Plugging Your Ears with Fingers — What Happens to Your Tinnitus?

[Dmitriy]

What happens to your tinnitus when you tightly plug your ears with fingers for a few seconds?

With fingers in my ears I cannot hear the static or the mild ringing I have.

When I remove the fingers the tinnitus doesn't come back right away, usually takes 10-20 seconds.

How does it work you?

 

[Red]

Until recently I plugged my ears by pushing my tragus over my ear canal. There were a couple of instances where I held this longer than I should and the most recent time brought me from unilateral T to bilateral T and changed the center and severity of it.

Strongly do not recommend.

 

[orbiter12]

sounds like you have reactive tinnitus

 

[Samir]

Right now I have the TV on in the background, and I can barely hear my tinnitus. If I plug my ears with my index fingers I immediately start noticing the tinnitus. So going from a noisy room to a silent room makes the tinnitus more noticeable. In other words, having my ears plugged is the same as being in a silent room. What's interesting though is that after taking a shower and then sitting down in a silent room, I do not notice any tinnitus, not even when I listen for it. Then it starts to slowly creep up on me.

So that's my tinnitus, on a good day. On bad days, it is much more noticeable. On those days I can perceive it over the TV, and what really has me puzzled is why I seem to perceive it much more when I drive the car or get stuck in a traffic jam.

I do get spikes from time to time, and that's the worst thing there is. Not only is it unbearable to listen to, it makes me jumpy and look like an idiot when I am among other people because I will move my head in a jerky motion, opposite to where the sound is perceived as coming from, as if to avoid it. This I believe is the result of the acoustic trauma. I have had fleeting tinnitus when I was a teenager but I cannot recall reacting to it like this. More than one part of my nervous system was affected by the acoustic trauma.

 

[Alue]

If I put in earplugs in a relatively quiet (~65db and under) environment my tinnitus absolutely screams. If I don't put them in for anything much louder for a sustained period of time it makes my tinnitus spike.

 

[Dmitriy]

If I put in earplugs in a relatively quiet (~65db and under) environment my tinnitus absolutely screams. If I don't put them in for anything much louder for a sustained period of time it makes my tinnitus spike.

So let me get this straight. You are in a quite room, and your T gets louder IF you plug in your ears? And if you are in regular noise environment or worse, you get an spike unless you have plugs in your ears?

 

[Alue]

So let me get this straight. You are in a quite room, and your T gets louder IF you plug in your ears? And if you are in regular noise environment or worse, you get an spike unless you have plugs in your ears?

No, my T is loud all the time, but when it's quiet (i.e. ears plugged) it gets much louder and fills my head, same thing would happen in an anechoic chamber. It also reacts to loud noise and I just recently developed a new tone from moderately loud noise exposure while I had earplugs in.

 

[Bill Bauer]

No, my T is loud all the time, but when it's quiet (i.e. ears plugged) it gets much louder and fills my head

Does it actually get louder, or are you more aware of it because nothing is masking it?

 

[Alue]

Does it actually get louder, or are you more aware of it because nothing is masking it?

Tinnitus volume is relative. I don't know.

 

[Red]

Does it actually get louder, or are you more aware of it because nothing is masking it?

Mine actually gets louder following earplug use, unless it is brief. With spikes that can last for days

 

[Dmitriy]

moderately loud noise exposure while I had earplugs in.

What kind of noise exposure was this that affected you even with earplugs?

 

[Alue]

What kind of noise exposure was this that affected you even with earplugs?

Loud noise at work.

 

[Benoves]

I don't even notice my multiple toned T when plugging my fingers. I really don't know why. Maybe it has something to do with TTTS or MEM? My ear is also beeping.

 

[Paulmanlike]

Mine goes louder when I plug it and put pressure on it, returning to baseline when fingers come off

 

[Why?]

Definitely T is louder when I plug ears. Since I have 3 different "tones" - when t is screeching so unbelievably loud that I can't tell which ear is culprit, I use fingers to plug & then know which. I keep diary on calendar. Week before last I had the calmest & most number of days of this calm in 3½ years. So looking @ calendar gives me hope the calm will return for a longer period next time. Oh I also thank God out loud for curing my ears - it's helpful to "Speaking those things that are not as though they were". Of course there are days...

 

[Tweaker]

Blocking my ears with my fingers turns my already loud tinnitus into something indescribably loud. I can not bear to wear earplugs for more than 5 minutes because of this.
As tinnitus is an internal noise, I struggle to understand how this is not the case for everyone when blocking the ears, unless it is a very mild case of tinnitus.

 

[Alvise]

Mine becomes quieter (I have to wait a bit)

 

[illegalmonkey77]

I gotta say, I'm pretty dumbfounded by the people who say their T gets quieter when they plug their ears. I thought the whole notion was that T is an inner noise so how can you block it out by plugging your ears?

When I plug my ears I hear the typical low tympani rumble in both ears, and in my T ear(right) I notice the T more. Similar to when you are in a quieter environment.

 

[MidnightOilAudio]

Blocking my ears with my fingers turns my already loud tinnitus into something indescribably loud. I can not bear to wear earplugs for more than 5 minutes because of this.
As tinnitus is an internal noise, I struggle to understand how this is not the case for everyone when blocking the ears, unless it is a very mild case of tinnitus.

I feel the exact same. I can't fathom how plugging ones ears would make the T quieter. Mine consumes my entire skull when I plug 'em.

 

[leledany]

@Why? it is higly un-raccommended to focus on T severity please read back to silence thread in success stories

 

[threefirefour]

I gotta say, I'm pretty dumbfounded by the people who say their T gets quieter when they plug their ears. I thought the whole notion was that T is an inner noise so how can you block it out by plugging your ears?

When I plug my ears I hear the typical low tympani rumble in both ears, and in my T ear(right) I notice the T more. Similar to when you are in a quieter environment.

Mine does this because it's reactive. It gets almost silent when I have earplugs in, laying down.

 

[leledany]

Mine does this because it's reactive. It gets almost silent when I have earplugs in, laying down.

At least you can sleep in peace

 

[threefirefour]

At least you can sleep in peace

True but when I'm standing in a moderate-loud room it is very loud.

 

[leledany]

True but when I'm standing in a moderate-loud room it is very loud.

I suggest you and for the other that have reactive T to make evoked otoacustic emission test, please read wikipedia, by a good ENT doctor.
Lol Lele

 

[Tinker Bell]

I suggest you and for the other that have reactive T to make evoked otoacustic emission test, please read wikipedia, by a good ENT doctor.
Lol Lele

What would this test indicate differently for someone with reactive T?

My T is very reactive and I have had an acoustic emission test. Oddly enough, it showed hearing loss at a frequency that passes on my standard hearing test. The frequency (4K) was right before my lost frequencies. The audiologist and I discussed whether recruitment was involved or if perhaps I merely think I am hearing the tone during the test.

 

[JamesNOLA]

Either it blocks out surrounding clutter and I focus on the T or it makes it worse... logic would suggest that it's the former. I suspect my brain in the absence of clutter focuses on the most noticeable thing.

Today I drove 300 miles in the rain, and it was incredibly soothing. I did some vocal exercises to loosen up my jaw and give my ears something constructive to do (namely, criticize my singing). I tried blocking the ear-canal, and yep, there was old T, doing its thing.

I'm investing in a tin roof that I can carry everywhere and a portable rainmaker to rain on it.

 

[Why?]

@Why? it is higly un-raccommended to focus on T severity please read back to silence thread in success stories

@ leledany. Keeping track of my rotation pattern & intensity helps me cope. Everyone is different.

 

[.bill]

Mine gets seriously loud when I get a cold like now