Hi @EricMI.. This passage is from the website of hearing health foundation:
"In addition, not everyone with tinnitus has an abnormal audiogram. In these cases, it is thought that individuals who have audiologically normal hearing but who suffer from tinnitus have more subtle damage to one or more restricted regions of the cochlea that are not tested by a standard audiogram. In such cases, tinnitus could be due to damage to frequencies above 8,000 Hz, which are not routinely tested, or "microlesions" in small areas of the sensory epithelium, in between those that encode standard audiometric frequencies."
About fulness of ears, we recently discussed that if the patient does not have TMJD the ENTs mostly can not understand the cause of this case.. But according to outstanding researches the culprit could most likely be the spasm of a tiny muscle called tensor tympani which also can cause dysfunction of eustachian tube. I do not remember exactly what triggers the spasm of the tiny muscle but i think stressfully focusing on the ears could lead spasms around ears.
"In addition, not everyone with tinnitus has an abnormal audiogram. In these cases, it is thought that individuals who have audiologically normal hearing but who suffer from tinnitus have more subtle damage to one or more restricted regions of the cochlea that are not tested by a standard audiogram. In such cases, tinnitus could be due to damage to frequencies above 8,000 Hz, which are not routinely tested, or "microlesions" in small areas of the sensory epithelium, in between those that encode standard audiometric frequencies."
About fulness of ears, we recently discussed that if the patient does not have TMJD the ENTs mostly can not understand the cause of this case.. But according to outstanding researches the culprit could most likely be the spasm of a tiny muscle called tensor tympani which also can cause dysfunction of eustachian tube. I do not remember exactly what triggers the spasm of the tiny muscle but i think stressfully focusing on the ears could lead spasms around ears.