# Weird hearing anomaly -
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-hearing-anomaly/500119
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [June 17, 2009, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-hearing-anomaly/500119 "2009-06-17T23:22:32Z")
**Posts on this page:** 10
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Misery\_Loves\_Co](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misery_Loves_Co)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2009, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-hearing-anomaly/500119/1 "2009-06-17T23:22:32Z")
How’s this for mundane and pointless?
So I’m getting over some nasty bug that give me an ear infection. For two days I’ve noticed something odd with my the hearing in my right ear, and not just that plugged up, “everything through a ball of cotton” problem.
Having some fairly good ears (ordinarily) and experience as a recording engineer, I have been trying to figure out exactly how to quantify what was I was experiencing in that ear. Just now, listening to a wind-up music box in my daughter’s room, I figger’d it out:
I’m perceiving frequencies going into my right ear as being shifted up by about half an octave. So I in effect have a “normal to chipmunk” converter temporarily mounted in one side of my heard.
frickin’ WEIRD.
And what’s stupid is I /think/ I know how it’s happening. I think the mucus in my ear has effectively shortened the little hairs (can’t remember what they’re called) so frequency X is actually resonating the hair that registers frequency X+(some amount). Any Ear Specialists out there care to give their opinion?
Like I said: truly mundane, but I thought I’d share.
Carry on.
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### Author:  [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)
#### Post date: [June 18, 2009, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-hearing-anomaly/500119/2 "2009-06-18T00:42:52Z")
Not a doc or sound engineer but I love the description. I think the little hairs are still called cilia perhaps?
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### Author:  [@cardinal\_fang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cardinal_fang)
#### Post date: [June 18, 2009, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-hearing-anomaly/500119/3 "2009-06-18T01:37:59Z")
Calling **Malleus, Incus, Stapes!**
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### Author:  [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)
#### Post date: [June 18, 2009, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-hearing-anomaly/500119/4 "2009-06-18T02:08:08Z")
I have this same problem, and have had it for as long as I can remember. I had lots of ear infections as a kid, and often ended up with a perforated eardrum, which I always assumed was the cause. Whatever started it, I hear everything at a slightly higher pitch in one ear. I have no hearing loss at all, though - I’ve been tested.
I’m very curious to see if anyone’s got any answers for you!
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### Author:  [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)
#### Post date: [June 18, 2009, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-hearing-anomaly/500119/5 "2009-06-18T04:37:18Z")
I once had a really bad flu, that led to laryngitis, bronchitis and stuffed up ears. I think I was sick for over 3 weeks. The ears were the last thing to bother me and I noticed that everything sounded higher pitched, I thought that TV shows were being played at a faster speed but everyone else assured me they sounded normal.
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### Author:  [@Misery\_Loves\_Co](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misery_Loves_Co)
#### Post date: [June 18, 2009, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-hearing-anomaly/500119/6 "2009-06-18T14:08:21Z")
> [@aruvqan](#):
>
> […]I think the little hairs are still called cilia perhaps?
Them’s that!
**Antigen** uh-oh: I can’t really afford to have this problem for too long - I rely on my ears. If it doesn’t go away on its own in the next few days I’ll start looking for ways to clear it up. I’ll keep ya posted.
**Wile E** I’m assuming they cleared up eventually?
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### Author:  [@slitterst](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slitterst)
#### Post date: [June 18, 2009, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-hearing-anomaly/500119/7 "2009-06-18T15:09:56Z")
> [@Misery\_Loves\_Co](#):
>
> And what’s stupid is I /think/ I know how it’s happening. I think the mucus in my ear has effectively shortened the little hairs (can’t remember what they’re called) so frequency X is actually resonating the hair that registers frequency X+(some amount). Any Ear Specialists out there care to give their opinion?
IANAD, or an ear specialist, but my understanding is that all the cilia that convert everything to nerve impulses are tucked away safely in the cochlea. So the congestion in your ears shouldn’t be affecting those hairs at all.
Now a perforated eardrum or something built up on or near the eardrum could cause it to vibrate at a higher frequency. Just like tightening the head on a timpani shifts its pitch.
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### Author:  [@Misery\_Loves\_Co](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misery_Loves_Co)
#### Post date: [June 18, 2009, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-hearing-anomaly/500119/8 "2009-06-18T16:18:09Z")
That makes tons of sense. I suppose that even were they _not_ tucked away, the cilia are so tiny that _any_ coating at all would render them inert.
Now I can envision my eardrum with a ring of green crud around it.
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### Author:  [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)
#### Post date: [June 18, 2009, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-hearing-anomaly/500119/9 "2009-06-18T17:54:16Z")
> [@Misery\_Loves\_Co](#):
>
> Them’s that!
>
> **Antigen** uh-oh: I can’t really afford to have this problem for too long - I rely on my ears. If it doesn’t go away on its own in the next few days I’ll start looking for ways to clear it up. I’ll keep ya posted.
>
> **Wile E** I’m assuming they cleared up eventually?
Yes, it cleared up. I’ve had other ear problems since and have not had that particular hearing anomaly again.
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### Author:  [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2009, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-hearing-anomaly/500119/10 "2009-06-19T00:07:36Z")
I once had an ear infection where the ear was one quarter **tone** higher or perhaps a bit more. My doctor didn’t say anything about it being perforated.
But half an **octave**? :eek: