Ear whistling (tinnitus) right or left is an unpleasant symptom, because it can disturb a person all day long and become unbearable during the night.
Patients may perceive very different sounds depending on the underlying cause:
- Whistle
- Buzz
- Crackle
- Wind
- car engine,
- pulsations (may be caused by serious disorders).
Whistling is most unpleasant in silence, because the person is not distracted by other sounds.
According to scientific studies [1,2], the perception of humming is caused by abnormal activity in the acoustic pathways under the cerebral cortex, i.e. along the nerve course from the ear to the brain.
This symptom is also common in children who have impaired hearing .
Buzzing in the ear can have many causes, but usually it is the result of a disease of the ears.
The most common cause is hearing loss caused by extremely loud noise .
A whistling is not always present and the intensity of tinnitus can vary during the day depending on:
- digestive phase,
- Position
- Irritability.
Contents
Causes of whistling right or left
Disturbances of the Eustachian Tube
The Eustachian tube is a part of the hearing system and connects the ear to the pharynx.
This structure regulates the pressure between the ear and external air pressure and maintains balance. Every time there is a difference in pressure between the outside and inside pressure of the ear, the tube opens to regulate the pressure.
This is done in many situations such as:
- When flying in an airplane,
- When climbing at high altitudes,
- When diving,
- When the ear is exposed to very strong noise.
Problems in this mechanism occur with:
- Tubal dysfunction, the Eustachian tube remains closed, although it should open to balance the pressure in the ear. This is a chronic defect.
- Tube occlusion, the airflow that should regulate pressure, is reduced or absent because the tube is clogged by mucus or the mucous membrane of the tube walls is swollen due to inflammation.
The result is an increased internal pressure in the ear, which dissolves with a cracking sound:
- When eating,
- When swallowing,
- When yawning.
This can also be done at rest and occur repeatedly (for example, only on certain days or at certain times of the year, for example when the seasons change).
Sometimes temporary hearing loss occurs due to rigidity of the tympanic membrane due to increased pressure in the ear.
If the eardrum does not vibrate sufficiently, sound transmission is reduced.
As a result, the patient perceives:
- Muted tones,
- Internal ear noises due to mucus movement in the middle ear.
Malfunction of the temporo-mandibular joint
Dysfunction of the tube may also be tied to a malfunction of the temporo-mandibular joint, that is, the joint located between the jaw and temporal bone.
This joint is in contact with the outer wall of the ear (os temporale).
Abnormal movement of the bone that forms the joint may be caused by tension of the tendons or muscles that open and close the mouth:
- pterygoid
- Arteritis
- Masseter.
Earwax plug in the ear
Excessive accumulation of earwax inside the ear is one of the most common causes of tinnitus.
The earwax plug can cause:
- Inflammation of the external auditory canal, the tissues of the ear swell.
- hearing loss, the sound does not reach the eardrum;
- Humming in the ear
Acute and chronic ear infection
A middle ear infection often causes a buzzing in the ears.
If there is an infection:
- Swells the mucous membrane in the ears;
- There may be secretions from the ears.
The result is that the patient hears sounds that seem to come from the ear.
With an external ear infection, the patient has pain when moving the mouth, for example:
- Chew
- Yawn.
If this is not treated, the ear infection can become chronic and damage can also occur to the internal structures of the ear, which causes:
- Constant tinnitus;
- Reduction in hearing.
Hearing
Tinnitus is often the first symptom of age-related hearing loss.
The internal structures of the ear degenerate over the years and can send abnormal signals to the brain.
The brain interprets these signals as sounds and the patient hears a whistling or buzzing in the ear.
Vasculitis
This is an inflammation of the large and small blood vessels.
Vasculitis can cause many symptoms, including problems with vision and ears.
Neurinoma of the auditory nerve
This is a benign tumor of the eighth cranial nerve.
Symptoms depend on size. If the tumor mass is large, it presses on the surrounding structures and can cause:
- Tinnitus
- loss of balance,
- Hearing
- Tingling.
Stroke
Stroke is a neurological event characterized by an interruption of cerebral circulation, which can be caused by:
- bleeding,
- An ischemia.
Thyroid disorders: Hyperthyroidism and hypothyroidism (Elliott B. Diagnosing and treating hypothyroidism. Nurse Pract. 2000;25: 92–94, 99–105. pmid:10750123).
Medications that can cause a whistling in the ears: Some medications can cause ear discomfort, for example:
- salicylates (salicylic acid derivatives),
- Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatories,
- aminoglycosides (such as gentamicin),
- loop diuretics,
- Chemoterapeuticals.
