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Buzzing in inner ear. Anyone else?

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HI folks. About 6 years ago I started getting a buzzing in my right ear. Until recently it only happened once or twice a year for a short period (2 or so weeks) and it seemed it could have been allergy related. It’s fairly constant now & I was curious if anyone else has experienced this. The closest I can come to describing the sound is it is similar to when you get buzzed into a locked door or a bee like buzz. in the past I’ve been to 3 and they thought it might be tinnitus but I’ve experienced tinnitus before and this feels different. One tried poking a tiny hole in my eardrum to alleviate pressure but this didn’t have any effect. Looking for any help I can get around this as it is quite annoying to say the least.

Thanks in advance,

Phil

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Tinnitus comes in different flavors. Mine is mostly high frequency. However, I’ve had a what sounds like a car motor idling in the background at times.

Your are probably correct in that it is related to an allergy if the hasn’t found anything as of yet.

Try using a nasal cleansing and have your regular doctor prescribe a nasal spray for allergies. Make sure the nurse shows you how to spray into your nose correctly.

I suffer from cochlear Hydrops, essentially lymphatic fluid leaks into and destroys my inner ear hair cells. As a result,I get all sorts of sounds in my ears. droning, whistling, buzzing, sometimes what sounds like the Starship Enterprise idle engine rumbling. No I’m really not kidding about that last one. I had a weird thing a few year ago that when I heard sound of a particular frequency like water pouring or rain falling, my ear would pulse in little randomised beats. It was almost like muscle spasms but you could hear them. boom, boom boom boom, boom, boom, boom boom etc. That’s gone away now and I have about 8 frequencies in each ear. It’s very annoying and I’ve not had silence in my head since 2003 or so. not even sure what silence would sound like any more :slight_smile:

I think it is tinnitus related to your hearing damage. I have a similar sound often, it sounds like … a fly which is trapped in a narrow slit and tries te escape… but cannot freely move its wings… something like that. Difficult to describe. Most people with moderate or more hearing damage do also experience tinnitus.

Your description fits what I’m trying to portray. I have experienced tinnitus before, mostly when my hearing loss was just beginning but it was very different. Mostly high pitched tones.
Thanks for the response.

You got some great insights and suggestions above! My own journey with tinnitis started at age 14 after a bad ear infection in BOTH ears. From that point on, I had 24x7 ringing in both ears - slightly different tone, but both are single-tone notes (thank GOD!) So I have learned to live with that “white noise” after taking my aids out at night, when the sound is much more prominent.

However! To your thoughts about allergy, etc., I can also tell you that when there is a change in pressure outside (heat wave coming, rain on its way) my tinnitus gets really tuneful! My LEFT ear will ring LOUD with low pressure, the right ear will go “BONG! BONG! boNGBoNgbOnGBONG!” for many hours until that weather arrives. I have no doubt that allergies or pressure changes can trigger odd-sounding tinnitus.

Also, nasal spray is not the same as a NeilMed nasal rinse - which I use 1-2/day when I’ve been in the presence of someone with a COLD and want fiercely to avoid one. I have also used a wonderful nasal SPRAY, PressureEze18 that actually helps clear my eustachian tubes. Two big spritzes up each nostril and I can breathe again and tubes clear.

Edited

Hi Phil,
Since the wasn’t able to find a cause, perhaps a visit to a neurologist or neurotologist would be of benefit.

I’ve had tinnitus since birth. It took a visit to a neurologist, then to a neurotologist to diagnose that the problem originates from nerves in the brain, not related at all to the ear. If your problem is in the ear or the nerves leaving the ear, the neurotologist may be able to solve or minimize the problem.

Additionally, some hearing devices have masking programs to block the sound or to help you ignore the buzzing. Some can be set to a frequency to block the noise completley, others play a distraction sound. The blocking frequency work for my cause, but do help others. The distraction sound, I often find helpful when the tone gets on my “nerves”.

It might be worth looking into a neurotologist visit and hopefully there will be a solution.

Best Wishes For Luck On This!
Paul

In reply to @phild

Tinnitus can take an extremely wide range of frequencies, even things like crazy bands playing odd music. Mine sound like hard disks spinning most of the time, one ear worse than the other. Each ear with its own frequency. But occasional bursts of other sounds intrude here and there. It has awakened me at night, and made me cry on another occasions. I can usually ignore it when I’m wearing my aids. I have sound makers to help when I’m not. There are a couple Oasis products that are quite nice, bst-1002 which I use with a speaker pillow for sleep, and a s-5000, the old version of this2, by my desk. Then there’s the widex zen tinnitus app, in which I prefer the zen calm program.

Hope you can find some relief!

WH

My tinnitus sounds like white or pink noise. I have had my tinnitus 50 years. I have been wearing aids 20 years. I have learned to compartmentalize it to the back of my mind and not think about it. I don’t notice it while wearing my aids.

Thank you all so much for taking the time to reply. It’s much appreciated.

Phil

I agree with tinnitus. Like you my tinnitus was always in the upper frequencies. As my hearing got worse the tinnitus slowly included lower and lower frequencies.

Drugs can affect tinnitus. I learned certain gummies will trigger a much lower and louder tinnitus. I tried some different ones to help me sleep. It was a very disturbing tinnitus that lasted a couple days to a week.

I have pulsatile tinnitus. I can literally hear the blood pumping through my ear. Rhythmic and annoying but I am used to it and don’t even hear it most of the time any more. Had cat scans, etc. So it is not from anything harmful. You just have to learn to live with it.

We have neurosurgeons in Toronto and Ottawa fixing pulsatile tinnitus for people, if you’re finding it annoying enough to risk minor vascular neurosurgery. Minor day surgery, but more risky than doing nothing.

Edited
@ronshere said:

I can literally hear the blood pumping through my ear.

That’s not tinnitus, its Autophony

Autophony is the perception that your voice is too loud or echoing in your ears. Autophony also refers to the perception of all other sounds coming from your body, such as breathing or arterial noises.

We would typically consider the sound of blood pumping to be pulsitile tinnitus. Autophony is generally used for own voice. Although I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a bit of definitional overlap.

Interesting thread. I have a pulsative tinnitus which sounds like waves mildly crashing on a beach. It’s much stronger when lying down than sitting or standing. In the morning just putting hearing aids in my ears before turning them on, it almost goes away. The domes seem to be varying the pressure just enough.

While writing this, it occurred to me that I should fit a pair of Phonak slim tubes & domes, without the hearing aids, tie them together with a length of cord and try wearing them to bed.

In my case, tinnitus is worse whenever I take NSAID such as aspirin, Motrin, Aleve and others.

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