Hey sxst,
Chiro sounds like it might relieve some of these symptoms? Do you clench your jaw at night? or find any stiffness? and in your neck? If I pull my left ear down to my shoulder to stretch my neck, it feels as though my right ear drum is being stretched out creating a sound like rubbing a microphone. This makes me think it is mechanical. I'm getting this paper sound from the smallest movement of my ear drum (sound induced or by moving my jaw). I've been looking into white noise treatment as well. I'm assuming you've had your ears checked for sound tolerance? I'm wondering if you've made any more progress?
Thanks
I can relate to everyone here. I have a similar issue. I have this issue in my left ear - I think as the result of swimmer's ear as a kid. (I'm 30 now.) Loud music will cause a static sound in my left ear. My problem now, however, is a recent traumatic perforation (4 mm) of my right eardrum. It happened in Sept. 2014 and took two months to fill in, but now I'm plagued with a broken speaker sound when I swallow. Clicking in the morning when I wake up, followed by popping in that ear every time I swallow. The crackling (and broken speaker sounds) bothers me the worst, though. Seen 4 ENTs. The third claims the epithelial tissue that healed over needs time to regain tensile strength. The fourth (seen yesterday) thinks it's inflammation of my inner ear nerves that's heightening those middle ear sounds and gave me prednisone (an oral steroid). Does anyone have any experience like this? I feel like I'm totally alone here. Causing me a lot of anxiety/stress every day because I have to hear it every time I swallow and my eustachian tube opens up. (Noise only in the damaged right ear.) Please ... if you know anything that can help ... please respond. It would mean the world to me.
Chris
It's always important to post results after you read this stuff... I think as mentioned most do not.
For those who don't like long posts... the tip is: Flush your ear correctly. It will do exactly what the "finger wiggle" trick is doing for some, but it will be permanent, have less risk and is better for your ear anyway.
What happened.
I had this exact problem without any new variations. The sound, happened when I moved my ear and/or jaw I hear the sound. No pain or signs of infection or fluid build up.
Things I tried:
I tried the Mucinex and other decongestants for a week or so. No results.
I tried carefully cleaning with cotton swabs (repeatedly). No results.
I tried the finger in your ear wiggly thing. Temporary, but not lasting results. Basically I could change the sensitivity (how easily/often I would hear it) and even in the "intensity" or "loudness" of the sound, but it wasn't going away. This was the best tip up until I did what I'd recommend most do.
A real ear flush. This worked permanently, and I use that word for a reason.
After knowing the problem, I've Googled this symptom with a few extra keywords, and for most people here it is likely the exact thing already mentioned here: a hair or foreign object is resting close to, or even touching your ear drum. The sound is this item moving. The sound everyone describes is not so much like "paper crumbling" but more like what happens if you rub across a microphone... this is closer to what is actually happening to you.
For some this can be a stray hair. It can be a hair from inside your ear that has grown in the wrong direction, it can be either of these combined with some ear wax that has trapped it in it's current position and all of that. It could just as easily be some small foreign object with the same issues.
So... I bought a generic flush kit from my local grocery store. It's basically a small dropper bottle full of olive oil (only ingredient listed on the bottle) that you put a few drops in, for a few minutes to dislodge and lubricate the entire canal. After a few minutes of that, you use the only other thing in the kit... a flush bottle. This is the ideal tool for this problem. It's a little bottle that you squeeze, but it has a special tip on it that squirts water in multiple directions.. none of which is directly at you ear drum. This is important. Anyway, I flushed with warm water a few times and let it drain.
Beside the fact that the sound completely stopped at this point, I used a cotton swab to clean/dry the canal a little... and other than only minor color (olive oil most likely) only one thing came out. A super tiny 1cm or so pice of hair. And then I remembered my hair cut about 2 weeks ago when this started.
It's worth noting... I am NOT a doctor.
Hey everyone, I was suffering from the same symptoms and I have just recently solved it.
I went to my doctor and he couldn't find anything wrong with my ear and said it might be a eustachian tube problem and it would help if I chewed gum or yawned a lot. Also, he said that the inside of my ear was healthy besides the fact that there were some hair follicles.
Anyway, I tried the tilting back and wiggling method suggested earlier but it only worked for a small period of time and the crumpling noise would be back. However, after more careful fidgeting of the ear, I felt something inside.
In the end, I pulled out a 10cm long strand of hair out of my ear and the noises haven't come back since.
I woke up one morning and found I had this same noise (no pain) when I touched the skin around the bottom of my left ear. I had not changed any activities, food, or medications. After 5 days, I tried this: While taking my shower, I held the hand spray 6 inches from my ear and slowly tilted my head to the side. I also pinched my nose, closed my mouth and tried to breath out until I could feel pressure in my ears. The whole process lasted about a minute. The noise went away. It seems my problem was something in my ear and the process flushed it out. I suspect there may be several things that can cause this and I was lucky to have a problem with an easy fix.
I have it in my left ear. I had a bad flu and then had this crumpling plasic bag sound in my left ear. I didn't think anything of it at first, because I get this often after I wash my hair and water get's in my ears. But it did not go away. I hear the sound when I yawn (at the very end of the yawn) and when I wiggle my finger around in my ear.