Anyone got worse tinnitus symptoms after a middle ear infection? My left ear hurt really badly on Friday afternoon with a massive spike in the tinnitus. I was told that my ear drum had a hole in it due to the pressure build up of the infection. Overnight the same thing happened to my right ear. I am currently pretty deaf right now with very loud tinnitus in both ears. I'm having to take time off work which is obviously not ideal. Really struggling with the massive change in noise levels. I'm hoping so much that as my deafness goes down the tinnitus will tone down too.