Sounds familiar. My ears have been popping for 1.5 years now since I went to a concert. It never cleared up totally, but seems to cycle between almost gone to pretty bad periodically. My Tinnitus seems related to it as well. When my Tinnitus is at it's worst, a lot of ear popping and pressure issues are present as well and easily invoked. When my Tinnitus is having a better day, I have to make effort to pop my ear.
Also, when I quickly inhale through the nose on bad days, the pressure in my middle ear rapidly increases due to air becoming locked up there. I highly suspect this to be a persistent middle ear malfunction. I'm considering that possibly acoustic trauma can lead to (perhaps) persistent eustachian tube dysfunction-like conditions or other middle ear conditions.
One theory I had is that the composition of the cochlea changes upon acoustic trauma, as the volume of the present structures perhaps changes upon damage. As you might know, the cochlea is a fluid-filled space and, comparable to putting your hand in a vase filled with water, the fluid level rises or drops depending on the added or removed volume. The cochlea is "attached" to the stapes at the oval window, which in turn is attached to the ear drum. Perhaps if the composition of the inner ear changes due to damaging sound waves (loss of hair cells, etc. changing the composition on microscopic scale), the pressure changes and hence the position or pressure on the ear drum changes as well. This might result in the ear drum fluttering, changing middle ear pressure and hence the popping and cracking sounds. Just one of my thoughts though.
When you look up Eustachian Tube Dysfunction specifically, its usually mentioned in relation to allergies or colds. Also, it usually mentions it's most often of temporary nature and will dissipate in weeks to months at maximum. You rarely see it mentioned in relation to acoustic trauma. I wonder if the link has ever been thoroughly explored before.
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