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1187807 tn?1264462080

Ear Vibrations / Thumping

For the last few years I've had a vibration or thumping sound in my left ear. While I do have tinnitus occasionally in both ears (and lately a constant night time hum in my right ear) I know that what I'm hearing is not related to tinnitus. It only happens when there is a vibration near by. The dishwasher, the washing machine, even a passing plane can trigger this. It thumbs and vibrates back and forth until the cause stops. So clearly I'm aware of what the cause is. I sit in the kitchen, turn on the dishwasher and my ear vibrates along with it. I turn it off and it stops immediately. When plane passes (we live near a small airport) I can hear the plane coming, it comes closer and my ear starts, gets worse and worse until the plane is gone.

Its not painful but as you can imagine, its quite annoying and has been going on probably 5 years. I believe its coming from the inner ear. I mentioned it once years ago to a doctor who told me to take Sudafed to try and dry up the inner ear. It didn't work. I have severe allergies but the time of year doesn't seem to affect it. Although what bothers me one day may not bother me the next. I take Claritin D regularly for seasonal allergies.

Sleeping on that side helps if perhaps its being triggered by a fan in the room. By the way, if I'm so lucky as to be in a room with an osculating fan it comes towards me and my ear goes, thump, thump, thump - turns away and its stops - faces me - thump thump thump - stops. SO WEIRD!!!

Any suggestions or thoughts are much appreciated!
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20905578 tn?1611770165
Hello! I know this post is over 10 years, but I thought my response might contribute. I have the same thing, and you described almost exactly what my symptoms are. Other things that trigger thumping in my left ear only are natural gas water heaters while heating, our natural gas furnace while heating, and slow fans like my evaporative cooler. I too sleep on my left side to block the thump, or wear an ear plug in that ear. Recently I bought some noise cancelling earbuds and this seems to help as well. Soon I will invest in noise cancelling earbuds that still allow you to hear normal conversations while blocking ambient or repetitive sounds. An audiologist told me I most likely have pulsatile tinnitus. Did your symptoms ever get better? 
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