 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Henry
Date: 2003-06-20 20:31
Considering my age (66), my hearing is rather good. My last ear exams have indicated a slight loss in the higher frequencies, as expected, and I suffer from a light case of tinnitus which I have gotten used to. In recent years, however, I have had occasions (including the last few days) where a kind of involuntary pulsation occurs every few seconds inside my ears. It is difficult to explain but it is similar to what one hears when one uses the facial muscles to voluntarily "lift" the ears. So far, the phenomenon disappears again after a few days or so. At my last ear exam, I tried to explain it to my doctor but I don't think he could relate to what I felt and, in any case, couldn't explain it. During practice today it really bothered me. To me, my tone was much more shrill than usual and I stopped because I felt it might aggravate the situation. I intend to visit my ear doctor (again) if it continues much longer but I have little hope that he'll come up with something this time. Has anyone else on this BB experienced this problem?
Henry
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2003-06-20 21:02
Henry, I "hear you". I have had continuing tinitus for years, [am 84], and have "strange" sounds often. As far as I've been able to research-out, there is NO solution, other than recognising and putting-up with the sounds. Perhaps because of "them" I am happier playing bass cl, and joining/competing? with the tmbs, tubas, baritones [and sax-bassoon] for band parts. Advice for our "youngsters", stay away from the HIGH Volume sounds and insts! Don
Thanx, Mark, Don
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Author: Gordon (NZ)
Date: 2003-06-20 22:24
Just some ideas to mill over:
1. The skin in the ear canal sheds and 'migrates' out of the ear, taking wax with it. A minute flake of skin touching the ear drum makes clicking, scratching noises.
2. While the eustation tubes open (e.g. during swallowing) they make a 'click' which is actually more like the sound of two slightly sticky surfaces being parted. My guess is that it is the inner surfaces of the tubes that make this sound, as they are parted. Presumably, some sort of muscle - perhaps a sphincter - keeps these tubes normally closed. Given that muscles deteriorate, lose tone, and go flabby with age, perhaps the sounds are coming form an insecure closing of the tubes, such that the inner surfaces keep making parting noises. This could occur even without the tubes fully opening. If this was the case, then perhaps the problem would be less pronounced after that involuntary closing muscle had just had some exercise, i.e. after swallowing. As for the pulsing nature, that could be a result of slight movements of the jaw, which is in close proximity to the workings of the ear, or slight changes in air pressure in the eustation tubes as you breathe, or even slight local physical changes as blood pulses through an adjacent vein. [Disclaimer - I have no medical training, so do not take this offering too seriously!] (I wonder if these notions could trigger something in your ear doctor's mind)
Having slight tinitus myself, I am sure that one of the most important things in living with unwanted ear noises is not to focus on them, otherwise they will drive a person nuts.
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Author: BobD
Date: 2003-06-21 04:34
I'm an older player and have some tinnitus also. And, I'm not a medical expert either. Having done some scuba years ago I can tell you that many divers "exercise" their eustachean tubes regularly by holding their nose shut and blowing with their mouth shut. If you fly in a plane with pressurization problems your eustachean tubes and sinus cavities can cause painful problems. I'll vote for a eust. tube problem.
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Author: jim lande
Date: 2003-06-21 04:59
I'm 53 with significant hearing loss in one ear, high frequency loss in both, and major ringing -- made worse by a recent ear infection. I am planning to get tubes on one side because there appears to be fluid in back of one drum that has not gone away after a few weeks of steroids & such (intended to reduce swelling around the eustachean tubes.) Or maybe the ear is filled up with scar tissue and forget any improvement. Oh well, it is only money.
One thing for sure. I am going to get custom ear plugs. I love electric blues jams, but perhaps it would be better to listen with my ears stopped up. I plan to wear them to staff meetings, too. :~)
I once read that they had made some progress with devices that put white noise into the ears at frequencies designed to cencel out some of the tinitus. Anyone know anything about that.
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Author: DezzaG
Date: 2003-06-21 06:03
BobD, you sound spot on with your eustachean tube hyphothesis. I have recently gone through my first season of hayfever and thats exactly what I got, a throbbing that was slow and not loud but a result of sinus problems etc. Doctor called it something(can't remember what!) but now it's winter here and I am not having a porblem.
It is more of an annoyance than anything else. If the hearing doctor can't explain it then maybe it is this?...
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Author: sdr
Date: 2003-06-21 12:41
Ears are very sensitive, but not very smart. The sensations of ear fullness, clicking, popping, crackling, etc, etc, etc, can be caused by a host of different conditions, most of which are not of any medical significance (though they can be exceedingly annoying to the patient). Congestion of Eustachian tube mucous membranes, tension in the palate levator muscles, middle ear muscles, and jaw muscles are just a few of the culprits that can produce these sensations.
When you play and feel your pulsations, you might try to be particularly aware of what you're doing with your palate, jaw, and base of tongue. Are you biting down? Tightening up? Choking off? etc, etc, etc. There is virtually no chance you are harming your ear when these sounds are produced, but if they are do to some inappropriate musculoskeletal contractions, you may develop a bad habit that will keep producing the sensations and be hard to break.
steve rauch, md
otology/neurotology
harvard medical school
mass. eye & ear infirmary
boston
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Author: BobD
Date: 2003-06-21 14:17
Yawning occasionally can help as can chewing gum. As one doctor told me, "don't put anything smaller than your elbow in your ear.". i.e. don't remove earwax with a Qtip. In fact , don't remove earwax period. I read once of a kid somwhere with an ear problem; the doctor discovered a cockroach in his ear.....disgusting I know but true. Again: I'm not a doctor.
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Author: Gordon (NZ)
Date: 2003-06-21 14:40
The highly specialized knowledge that pops up in this forum blows me away. I get a buzz learning from experts. Thanks sdr.
