I think I have the same thing.
Is yours also kinda connected to blinking? I can do it without blinking, but closing my eyes at the same moment as rumbling the eardrums feels easier and more natural than rumbling with eyes open.
I can do it without closing my eyes but when i was younger, I remember closing my eyes or scrunching my face made it easier to do. If you can wiggle your ears without lifting your eyebrows, it kind of feels like its the same muscle group that causes the rumbles. The rumbling sounds like white noise inside my head. Its caused by constricting Tensor Tympani muscle in the ear voluntarily. From Wikipedia:
Some individuals can voluntarily produce this rumbling sound by contracting the muscle. According to the National Institute of Health, “voluntary control of the tensor tympani muscle is an extremely rare event”,[5] where “rare” seems to refer more to the scarcity of test subjects and/or studies more than the percentage of the general population who have voluntary control. The rumbling sound can also be heard when the neck or jaw muscles are highly tensed as when yawning deeply. This phenomenon has been known since (at least) 1884.[6]
I do this thing where I pop my ears (like when pressure changes from altitude) and then it’s like I’m hearing my breathing inside of my sinuses or something. When I breathe this way, it effectively blocks conversations I don’t want to overhear. Do other people do this, or am I odd?
I can do this. If I’m in a really quiet area, I like to take in a deeper breath and then exhale as slowly as possible while doing it, which then allows me to hear my heartbeat. Super nifty.
I can also use my soft pallet to block airflow from my throat to my nose. Can you do that too?
I can’t block my nose in that way. I tried when your comment came in, but I can’t conceive of how to do it.
With the ear popping thing, I just hear the rushing of my breath. I can see how you might be able to hear your heart. I might be making this up in my head, but I feel like maybe I could hear it when I was younger.
The trick is that while you hold your ears ‘open’, you have your lungs try to not breath out but you don’t close your mouth. This lets the heart beating against your lungs be what pushes air in and out and then you hear the sounds of the air pulses as it moves past your eustachian tubes in your throat. Making sure your lungs are as full as possible is required so the lungs push against the heart.
I can do this! I forget the name for it but I can rumble my ears, and then I can also ‘pop’ them if I go a little further. I’m so grateful for it if I ever go through a pressure change, I can’t imagine how people cope without being able to do it.
Sounds about right. I would connect this action to my jaw, not anything with my eyes like some others have said. When you say short, do you mean the sound doesn’t last very long? I can keep it going more or less as long as I want.
As long as I tense my jaw, I guess, but it’s kinda awkward for me. I kinda have to pop my jaw down and hold it. I feel I’m making a silly face when I do it, so I’m not holding it long.
I guess there’s multiple ways to hit it. I feel it in my jaw but it’s the same process as wiggling my ears (though I don’t have to do that at the same time if I don’t want to).
Came here looking for the tensor tympani rumble cause I know it well; not sure what your thing is! If I notice sounds going quiet on a flight I’ll pinch the nostrils shut and make an exhalation effort till I hear a pop in each ear, then sounds are normal. Almost like the reverse of yours.
I can also ear rumble, it is not tied to my blinking at all, but if I vibrate my eyes while my ears are rumbling they both move at the same ~60hz frequency.
I think I have the same thing. Is yours also kinda connected to blinking? I can do it without blinking, but closing my eyes at the same moment as rumbling the eardrums feels easier and more natural than rumbling with eyes open.
Mine feels more connected to my jaw, I kind of tense my jaw right near the joint to activate the rumbling.
I can do it without closing my eyes but when i was younger, I remember closing my eyes or scrunching my face made it easier to do. If you can wiggle your ears without lifting your eyebrows, it kind of feels like its the same muscle group that causes the rumbles. The rumbling sounds like white noise inside my head. Its caused by constricting Tensor Tympani muscle in the ear voluntarily. From Wikipedia:
TIL; I always thought it was temporarily spiking your blood pressure that made that rumble. Now I’m no longer scared to do it
I do this thing where I pop my ears (like when pressure changes from altitude) and then it’s like I’m hearing my breathing inside of my sinuses or something. When I breathe this way, it effectively blocks conversations I don’t want to overhear. Do other people do this, or am I odd?
I can do this. If I’m in a really quiet area, I like to take in a deeper breath and then exhale as slowly as possible while doing it, which then allows me to hear my heartbeat. Super nifty.
I can also use my soft pallet to block airflow from my throat to my nose. Can you do that too?
I can’t block my nose in that way. I tried when your comment came in, but I can’t conceive of how to do it.
With the ear popping thing, I just hear the rushing of my breath. I can see how you might be able to hear your heart. I might be making this up in my head, but I feel like maybe I could hear it when I was younger.
The trick is that while you hold your ears ‘open’, you have your lungs try to not breath out but you don’t close your mouth. This lets the heart beating against your lungs be what pushes air in and out and then you hear the sounds of the air pulses as it moves past your eustachian tubes in your throat. Making sure your lungs are as full as possible is required so the lungs push against the heart.
I can do this! I forget the name for it but I can rumble my ears, and then I can also ‘pop’ them if I go a little further. I’m so grateful for it if I ever go through a pressure change, I can’t imagine how people cope without being able to do it.
Wait a minute. If I hold my jaw right, I do get a very short rumbling apart from my breath. Is that what you guys mean?
Sounds about right. I would connect this action to my jaw, not anything with my eyes like some others have said. When you say short, do you mean the sound doesn’t last very long? I can keep it going more or less as long as I want.
As long as I tense my jaw, I guess, but it’s kinda awkward for me. I kinda have to pop my jaw down and hold it. I feel I’m making a silly face when I do it, so I’m not holding it long.
I guess there’s multiple ways to hit it. I feel it in my jaw but it’s the same process as wiggling my ears (though I don’t have to do that at the same time if I don’t want to).
Came here looking for the tensor tympani rumble cause I know it well; not sure what your thing is! If I notice sounds going quiet on a flight I’ll pinch the nostrils shut and make an exhalation effort till I hear a pop in each ear, then sounds are normal. Almost like the reverse of yours.
Not OP, but mine’s not connected to blinking.
Same. I hold my eyes shut and I can activate it. I like to think of it as my automatic ear-cleaning mode.
I can also ear rumble, it is not tied to my blinking at all, but if I vibrate my eyes while my ears are rumbling they both move at the same ~60hz frequency.
Mine is connected to blinking, but it doesn’t always work.
Mine is activated by blinking hard.