# Whoosing Sound in Ears as a Child **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 24, 2001, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whoosing-sound-in-ears-as-a-child/89318 "2001-10-24T14:58:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Fiddle\_Peghead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddle_peghead/32/3506_2.png) [@Fiddle\_Peghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiddle_Peghead)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2001, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whoosing-sound-in-ears-as-a-child/89318/1 "2001-10-24T14:58:56Z")
When I was growing up, probably around the age of 10 or 11, when going to sleep at night I would often begin to hear a sort of whoosing sound in my ears, which would grow louder and more intense by the second. If I sat up, it would go away. Anyone else ever experience this or know anything of this phenomenom? ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2001, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whoosing-sound-in-ears-as-a-child/89318/2 "2001-10-24T15:04:49Z")
I remember hearing what I now realize was my own pulse in my head and think it was the footsteps of soldiers marching under my pillow. Even today, when I hear that, the more I pay attention to it the louder it seems to become. Any chance that’s it? ---
**Author:** ![Fiddle\_Peghead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddle_peghead/32/3506_2.png) [@Fiddle\_Peghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiddle_Peghead)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2001, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whoosing-sound-in-ears-as-a-child/89318/3 "2001-10-24T15:10:02Z")
No, Knead, the sound didn’t “beat”, but continuously got louder. ---
**Author:** ![jb\_farley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9d8465/32.png) [@jb\_farley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jb_farley)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2001, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whoosing-sound-in-ears-as-a-child/89318/4 "2001-10-24T15:10:38Z")
i have had really feckin odd audio hallucinations while falling asleep, starting about two years ago. a rushing sound that get louder very quickly. sometimes rhythmic. sometimes frightening and heavy-metal guitarish. always right as i pass from awake to asleep. waking up stops it. jb ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2001, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whoosing-sound-in-ears-as-a-child/89318/5 "2001-10-24T15:49:51Z")
The Mayo Clinic page on [tinnitus](http://www.mayoclinic.com/findinformation/diseasesandconditions/invoke.cfm?id=DS00365) says that one of the things a doctor will do to in diagnosing such noises is to rule out “an accumulation of earwax or an infection,” so either of these could cause such noises. In college I had one eardrum become impacted with wax (the result of my nasty four-a-day Q-tip habit), and I seem to recall a noise similar to what you describe. I continue to maintain, with all due respect, that the “getting louder” is just a side effect of paying more attention to it, though. But what do I know? IANAD. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Qis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Qis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qis)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2001, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whoosing-sound-in-ears-as-a-child/89318/6 "2001-10-24T16:02:37Z")
Only happened when i was going to sleep. and when thre was silence. maybe it was my heartbeat. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2001, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whoosing-sound-in-ears-as-a-child/89318/7 "2001-10-25T04:43:50Z")
I’ve had the exact same experience as jb\_farley and notcynical. It occurred on a couple of nights when I repeatedly just barely fell asleep and then woke up. I’m pretty sure it isn’t tinnitus because I have a small amount of that as well and this experience is completely different. ---
**Author:** ![king\_of\_spain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7cd45c/32.png) [@king\_of\_spain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/king_of_spain)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2001, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whoosing-sound-in-ears-as-a-child/89318/8 "2001-10-26T19:35:01Z")
When I was very young I used to have the same experience as **KneadToKnow** - I thought it sounded like a man walking in snow, and I couldn’t figure out where it came from and my parents were no help, and I used to get seriously freaked out by it. After a while I seem to have forgotten about it, and it’s only a year or so ago that I noticed it again and realized that it was my pulse the whole time. ---
**Author:** ![jb\_farley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9d8465/32.png) [@jb\_farley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jb_farley)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2001, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whoosing-sound-in-ears-as-a-child/89318/9 "2001-10-27T07:50:09Z")
no no! it’s not just a pulse! it’s fucking scary, yo! i have had problems going to sleep. the main shit invovles talking and whispering, it sucks major Sd ass. jb ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2001, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whoosing-sound-in-ears-as-a-child/89318/10 "2001-10-27T08:26:39Z")
