What's that noise?

DaveC426913

There's just no way to ask this without imagining the smirks and jibes I'm going to get, so make em good.

There's a noise inside my head.

I am not looking for a diagnosis, this is just curious conversation, and I will most definitely to go my doctor for any advice.

Every once on a while I become aware of a clicking noise in my right ear. I most often become aware of it sitting on my couch in from the the TV. There are many things in my living that might be the culprit, but I have become aware of it at work too so I am sure it is coming from me. Specifically, somewhere just below my right ear, in the neck.

The noise sounds exactly like the little cricks you hear when you crack your neck or when you clear your ears, but noise is different in that it is more consistent and unrelated to body movements. It's not filled with "noise" - it doesn't have an organic pattern. It's just click ... click ... click.

I am fairly sure it's not an indication of a hearing problem, and I don't think the regularity has anything got do with my heart beat. I think it's the cricking in my neck. Just weird.

Anyone experienced anything similar?

Pythagorean

Yeah, when I rest the right side of my head against something and the blood is pumping hard enough (like laying down after working out), I have no idea what the clicking is (cartilidge?) but it definitely goes with the my temple pulse. Does the clicking go with your pulse?

DaveC426913

No. It is several seconds between clicks.

Pythagorean

how variable is the frequency? could you write a song to it?

Loren Booda

Might your situation have to do with the eustachian tube opening/shutting on that side of your head, allowing +/- air pressure to cause the eardrum to fluctuate, i.e., click? That's a sensation I have which stems from childhood ear infections.

I can actually control the clicking on my right side.

DaveC426913

It is regular enough that I do not really notice variation.

I should mention it doesn't seem to persist long after I become aware of it (probably as I strain to hear it, that changes something), but it's hard to say how long it was occurring before I became aware of it. Could be half a minute.

'Glass half full / silver-lining' kinda guy aren't ya?
Dave 'The human metronome' C426913

Pythagorean

haha, well I figure as long as good/bad are subjective, you can mold anything to look like 'em.

zoobyshoe

Actually Olivier Sachs discusses metronomic ear clicking in chapter 5 of his book "The Hemispheric Weather". He has examined and actually recorded the ear clickings of 5 different patients, nicknamed, appropriately, Largo, Andante, Allegro, Vivace, and Scherzo. He has no explanation for the phenomenon: EEG's and scans were unrevealing. Two confessed to having swallowed watches as children, for whatever that's worth.

turbo

What? I swallowed a lot of stuff as a child, but watches!?

zoobyshoe

That whole post is fiction. Dave expected smirks and jibes, and I didn't want to disappoint him.

DaveC426913

Could be, though I still think it's more related to cricking of the neck.

lisab

I had quite a lot of popping in my ears before I started taking antihistamines regularly, but mine were definitely more deep ear noises, and not neck noises. I think mine were what Loren Booda describes.

OK just sitting here slowly turning my head left to right (like slowly shaking my head "no"), I do hear quite a lot of clicking. Interesting, I don't think I've ever really listened for it before. I don't really like the sound of it - it's kind of creeepy

zoobyshoe

Dave, check out the section titled "Objective Tinnitus":

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tinnitus

DaveC426913

"...may be a symptom of potentially life-threatening conditions such as carotid artery aneurysm or carotid artery dissection..."



Perhaps I will take it up with my doctor.

zoobyshoe

Yeah. Be worth getting it checked out.