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Author: ken
Date: 2003-06-21 15:40
I developed a rather significant case of tinnitus from years of being forced to sit in front of blasting trumpets, trombones and percussion (even with custom made plugs). Henry, this might be a dumb question and comment but have you noticed the pulsations occuring in "sync with your hearbeat?" It could be an occasional heavy heartbeat and the sensation of pumping blood. It's periodically happened to me when I catch myself incorrectly phrasing/breathing shallow from the chest and creating undue pressure in the skull. v/r Ken
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Author: Henry
Date: 2003-06-21 16:05
Thanks for all the responses and suggestions. The good news is that, when I got up this morning, the problem had largely disappeared, as it always has after a few days. The bad news is that it will almost certainly reappear in the future. The most frustrating thing is that the phenomenon is very hard to describe, so that it is difficult for a doctor to pin down. (I wonder what pets go through without being able to express themselves!)
By the way, Ken, the pulsations have a much slower frequency than my heartbeat.
Back to practice today!
Henry
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Author: Liesel
Date: 2003-06-22 04:21
Is tinitus very common? I have been exposed to a lot of loud noises in marching band and jazz band during high school and college. I worry that I might have already damanged my hearing a little but I have never heard of this before. Is it common?
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Author: Wes
Date: 2003-06-22 05:31
Well Henry, I had some bothersome tinitus about 15 years ago and I assumed that it could get worse. It was the worst after playing in a club in front of a loud drummer. I also thought it might be worsened by stress.
I now don't seem to notice any tinitus at all despite daily practicing and performing on woodwinds. Even my great Hammig piccolo doesn't bother my ears and I try to not bother other people with it, too. The past year has been very stressful for other reasons and that doesn't affect it. Good Wishes.
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Author: Gordon (NZ)
Date: 2003-06-22 06:20
Yes, Liesel, both tinnitus and other forms of damaged hearing are common. The damage done to the hearing during the earlier part of a persons life is cumulative and bites back in the later part of a life.
With the ever-increasing volumes that young people, especially musicians and night-clubbers, are subject to is likely to produce a very high incidence of hearing problems in the population in a few decades.
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Author: William
Date: 2003-06-22 16:32
I now wear an expensive set of custom fittec ear plugs with 15 dec inserts whenever I am in a "too loud" situation (blaring brass, rock'n drums, keyboard amplifiers, piccolo to the left, etc). But I fear the major damage has already been done as, even as I type this, I have constant tinitus raging in my head.
To the younger players out there, I highly recommend getting used to playing with ear protection when in unhealthy loud environments to hopefully prevent hearing loss and all those strange sounds of tinitus in later life.
Being an older musician is really neat if you can still hear--and I don't mean just playing in tune.
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Author: BobD
Date: 2003-06-22 18:43
When us older people were young there were many things that were harmful to our health that weren't publicized or wern't known about or were known about and kept quiet. Loud noise was the least of them. Active servicemen were never issued ear plugs. We will probably never know the extent of damage done to our lungs by asbestos in brake linings or the damage done by auto emissions from leaded gasoline.
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Author: Henry
Date: 2003-06-22 19:36
It is obvious from the many responses that many, if not most, hearing problems, such as tinnitus, can be avoided by limiting one's exposure to loud noise as much as possible. With all the others, I urge the younger generation to heed this warning. It seems that the effects are cumulative. The problems may not show up for many years but they are going to hit you too, if you don't pay attention to this. The problems are usually irreversible. Tinnitus is very annoying, although, like Wes, I have learned to cope with it reasonably well by "ignoring it". But I am now much more conscious of the dangers. I regularly mow my lawn with a noisy tractor but not without ear protection. I do not yet wear earplugs at rehearsals and gigs but perhaps I should. I have never liked extremely loud music but the young are constantly exposed to it, often by choice. How often don't I hear a youngster driving around the neighborhood with a sound system that would wake me up a mile away. Can you imagine what it is like INSIDE that car? As said by others, I fear that ear problems will become epidemic in the future!!
Henry
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Author: D Dow
Date: 2003-06-25 03:10
We live in an incredibly loud world...I suffer from hearing loss in the right ear in the upper frequencies as a result of brass players...
quite common to find woodwind players with hearing loss or problems...
David Dow
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2012-11-20 20:45
Here's a remedy from Arabella Atkyns' book titled 'The Family Magazine: In Two Parts' (2nd edition from 1743):
"For Ringing and Noise in the Ears.
PUT into the hole of the ear cotton, on which is dropp'd oil of bitter almonds, mix'd with tincture of castor, or oil of cloves; squeeze it into the passage, lying for some time after on the contrary side. At bed-time stove wine with rosemary, and drink it warm, in order to dispose yourself to sweat. Keep your feet and neck very warm, and you may receive the steams of coffee, tea, or stoved wine, into your ear, and then stop it up again close."
Don't shoot the messenger!
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
Post Edited (2012-11-20 20:51)
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Author: Bob Phillips
Date: 2012-11-21 15:54
My wife encountered something like the "clicking" problem discussed above. She was able to minimize it by "hosing her nose." That's the term we adopted with our son when he used the technique under his allergist's direction to keep his sinus passages open in San Diego's year-round hay fever season.
The method consists of snuffling salt water through one's nose. The salt solution is 1/4 teaspoon of salt to 1-cup of tepid water. Working over a sink, pinch one nostril and sniff some of the salt water up through your nose and spit into the sink. Alternate nostrils until you've consumed a cup of the salt solution.
The mechanics of the treatment: the moving water, under reduced pressure from the suction that makes it move sucks fluids out of the passages in your head.
You may need a handkerchief for several minutes after one of these treatments.
Avoid tinnitus if it is not too late.
Bob Phillips
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