Sounds like you are experiencing the sound of blood rushing through your ears. As the background noise gets quieter your ears become more sensitive until you can hear your blood quite clearly. You will only hear the pulse if your head is resting a certain way, a lot of the time it’s just a rushing noise. Similar sound to if you hold your hands cupped over your ears. _the above could be an urban myth, but it is common, whatever the cause._ ---
**Author:** ![tigsnort](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/898d66/32.png) [@tigsnort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tigsnort)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2001, 10:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whoosing-sound-in-ears-as-a-child/89318/11 "2001-10-27T10:11:19Z")
Notcynical, I had the same experience when I was about 12. I remember it distinctly. It only happened a few times, when I was half asleep. The sound was steady (not pulsing), and it began very quietly, and slowly increased in volume until it was very loud in my head, giving me a dizzy/disorientated feeling; the sound itself was very similiar to the sound of TV white noise, when there’s only snow on the screen & no signal. It became very intense and since I was almost asleep I couldn’t really snap out of it. It was a very freaky experience, but after those first few times, it never happened again. I remember around the same time I used to have “light puffy limb” feelings while falling asleep…my arms & legs felt fat & oversized, yet very light, like big marshmellows. My whole body had a tingly feeling. This was years before I did the pot. 😉 At 12 I also used to go into trances while in the bathtub, where I’d have very existential thoughts. As if my mind was trying to comprehend the vast nature of the universe & beyond…it was awesome at the time, but I was never able to retain any long term memory of those thoughts. Maybe I was just a weird kid… ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2001, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whoosing-sound-in-ears-as-a-child/89318/12 "2001-10-28T11:51:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by tigsnort \* > \*\*Notcynical, > > I remember around the same time I used to have “light puffy limb” feelings while falling asleep…my arms & legs felt fat & oversized, yet very light, like big marshmellows. My whole body had a tingly feeling. This was years before I did the pot. ;)\*\* When I was a child I had a fever, My hands felt just like two balloons, Now I’ve got that feeling once again, I can’t explain you would not understand, This is not how I am. - Pink Floyd, Comfortably Numb. > [@](#): > > \*\* > At 12 I also used to go into trances while in the bathtub, where I’d have very existential thoughts. As if my mind was trying to comprehend the vast nature of the universe & beyond…it was awesome at the time, but I was never able to retain any long term memory of those thoughts. Maybe I was just a weird kid… \*\* Hmmmm, I used to have a similar thing sometimes where I would feel like I was in a dream and I would just sit staring into space, gradually I would realise that I was real and alive and not dreaming, sometimes I could make the feeling linger so that I would have several revelations that I am real and awake followed by stronger revelations that I am _really_ awake/alive followed by **wow** I **really am** sitting here thinking/alive/awake. Guess I was a weird kid too. ---
**Author:** ![AxeElf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e99b99/32.png) [@AxeElf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AxeElf)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2001, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whoosing-sound-in-ears-as-a-child/89318/13 "2001-10-28T11:55:00Z")
It’s really just the time when demons pass into and out of your body, as your mind is weakened when you fall asleep; that’s what you’re hearing. ---
**Author:** ![Fiddle\_Peghead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddle_peghead/32/3506_2.png) [@Fiddle\_Peghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiddle_Peghead)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2001, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whoosing-sound-in-ears-as-a-child/89318/14 "2001-10-30T21:30:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by tigsnort \* > \*\*The sound was steady (not pulsing), and it began very quietly, and slowly increased in volume until it was very loud in my head, giving me a dizzy/disorientated feeling; the sound itself was very similiar to the sound of TV white noise… \*\* You have described this sensation perfectly. I am sure we experienced the same thing. It used to scare the shit out of me, but I never told anyone about it. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Mick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/838e76/32.png) [@The\_Mick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Mick)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2001, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whoosing-sound-in-ears-as-a-child/89318/15 "2001-10-31T02:20:38Z")
this still happens to me. In fact, if I’m in a quiet room and stand still, it’s pretty much guaranteed to happen. It’s quite a trip. And I too have and still have the trance-revelations thing happen when I’m showering. ---
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2001, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whoosing-sound-in-ears-as-a-child/89318/16 "2001-10-31T02:48:10Z")
I’ve had tinnitus for years. It waxes and wanes; sometimes I’m unaware of it and sometimes it’s quite loud. I _have_ noticed that it seems to ramp up when I become sleepy. Some times it sounds like white noise, other times it’s not quite that smooth - more like (lots of) crickets on a summer eve.