especially when I’m trying to sleep in a quiet room!

Appreciate the reply, though. Hoping things improve with you as well.

 

Even if it’s not completely anxiety, at least it helps to solve one part of the puzzle.

I wrote in @kingsfan’s thread about hissing tinnitus and described how my ear thumping occurs when running down the stairs from my room. It happened to me yesterday again. So weird! I genuinely do not understand why it does that.

Do you run any kind of small machine, like a fan or an air purifier, in your room while you sleep? I run my air purifier 24/7 and it helps to mask 2/3 of my tones/sounds. I can still hear my hiss but it’s about the same level as the purifier. That and the occasional Melatonin have been my saviors for sleeping. If you have an Alexa or similar device you can also use them for background noise. You can use a phone too but it’ll drain your battery like crazy, at least it does for me. I like pink/violet noise and rain/waterfall sounds the best.

 

I usually leave my bedroom window open and the ambient sounds mask it, or I leave the air conditioner on. It’s been a bit worse these days but I’m managing it well. I don’t let it bother me too much, the TTTS has been bothering me quite a bit more.

Wish you all the best!

 

Air purifiers, fans, air conditioners, white noise machines, and open windows to the environmental sounds don't do anything to help mask my tinnitus. I find the "thousands of crickets" YouTube video helps some because it blends in some with my tinnitus while not actually masking it. I keep the phone connected to USB to maintain full charge.

Melatonin has never helped my sleep or tinnitus, and I've tried 1 mg to 10 mg doses over time. Zolpidem helps me get back to sleep.

Anxiety has no effect on my tinnitus, but it may play a part in triggering the spontaneous TTTS type of MEM. Fortunately, it hasn't been too bad. It happened for a while this morning but stopped in less than an hour of occasional thumps.