Foods that can
cause pipes in the ears According to naturopathy, tinnitus is caused by the consumption of certain foods that are harmful to humans.
According to the blood type diet, the foods that lead to tinnitus and whistling in the ear are mainly:
- Milk
- Dairy products
- pastries with cream products,
- Yoghurt
- Cheese.
Depending on a person’s blood type, there are certain foods that can cause humming in the ear, for example:
- For blood group 0 – coffee,
- For blood groups A and AB – red meat
- In blood groups B and AB – hazelnuts.
The vegan and raw food diet is based on natural foods with little protein and lots of fruit (juicy, peeled, etc.)
According to this type of diet, whistling in the ear is caused by poisons produced by digestion of:
- processed products (cakes, dairy products, etc.),
- excessive proteins,
- Sweetened, stimulating and carbonated drinks.
Causes of whistling or pulsating tinnitus
One type of ear noise is pulsating tinnitus, the person hears the sound of the heartbeat.
In most patients, pulsating tinnitus comes from the circulation of blood to the neck and head.
Unlike idiopathic tinnitus, pulsating tinnitus has a specific and identifiable cause.
Often, however, the doctor has doubts about the diagnosis and the therapy.
Circulatory disorders that cause tinnitus include:
- Anemia – people diagnosed with anemia report the symptom of pulsating tinnitus,
- High blood pressure (hypertension) and other factors that raise blood pressure, such as stress and consumption of coffee and alcohol, can trigger tinnitus in the ear.
- Abnormalities and anatomical variants of the arteries, for example:
- internal carotid artery, which takes a different course,
- carotid-coculous dehiscence (divergence),
- Persistent stapedia artery (that is, the artery persists instead of dissolving after embryonic development).
- Arterio-venous fistula – formation of a canal that connects an artery to a vein. In otosclerosis, arterio-venous microfistulas can form above the oval window, causing the ear whistling.
- Vascular tumors in the head and neck (for example, glomus jugularis), the tumor can press on the blood vessels of the ear and lead to circulatory disorders
- Narrowing of the blood vessels on the head and neck: These are hardening and narrowing of the walls of the arteries that carry the blood to the head. As a result, less space is available, so the blood flow must have a higher pressure to flow at the same speed.
- Increase in intracranial pressure – This can be caused by trauma, bleeding or hydrocephalus. In young women, this is often idiopathic (that is, you know no cause).
- Abnormalities of the jugular venous – May be in an upper or lateral position and may be enlarged.
- Aneurysm – Causes turbulence in the bloodstream. This is a rare cause of tinnitus.
Symptoms that occur along with ear whistling
In addition to the sounds, patients experience other symptoms that vary depending on the tinnitus’ underlying disease.
Tinnitus and diseases of the ears
- hearing loss (may be caused by Meniere’s syndrome or an earwax plug),
- earache (with otitis media or problems of the temporo-mandibular joint),
- discharge from the ear (in acute otitis media),
- feeling of stuffy ear (for example, due to cholesteatoma, external ear infection or earwax plug),
- High fever (in infections of the inner ear).
Tinnitus and circulatory problems
- blurred vision or double vision,
- headache,
- dizziness or spinning vertigo (with labyrinthitis),
- Nausea and vomiting (with labyrinthitis or Meniere’s syndrome).
Complications of right or left whistling
In some patients, tinnitus can persist continuously for a long time.
This can affect the patient’s quality of life and cause:
- sleep disorders,
- difficulty concentrating,
- memory problems,
- Irritability
- Anxiety
- Depression.
When do you have to worry about whistling your ears?
If a person experiences the following symptoms, he should consult a doctor if:
- A constant humming in the ear without an external noise exists, especially if this sound occurs bilaterally (in both ears) and resembles an echo of the heartbeat.
- This ringing in the ears may be accompanied by dizziness (for example, in labyrinthitis) or hearing loss (hypakusis). Meniere’s syndrome is characterized by an increase in pressure of the labyrinth fluid in the ear. This condition causes a crisis that can last a few days or weeks, with:
- Tinnitus
- Vertigo
- Hearing
- nystagmus,
- Nausea
- Vomit.
- The person may also suffer from mild or intense headaches.
How long does tinnitus last? Prognosis
The duration of tinnitus depends on the cause. For example, with high blood pressure, it passes when the underlying health problem is resolved.
According to doctors, the nerve cells have adapted to the new situation, and if the patient starts treatment after a long time, it takes a little longer for the situation to normalize.
