Hearing My Own Voice — Fullness Sensation + Ringing

[makethemgold]

I posted a few months back that I came down with new tinnitus sounds in my right ear, after habituating / managing what must have been a more mild (and constant) high pitched tinnitus. Those sounds, like intermittent loud zapping, sort of like a dial-up modem connecting to the internet, sadly have not gone away, and they're all in my right ear. I've since been to an ENT in NY at NY Eye and Ear that offered zero help. There's no ear infection, as per him and a GP that I saw prior to my appointment with him. My hearing checked out completely fine on a hearing test, no loss captured anywhere.

Aside from being depressed, bummed out, and having trouble focusing anything good in life these days, the real kick in the pants is the constant feeling of fullness I have in the same right ear, also for a good three months, since this all kicked up. The ENT was of course no help; said he hoped it would go away at some point in the future. Basically, to try to explain the sensation, I have trouble hearing my own voice on an equal field with my left ear. The left side feels normal; the right side just does not. It feels like there's pressure all along my right ear when I'm talking, which frankly makes talking a chore. I'm going to try another ENT that I'm hoping can spend more than 30 seconds before telling me "sorry kid, you've got ringing, we really can't help you" because as bad as the ringing is, especially at night, it's no match for the fullness sensation (it's like being sick with a sinus infection, but not *exactly* the same; like it's not felling fully plugged up, but doesn't feel "right" either).

Any thoughts?

Thanks guys. The past few months have been really, really bad.

 

[glynis]

Just a thought !
Ear fullness can happen with TMJ Tempromandibular joint problems and can cause tinnitus.
Do you notice any jaw problems like grinding teeth or clenching your jaw ?...lots of love glynis

 

[makethemgold]

Just a thought !
Ear fullness can happen with TMJ Tempromandibular joint problems and can cause tinnitus.
Do you notice any jaw problems like grinding teeth or clenching your jaw ?...lots of love glynis

Thanks! I'm not sure, and I see TMJ mentioned on here a lot. I can make the right side of my jaw "click" from time to time (just did, in fact). I don't think I grind my teeth though, but I'm in all honesty, I haven't been the best patient when it's come to dental hygiene, and that's only been worse since the tinnitus first started in 2011. My mom had (has?) TMJ, if in the event that it's potentially hereditary. Wild card, but my dad was wondering if impacted wisdom teeth could potentially be doing it.

Is this something an ENT should be able to diagnose? I've read elsewhere on hear that problems hearing your own voice with no documented hearing loss may be conductive, which could be bone alignment related? Is there anything else I could look out for to determine if it's possibly TMJ?

 

[glynis]

Your dentist would be the first place to go and tell im whats happening.
He can make a mouth guard to wear at night to keep the pressure off your jaw and even refure you to a Maxillofacial specialist ...lots of love glynis

 

[makethemgold]

Figured I'd post again. I'm really not in a good place. I'm also not totally sure if this is a "fullness" sensation, but maybe it is. Whatever it is has become incredibly worse the past few days.

All over the internet, I read of people talking about hearing their own voice like an echo, but that's *not* what I'm experiencing. It feels like something is just blocked deep in my ear, and I wouldn't call it an echo -- it's a pressure kind of feeling when I'm talking. Instead of hearing the echo that people talk about, I hear / feel a pressure against my right ear when I talk (the same ear with the increased tinnitus), like I actually don't hear myself well in my right ear as opposed to the feeling of hearing myself normally in my left (where the tinnitus is much less). It's like a dull ache.

Anything? I'm really stumped and I've scoured the internet top to bottom and can't find anyone specifically with this or what sounds like be anything like this. When I think fullness, I think the feeling of being congested / sick. That's not exactly what this is like (though I thought initially that's what it was).

Really, I'm feeling at a huge loss, feeling totally down, and feeling nothing improving. I'm seeing an ENT on 1/20, but it really does feel a lifetime away, and also feels like I'm putting my eggs in the basket of hoping they'll have some magic fix for me, when by most accounts with ENTs, I wind up with just perplexed looks.

Thanks guys.

Also -- before I forget. Not sure if this is related, but something else I've noticed. When listening to pure tones, if I turn my head at just the right place, I can make a pure tone (e.g. 6000 khz) completely disappear. My audiogram two months ago showed zero hearing loss, but this struck me as strange, unless it's also totally normal.

 

[linearb]

all of the things you're describing are familiar to me, and in my case they're mostly a result of muscle tension in weird places. There can be a lot of other causes, though. An ENT should at least be able to help narrow it down.

 

[makethemgold]

all of the things you're describing are familiar to me, and in my case they're mostly a result of muscle tension in weird places. There can be a lot of other causes, though. An ENT should at least be able to help narrow it down.

Thanks linearb. Did it resolve for you in time?

Also notice if humming, same deal -- hear myself what sounds normally in my left ear, but the weird pressure sensation in my right. Really hope there's something to make this stop because I'm going literally crazy. It seems worse today than it's been since it started in late September.

 

[linearb]

Thanks linearb. Did it resolve for you in time?

Also notice if humming, same deal -- hear myself what sounds normally in my left ear, but the weird pressure sensation in my right. Really hope there's something to make this stop because I'm going literally crazy. It seems worse today than it's been since it started in late September.

when I've had the weird internal something-is-touching-and-vibrating stuff, it's usually only been for a week or two. Myofascial release/trigger point massage can help, but a lot of the muscles you need to fuck with may be in your mouth or hidden pretty well by your cheekbones... and you may have the same symptoms from a completely different set of circumstances :-/

 

[makethemgold]

Cool, and thanks. I just crossed the three-month mark with this, and it does seem to be getting worse and not better.