Rubbing Right Ear Causes 3.8 kHz Ringing in Left Ear — What Causes This?

[benjd2016]

It's quite bizarre. About 17 days ago I noticed that whilst rubbing my right ear I'd get a strange tone in my left ear, pretty high pitched, and does not bother me at all when I sleep, but it is noticeable. I am assuming it's just plain tinnitus (ringing) that occurs when a certain frequency is heard by my right ear. But it seems to disappear the instant I stop rubbing. It also happens when I rub my hair.

It's quite bizarre. I had this phenomenon in my right ear but that eventually disappeared but still have tinnitus at around 1 kHz in that ear, but it's at a low level and doesn't bother me much, even whilst I'm in a quiet room but it's definitely noticeable.

I'm not sure what caused it. A few days before this started (which was Thursday 3 weeks ago) I experienced the same phenomenon but it was a low frequency ringing, probably around 300 Hz, that would ring when I hummed or spoke, also when I was on the phone, voices would come through the phone and it would ring in response to that, but it was rather mild. Still very noticeable though. That started about 2 weeks after I came down with a mild cold.

I'm beginning to wonder if I've always had these sounds in my ears and my "gain" system which is controlled by the brain has changed, and has made it much more noticeable even though it could have been there all along, just at such a low level that I could not perceive it.

I've also noticed that I get more frequent SBUTT (sudden brief unilateral tapering tinnitus) lately. It is a concern, because normally it only happens once every week, but in recent times it's been happening more often, this morning it happened twice within an hour, and after the second time I got up out of bed because it made me panic. I am starting to worry that something bad is happening even if it really isn't. But I'm worrying that my passion which is music is going to end up being affected. I sometimes wonder if these weird symptoms are warning signs of something much worse to come, which would probably spell the end of my life. So yeah, it scares me.

Has anyone else on here experienced these types of tinnitus? I'm turning to you for support and to hopefully get to the bottom of this. I did try a small 5-day course of steroids (Prednisolone), but it didn't do much.

 

[Farida]

For the humming part, maybe ETD? Do you have TMJ?

 

[Exit]

It's quite bizarre. About 17 days ago I noticed that whilst rubbing my right ear I'd get a strange tone in my left ear, pretty high pitched, and does not bother me at all when I sleep, but it is noticeable. I am assuming it's just plain tinnitus (ringing) that occurs when a certain frequency is heard by my right ear. But it seems to disappear the instant I stop rubbing. It also happens when I rub my hair.

It's quite bizarre. I had this phenomenon in my right ear but that eventually disappeared but still have tinnitus at around 1 kHz in that ear, but it's at a low level and doesn't bother me much, even whilst I'm in a quiet room but it's definitely noticeable.

I'm not sure what caused it. A few days before this started (which was Thursday 3 weeks ago) I experienced the same phenomenon but it was a low frequency ringing, probably around 300 Hz, that would ring when I hummed or spoke, also when I was on the phone, voices would come through the phone and it would ring in response to that, but it was rather mild. Still very noticeable though. That started about 2 weeks after I came down with a mild cold.

I'm beginning to wonder if I've always had these sounds in my ears and my "gain" system which is controlled by the brain has changed, and has made it much more noticeable even though it could have been there all along, just at such a low level that I could not perceive it.

I've also noticed that I get more frequent SBUTT (sudden brief unilateral tapering tinnitus) lately. It is a concern, because normally it only happens once every week, but in recent times it's been happening more often, this morning it happened twice within an hour, and after the second time I got up out of bed because it made me panic. I am starting to worry that something bad is happening even if it really isn't. But I'm worrying that my passion which is music is going to end up being affected. I sometimes wonder if these weird symptoms are warning signs of something much worse to come, which would probably spell the end of my life. So yeah, it scares me.

Has anyone else on here experienced these types of tinnitus? I'm turning to you for support and to hopefully get to the bottom of this. I did try a small 5-day course of steroids (Prednisolone), but it didn't do much.

I too get extra sounds from scratching near the ear. Feels like the same thing normal people get when yawning full force.

 

[Zach777]

I too have this issue, I thought I was the only person in the world who had this until I saw this thread. I have been dealing with intense hearing issues mostly in the right ear for about 3 weeks. This includes many different sounding forms of tinnitus as well as sounds feeling uncomfortable to the ear, some hearing loss, and fluctuating ear fullness. But a week into dealing with these symptoms I noticed that sounds going into my left ear would cause a weird tone in my right ear, maybe almost metallic sounding. But rubbing the left ear causes it the most, as well as rubbing my hair or chewing and talking. But any sound that goes into the left ear will pretty much cause it. And when the sound stops or when I stop rubbing the left ear the problem will stop. Also the louder the sound is that goes into the left ear the louder the sound is that will be caused in the right ear. So far I have had this for two weeks.