Problems with hearing....broken speaker sound

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned air pressure yet.  I have similar symptoms to most of you, only the distortion is intermittant.  I always feel like my left ear is slightly plugged, that started a couple of years ago, but the feeling gets worse and better depending on the environment.  Showers, eating chunchy food having a cold/flu and talking a lot make the plugged feeling worse and that's when I get distortion.  But lately I've noticed something interesting: my drive to work is about 1/2 hour.....mostly at sea level, but in the last 10 minutes of my drive, I climb up about 120 meters in elevation.  THIS is when my distortion starts.  If I'm listening to the radio I can sometimes hear it get worse as I drive up the hill.  If I can swallow and get my ear to crack, the distortion stops and it goes back to feeling slightly plugged.  If I can't get my ear to crack by swallowing, it usually goes back to feeling only slightly plugged within a few hours.  I'm 46 years old and mine started about two years ago with a bad cold.  But since it gets better (never completely goes away) and gets worse, I'm thinking it's some sort of eustachian tube swelling.  I've never had sinus issues my whole life, but the last few years I've been noticing my nose is stuffed up a lot.  I'm not ruling out alergies.  I should try cutting out dairy.

I have, or should I say HAD the same thing. About 2 years ago someone whistled in my ear REALLY loud! Since then when I listen to music at a medium volume or hear high pitched noises I get the "broken speaker effect" alond with my ear feeling like it closes up.  As soon as the loud noise goes away I'm fine.  It wasn't necessarily painful, but very bothersome. I asked my Physician about it and they told me it was allergy related, and to take some claritin and nasal spray (2 different doctors).  Uh.....that didn't work.  Anyway, I started taking this health product called Plexus (this is my 3rd week).  I was listening to music in the car the other day and turned the music up.....nothing (broken speaker gone). So I tested it.... turned it up louder... still nothing.  Thought it was a fluke, tried it again today, still nothing.   I don't know what it was, and I don't know if the Plexus fixed it, all I know is I'm one happy camper.   My husband was in the military an has tinnitus (ringing) in his ears, along with the "broken speaker effect". He too is taking Plexus, so I'm going to find out if his is still there. 

did it work for him too? would love to know.

Hi Everyone, I have the same problem. In the past days my hearing of my right ear got worse than it was, I tought about i have to go for an ear cleaning/washing or idk. This morning the pressure got high in my ear and i cleaned it with a simple ear cleaning stick. Suddenly, the pressure fell so low and the issue started to occur. I tought it is just because my hearing got so clean and it had had been strange for me. I slept, then when i woke up i relised it still occurs. Now i started to read about it, and maybe i have to go to surgery. The sound is like a broken radio or idk, when the radio signal is so low and theres only this sound to hear. It gets louder when the environmental sounds are louder, thats strange. I found out myself i dont hear the sound if i cover my ear, maybe because the pressure that gets higher and ear gets temporary working normal or whatever. I read that explosion or if the ear pressure gets so low suddenly.I'm afraid of surgery,so if someone fixed it please explain how did you fixed that? In the past my hearing was good, i had no problem with it, the bad hearing occured about a several months ago Thanks in advice

an Update I didn't read the last posts and now i see Plexus fixed the issue for someone. I will ask my doctor wheter the Plexus exists in my country. And what does she know about that health product. Maybe that's the solution Have a nice day

Has anyone noticed TMJD to go along with it... My dentist said that it is the reason...

I had a mastoidectomy/tympanoplasty done and now I have this broken speaker sound

mom2two12368,

I have had the dizzy spells too after turning my head certain ways. I was diagnosed with benign positional vertigo.

I'm still having issues with my ears. Speakers (especially at my church, unfortunately), irritate them . Still looking for a treatment for that. Also, I work at an assembly/manufacturing plant and have to wear ear plugs, which also irritate. :(

For me it wouldn't be dairy related because I'm a vegetarian so no milk eggs or cheese. My dr has said its from a bacterial infection. It also got worse for me when I got water in my ears . It's annoying I've missed a lot of work lately. Thankfully I have a really good boss !

Hi all, I am a 35 year old sound engineer with reported "perfect" hearing in my left ear... My daughter screamed into it a few months ago, ever since I have had the "broken speaker" rasping noise when hearing loud noises/music/crying children etc. But also when I'm singing myself.

Personally, I feel relieved to read the 'Stapes theory' as this fits perfectly with my own interpretation of the symptoms. Have had ear drum checked and hearing tests which have shown zero symptoms, but these tests focus on low level noise... It is high level with which we all struggle. The most annoying thing is that my youngest daughter has developed a "Nazgul's screech" which really hurts my ear as well as gives the rattle!

I have also wondered whether it is certain frequencies that cause the "rattling"? Which could of course point to something like a damaged stapedius tendon...? It could indeed be the sound that this tendon itself is making? Which would explain how certain frequencies AND levels affect our hearing! And also the mild ear ache I experience following every episode

OMG! I am sorry....they should have used a special elephant ear bottle for the wax! It is not wax for sure. I lean more toward an infection, whether it be sinus or oral. Also post status a surgery. You should be a comedian for sure:)

POSSIBLE FIX: I've had the same broken speaker sound at certain decibels and instruments, (listening to singing at a high pitch, piano keys, etc) and I could only listen to music through my headphones very quietly. This has been going on for over a year now.
This morning I decided to not lower my earbud volume once i heard the fluttering/rattling sound, but to raise it to the highest volume. I put on mozarts requiem (loudest and most disruptive noises available for our ear problem) and my laid on the side of my problem ear (which makes rattling worse) while blasting this music, all the while my ear rattling was going nuts nonstop.
I did this while opening my jaw in that motion you do when you want to pop your ears (because it made the rattling worse). After doing all that at the same time, I seem to have stressed the part of the ear out enough to stop making the rattling noise. I checked my hearing online and did not experience any hearing loss. The rattling is effectively gone.
It has only been an hour since then, but I will comment again if the rattling returns.
DISCLAIMER: I AM NOT A DOCTOR AND YOU COULD POSSIBLY DAMAGE YOUR EARS FURTHER BY DOING WHAT I DID, I DO NOT CONDONE REPEATING WHAT I DID BUT I WANTED TO SHARE MY EXPERIENCE.

Have had the same problem and it was possibly linked to my Stapedius muscle. The muscle spasms creating control problems with "Amplitude" of sound, causing things to sound distorted. You can get surgery to detach the muscle, and it's pretty low risk, but it's better to look at the causes of the spasming. For me, it's brought on by a mix of anxiety and TMJ. Go to a good ENT and talk to them!

Yo, I have the same symptoms. No hearing loss. For me, it's clicking/crackling/buzzing in one ear. I get bouts of it, usually triggered somehow, lasting months usually but then there are periods of 6 months-1 year where it's completely gone.

It's bad right now. I want to know if you get this... my 'broken speaker' effect changes wrt ambient volume. Ie, if I'm in a quiet room, then small sounds can cause buzzing... but if I go outside, it takes a louder noise (passing truck) to cause it. This also has the effect of fixing the T, usually temporarily though - I'll go back inside, T will be gone, but then it starts creeping back, first clicks, then crackles, then buzzing. Night is the worst, I wake up in the early hours with loads of buzzing.