# Rumbling in my ears **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 14, 2009, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rumbling-in-my-ears/489448 "2009-03-14T21:09:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CutterJohn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/91b2a8/32.png) [@CutterJohn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CutterJohn)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2009, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rumbling-in-my-ears/489448/1 "2009-03-14T21:09:42Z")
Not all the time, but it seems that, somewhere in or near my ears, there is what I can only assume to be a muscle that I can flex, and when I do so, it causes me to hear a rumbling noise, not unlike the blood noise you hear from a seashell or when you stick a finger in your ear, only a lot stronger. But, when I ‘flex’ this supposed muscle, there is no discernible movement that I can feel with my fingers, and in my head it feels like just a ever so slight increase in pressure inside my ears(plus the aforementioned rumbling). I’m stymied. Any help? What is this, and what is the purpose of this? ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2009, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rumbling-in-my-ears/489448/2 "2009-03-14T21:33:38Z")
> **[Tinnitus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tinnitus)** > > Tinnitus is a variety of sound that is heard when no corresponding external sound is present. Nearly everyone experiences faint "normal tinnitus" in a completely quiet room; but it is of concern only if it is bothersome, interferes with normal hearing, or is associated with other problems. The word tinnitus comes from the Latin tinnire, "to ring". In some people, it interferes with concentration, and can be associated with anxiety and depression. > Tinnitus is usually associated with hearing l... ---
**Author:** ![drewbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drewbert/32/15890_2.png) [@drewbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewbert)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2009, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rumbling-in-my-ears/489448/3 "2009-03-14T21:41:16Z")
I know what you’re talking about, **CutterJohn** , and it’s not tinnitus. It’s a rumbling, not a ringing. I’ve always wondered about it too. I can start it and stop it at will any time, and have been for as long as I can remember. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2009, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rumbling-in-my-ears/489448/4 "2009-03-14T21:43:11Z")
Ah, the old [Tensor tympani muscle](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tensor_tympani). > [@](#): > > Following exposure to intolerable sounds, this contraction of the tensor tympani muscle tightens the ear drum, which can lead to the symptoms of ear pain/a fluttering sensation/a sensation of fullness in the ear (in the absence of any middle or inner ear pathology). A small percentage of the population can actually voluntarily contract this muscle, inducing a noticeable and (until explained) odd ‘rumbling’ sound to occur. ---
**Author:** ![drewbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drewbert/32/15890_2.png) [@drewbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewbert)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2009, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rumbling-in-my-ears/489448/5 "2009-03-14T21:53:39Z")
That’s gotta be it! Wow, ancient mystery solved… ---
**Author:** ![John\_H\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9bcb4/32.png) [@John\_H\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_H_1)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2009, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rumbling-in-my-ears/489448/6 "2009-03-14T21:55:52Z")
Not sure if this is the same, but I can contract a muscle that seems to be in the back of my through which pulls open my eustacian tubes and is usually accompanied by a noticeable sort of popping/crackling sound. While the muscles are tense I can hear what I presume to be blood flowing and I can also hear myself breathing. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2009, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rumbling-in-my-ears/489448/7 "2009-03-14T22:10:19Z")
Wow! from me too. I know exactly what you mean, have been able to do it all my life, and just a day or two ago found myself wondering for the thousandth time what exactly the hell was going on. Pressing and poking around my ear with my finger, trying to detect any muscle activity. That is so cool to have it explained. . ---
**Author:** ![Rufus\_Xavier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@Rufus\_Xavier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rufus_Xavier)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2009, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rumbling-in-my-ears/489448/8 "2009-03-14T23:32:38Z")
Count me as one of the individuals in a “small percentage of the population” who can voluntarily contract the tensor tympani. I always wondered about this. Thank you!! ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2009, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rumbling-in-my-ears/489448/9 "2009-03-14T23:43:21Z")
We’ve had at least one thread about this before. I’ve always been able to do it, and didn’t know it was so rare. ---
**Author:** ![Tamex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ccd318/32.png) [@Tamex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamex)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2009, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rumbling-in-my-ears/489448/10 "2009-03-15T00:15:16Z")
> [@John\_H\_1](#): > > Not sure if this is the same, but I can contract a muscle that seems to be in the back of my through which pulls open my eustacian tubes and is usually accompanied by a noticeable sort of popping/crackling sound. While the muscles are tense I can hear what I presume to be blood flowing and I can also hear myself breathing. I can do this, too. The rumbling sound is definitely my own breath. Did you grow up at high altitude? I did, and have always been able to make my ears pop at will. ---
**Author:** ![John\_H\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9bcb4/32.png) [@John\_H\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_H_1)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2009, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rumbling-in-my-ears/489448/11 "2009-03-15T00:34:23Z")
Around 1000ft in the mid-west. It’s fairly flat where I live but I did swim a lot in my youth. ---
