You are probably right about your suspicions. The middle ear has a tiny muscle in it called the Tensor Tympani. This muscle (like other muscles in your body) can spasm. The result is that your ear drum is tensed and relaxed quite rapidly giving you the sensations.
I have gotten almost the same thing but behind my ears and very strong pain as a poppin feeling. i havnt found out what the problem is but it stopped once i gotten off yaz birth control.i hope u find out what is wrong.
Yes! I have had this for about 8 years in my left year. I have it also occasionally in my right ear also. I was once prescribed Effexor for an Anxiety problem and I experienced complete relief from the ear "fluttering" while on the medication. I didn't like the way that the anti-anxiety meds felt after awhile, so I don't take them anymore, and as soon as I stopped taking them, the ear fluttering came back. I am not sure what component of a SSRI would cause the middle ear to relax and stop fluttering!
I have also suffered from plenty of ear infections from the ages of about 10 to 24 (about 10 infections total in both ears). I think maybe the ear infections caused permanent damage to the middle ear or something like that... It is worse when I lay with my left ear up on a pillow. If I lay with that ear acing down into the pillow, the "fluttering" seems to go away.