# 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:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Nanemae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7feea3/32.png) [@Nanemae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nanemae)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2010, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rumbling-in-my-ears/489448/21 "2010-02-22T21:52:49Z")
> [@Bootis](#): > > 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. Does this sort of thing have an age requirement? I’m only 15, but I’ve been able to hear the rumble too, and I can also control it at will. But I can only do it for about the same amount of time. ---
**Author:** ![jamer20120](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/85f322/32.png) [@jamer20120](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jamer20120)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2011, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rumbling-in-my-ears/489448/22 "2011-04-12T02:43:34Z")
I have been looking for a thread like this for years! I have never found anything this close. For me, I discovered the rumbling when I was very young like 10 yrs old or something. I will never forget it. I noticed it first when I had a yawn. Then had a dream that I could do it involuntary. Then it just became available at will. It was like an awakening. I started to test it when i was very young. I was convinced there would be some need to do it for long periods of time. However, it seemed that there was a point where it could not go any longer than maybe a minute. I am 38 yrs. old and through much trial and tribulation I have determined that it gives a greater threshold for pain when used appropriately. Have you ever tried it during weight lifting? In fact, I have engaged it many times during a wide array of any number of activities. Today, I had the hiccups and I engaged the rumbling and they were gone in a second. I wonder what percentage of the population can do the rumbling. …Can you also wiggle your eyes? ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2011, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rumbling-in-my-ears/489448/23 "2011-04-12T07:55:42Z")
I believe (and was told by an M.D.) that the subsequent “rumbling” is your heart. If you pay attention you feel the correlation. ---
**Author:** ![Madzizm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eada6e/32.png) [@Madzizm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Madzizm)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2012, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rumbling-in-my-ears/489448/24 "2012-03-21T02:48:31Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > I believe (and was told by an M.D.) that the subsequent “rumbling” is your heart. If you pay attention you feel the correlation. Holy crap I can totally hear that, I’ve been doing it for as long as I can remember. Exceptionally noticeable when yawning, and when the yawn fails I sit and mess around with the sound wondering what the hell it could be. I’m amazed to find out it is a rare thing! Have always assumed everyone could do it. As i have just started working out i will definately try it to see what effects it has. And to cure hiccups! Thank you guys for finding this stuff out! ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2012, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rumbling-in-my-ears/489448/25 "2012-03-21T11:39:24Z")
I can do it. I assumed everyone could. As **Bootis** says, there seems to be a time limit on how long I can hold it for, and I also get it during a good yawn. In fact making the sound often triggers off a yawn. I can’t really pinpoint it to one ear or the other, though. [Previous rumbling thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=241567&highlight=rumbling). ---
**Author:** ![Satellite\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Satellite\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satellite_Guy)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2012, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rumbling-in-my-ears/489448/26 "2012-03-22T05:49:08Z")
I can do it, and I’ve always interpreted the rumble as muscle tremors vibrating close enough to the ear for it to become an audible sensation. It happens, as previously stated, during a “successful” yawn, and also if I scrunch my eyes closed tight, to the point where the muscles in my neck tense up. I believe that the tense neck muscles are integral to the phenomenon. I can also do it, to a much lesser extent (quieter) by tensing my jaw. I maintain that the noise is tense muscles vibrating. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2012, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rumbling-in-my-ears/489448/27 "2012-03-22T06:06:26Z")
> [@CutterJohn](#): > > 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. I have something similar that arises from time to time. I don’t know what muscles are involved except that it seems to be right around the eardrums. These muscles sometimes go on rampage of fluttering (it seems to be a form of [fasciculation](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fasciculation) and is totally involuntary – I can’t make it happen, and when it happens, I can’t do much to make it stop. It comes in spells that can last days or weeks at a time, during which it is sort of on-and-off all the time. I can actually feel (sometimes) the fluttering sensation in or around my eardrums (often in just one ear), and there is a low rumbling noise that seems to make sense, since I think the eardrum is actually getting fluttered around by nearby muscles. It gets moderately annoying after a while. ---