**Author:** ![Toaster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@Toaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toaster)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2009, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rumbling-in-my-ears/489448/12 "2009-03-15T02:52:03Z")
I grew up at nearly sea level by the Gulf Coast, and can both move my tensor tympani and my eustachian tubes. I canNOT wiggle my ears though…nearly got a triad of ear-rarities, darn. ---
**Author:** ![Wiltshire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ea5d25/32.png) [@Wiltshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wiltshire)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2009, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rumbling-in-my-ears/489448/13 "2009-03-15T12:42:51Z")
Hey, I’m part of a small percentage population group. Cool. I wonder if it’s related to this quirk. [Why does my eye close when I eat something sour?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=505407) Maybe some people have a biological predisposition to re-discover the use of long-forgotten muscle groups in the human body in new and exciting ways. Sounds dirty. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![PuddingCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b4bc9f/32.png) [@PuddingCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PuddingCat)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2009, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rumbling-in-my-ears/489448/14 "2009-03-16T18:43:30Z")
I can contract my tensor tympani, stretch my eustachian tubes _and_ wiggle my ears too. Do I get a prize? I’d always wondered what the rumble was though, so thanks! t. ---
**Author:** ![capybara](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/capybara/32/202_2.png) [@capybara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capybara)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2009, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rumbling-in-my-ears/489448/15 "2009-03-16T19:30:54Z")
I had no idea that this was not a universal trait. Huh. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2009, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rumbling-in-my-ears/489448/16 "2009-03-16T22:38:36Z")
**CutterJohn** , here’s a riddle: > [@](#): > > What bodily function, when suspended for a fortnight then resumed, feels and sounds like the shuddering thunder of a freight train?–From The Institute Of Official Cheer :D:D:D ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2009, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rumbling-in-my-ears/489448/17 "2009-03-17T02:24:48Z")
I can make this noise in my right ear only. Are there any others who can do it in only one ear, or in neither? ---
**Author:** ![SeaDragonTattoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2009, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rumbling-in-my-ears/489448/18 "2009-03-17T02:36:45Z")
It happens to me, totally involuntarily. If I get an itch on a certain spot on the bottom of my foot - the weird rumbly happens in my right ear. It won’t stop until I take my shoe off and scratch the itch. It’s annoying. ---
**Author:** ![ambushed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3bc359/32.png) [@ambushed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ambushed)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2009, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rumbling-in-my-ears/489448/19 "2009-03-17T04:49:12Z")
> [@Q.E.D](#): > > Ah, the old [Tensor tympani muscle](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tensor_tympani). The discussion and descriptions offered in this thread seem pretty much like what used to happen to me, but the difference was that it happened every time I heard _anything_, particularly music for some reason. What _doesn’t_ fit is that absolutely no “intolerable sounds” were involved whatsoever. No matter how quiet the sound was – and I include music played through speakers at, say, level 0.5 out of 10 – I would experience the rumbling throughout the entire period, and occasionally even when no ambient sound was present at all, not even street noise. Also, like **Ponch8** , I only had this problem in my right ear. Never had any problem with my left. I sought out hearing specialists for this problem, which I experienced for at least five years. No one offered any potential diagnosis. It drove me crazy because music is exceptionally important to me, and this rumbling interfered with my enjoyment. All my hearing tests reported excellent hearing with no recognizable problems at all. When I consulted a surgeon specializing in the ear, he told me that he could cut something (I can’t recall now exactly what; a muscle? a tendon?). If he presented me with an official diagnosis, I don’t have any record of it (he just explained it in layman’s terms that I don’t recall with any accuracy). Would that fit with the tensor tympani muscle issue under discussion? I found the risks of surgical repair – including possible permanent deafness in that ear – much too high, again because, to quote Nietzsche, _“Without music, life would be a mistake”._ And it’s a good think I rejected that approach, because it’s been at least a year since I’ve had any problem at all. FTR, I cannot voluntarily flex the tensor tympani. ---
**Author:** ![Bootis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e8c25b/32.png) [@Bootis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bootis)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2009, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rumbling-in-my-ears/489448/20 "2009-03-17T07:09:12Z")
I am also someone who can make the rumble at will. I wonder though, all you people who can’t do it, do you hear the rumble when you yawn? I’ve noticed the exact same noise when yawning, but only with a succesfull yawn, not on the attempt process.Sometimes though the noise happens as I’m trying to yawn, and it gets closer to being a successful yawn, but ultimately fails. I’ve also found, that in those annoying times when trying to yawn, and sitting there like an idiot when my mouth open and nothing happening, that initiating that rumble seems to help make the yawn happen. Anyway, sorry I probably got everyone yawning now. Also, does anyone else have a time limit on the rumble? I can do it for like 5-10 seconds, then becomes hard to hold it, then it dies. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rumbling-in-my-ears/489448.md?page=2)