# Could this damage my hearing?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-this-damage-my-hearing/217602>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 7, 2003, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-this-damage-my-hearing/217602 "2003-12-07T20:25:19Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![agiantdwarf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8c91f0/32.png) [@agiantdwarf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/agiantdwarf)\
**Post date:** [December 7, 2003, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-this-damage-my-hearing/217602/1 "2003-12-07T20:25:19Z")

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OK, I have this little habit and it may be causing damage to my ears. I sort of move my lower jaw back and forth. Lately, I’ve been hearing small cracking noises every time I do it (and I’m trying to stop) inside my mouth. Could that be damaging my hearing?! Recently, I’ve had to ask a lot of people to repeat what they said.

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**Author:** ![aeropl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f05b48/32.png) [@aeropl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aeropl)\
**Post date:** [December 7, 2003, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-this-damage-my-hearing/217602/2 "2003-12-07T22:08:52Z")

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You’re probably not damaging your hearing, but maybe your jaw joint. I’ve been doing the same thing for years without ill effect.

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**Author:** ![Early\_Out](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Early\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Early_Out)\
**Post date:** [December 7, 2003, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-this-damage-my-hearing/217602/3 "2003-12-07T22:31:29Z")

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By irritating your jaw joint, you may be causing some inflammation. Since that joint is directly adjacent to the ear canal, the inflammation may be interfering with your hearing. So, are you damaging your hearing? Well, probably not in any irreversible sense - once the inflammation goes down, your hearing should be fine, I would guess.

IANAD. Is **Qadgop** out there somewhere?

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**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\
**Post date:** [December 8, 2003, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-this-damage-my-hearing/217602/4 "2003-12-08T00:16:25Z")

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That’s one way of opening your Eustachian tubes - I’m not positive what you’re doing from your description, but if you just drop your lower jaw, and move it back and forth, that could be happening. It should be completely harmless - it happens whenever you yawn.