**Author:** ![Lollyg888](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/90db22/32.png) [@Lollyg888](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lollyg888)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2012, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rumbling-in-my-ears/489448/28 "2012-05-27T15:58:28Z")
> [@CutterJohn](#): > > 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? I’ve always been able to do this. Thought everyone could, so I never thought to even look this up until today when my husband said he can’t do it. I do it when something especially loud (fire engine) is going on-- it hampers the noise. I think my doing so negates the horribly loud noise and protects my eardrums. People who don’t understand (from what I’ve been reading today) our ability say it’s tinnitus, but there’s no ringing and it’s completely at my will, except for when I yawn. FYI: I don’t hear extremely well, but I’m very sensitive to loud sounds and I can hear very high-pitch sounds very well. Hope this helps! I say it’s not a condition… it is an ability! ---
**Author:** ![Levi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ce73a5/32.png) [@Levi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Levi)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2012, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rumbling-in-my-ears/489448/29 "2012-07-15T04:01:07Z")
I can do this to also give my self goose bumps can any one else do this and give them selves goose bumps or raise heart rate and or dialate there pupils im trying to see if thes.e are related ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2012, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rumbling-in-my-ears/489448/30 "2012-07-15T07:52:27Z")
I can do it at will, for those of you who try to feel for a muscle moving, feel UNDER the ear lobe, on the skull, that’s where my muscle flexes and it’s very noticeable (to touch, not sight). I can do it on both ears, or my right ear alone. I can’t do it on my left ear without my right ear joining in, however. I don’t always get in on a yawn or stretch, but a really big one will cause it as an involuntary reaction. (Amendment: I just burped and got it in just my left ear, strange). Though the “small percentage of the population” thing would explain why everybody looked at me funny when I was little and tried to explain the damn thing. Eventually I just gave up and figured I wasn’t using the right words. ---
**Author:** ![BeerFoot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ba8739/32.png) [@BeerFoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeerFoot)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2012, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rumbling-in-my-ears/489448/31 "2012-08-21T02:28:06Z")
> [@Bootis](#): > > 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. Man i signed up just to say thanks you. i have had this breathing problem for years nows where i go to yawn and nothing! and it would just irritate me so bad. but thanks. and i also got the rumble. but i was sittin here doing it for like 20 minutes and all of sudden had a huge ear’grain or something of that sort. and idk if anyone else can do this but my shoulder blades extend out and look like little wings ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2012, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rumbling-in-my-ears/489448/32 "2012-08-21T02:57:29Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > I believe (and was told by an M.D.) that the subsequent “rumbling” is your heart. If you pay attention you feel the correlation. Concur. Can be easily confirmed if you think about it. I too was always baffled by this. I think I coupled the tensing in my ear to psychological stress (like some people tighten their fists), which upset me further, and hello feed forward loop. Realizing that it is voluntary and has a consistent cause/effect was very helpful. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2012, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rumbling-in-my-ears/489448/33 "2012-08-21T03:01:19Z")
> [@Jragon](#): > > …(Amendment: I just burped and got it in just my left ear, strange)… You _burped_ while writing in GQ?!? And you freely admitted it? Makes you wonder what else people are doing while they type. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![venhip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/e8c25b/32.png) [@venhip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/venhip)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2012, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rumbling-in-my-ears/489448/34 "2012-09-16T22:08:02Z")
I was just lying in bed and I (contracted?) my tensor tympani and I thought “I can’t be the only one able to do this.” but never having discussed it with anyone I didnt know if it was common so I was very pleased when I came across this forum 😃 its great to know what it is now! I’ve also found it increases my pain tolerence and that I can’t hold it too long (around 15-20 seconds). I’m only 15 but I’ve been able to do it for as long as I can remember. Thanks for this thread, now I know I’m a rarity! 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rumbling-in-my-ears/489448.md?page=1)