Is this permanent?

Hi. For the last 6 months I've been having some problems with my ears. The left one felt like it was under water a lot, although that problem seems to have gone. When I swallow, I hear a crackling crunch sound. If I puff either side of my cheeks out like I was inflating a balloon, there is major crackling and crunching in my ears. I have pressure problems too where swallowing doesn't make them pop. They can feel like the ear passages have shrunk. Normal sounds feel slightly muffled sometimes. I have a sort of closed off ringing sound in my right ear too. I went to my GP 4 weeks ago, who stuck something in my ear to look. He explained that it looked like there might be fluid behind the eardrum, which he deduced from shining a light into my ear and the reflection being distorted. Something to do with sinuses not draining properly, he guessed. I was referred to an ENT clinic and my appointment is in 2 weeks time. When I got home from seeing my GP, certain sounds were different. My jeans rubbing together when I walked, running my hand through my hair, anything that sort of rustled sounded slightly distorted and more muffled and unreal than other sounds. Sort of higher pitched, maybe missing some of the other frequencies that you normally hear from those sounds. Those sounds almost appear to be heard in a different part of the ear to the other sounds. A couple of hours later I came down with a nasty head cold, so assumed the strange hearing was because my sinuses were blocking and would return to normal when it went. After 4 or 5 days the head cold appeared to go, but the weird hearing remained. This was just over 3 weeks ago now, and those certain sounds are still strange. I notice that when my ears start to block more, which they do quite a lot throughout the day, the distortion and muffle is enhanced. These higher pitched rustling sounds did not sound like this 4 weeks ago before the head cold. I have a few questions I'm hoping someone might be able to answer. Is it likely that these problems can be fixed when I visit the ENT clinic in two weeks? Can a head cold permanently damage your hearing like this? It seems unlikely, especially as this more recent hearing loss appears to be in both ears rather than one, but I don't understand why it wouldn't have returned to normal by now. Is it possible that the head cold moved the trapped fluid around in my sinuses and ears, and it's now settled in a different place, causing certain sounds to now sound more muffled than they were before the head cold? Otosclerosis runs in my mother's side of the family, something I'll also be tested for at the ENT clinic; could any of my original symptoms or my more recent ones be signs of otosclerosis? Any answers or other comments about the problems I've described would be very gratefully received. This is causing me great concern.

Jack - I've got a similar thing going on with the fluid in the ear. It can make sounds distorted at times. In my case, it comes and goes. It seems to be related to allergies causing swelling around my eustacian tubes which limits the ability to equalize pressure and drain. When I can get the fluid out and equalize the pressure my hearing goes back to normal. Unfortunately normal includes T for me. See your ENT and check back with us. Jack wrote: > Hi. For the last 6 months I've been having some problems with my ears. > The left one felt like it was under water a lot, although that problem > seems to have gone. When I swallow, I hear a crackling crunch sound. If > I puff either side of my cheeks out like I was inflating a balloon, > there is major crackling and crunching in my ears. I have pressure > problems too where swallowing doesn't make them pop. They can feel like > the ear passages have shrunk. Normal sounds feel slightly muffled > sometimes. I have a sort of closed off ringing sound in my right ear > too. > > I went to my GP 4 weeks ago, who stuck something in my ear to look. He > explained that it looked like there might be fluid behind the eardrum, > which he deduced from shining a light into my ear and the reflection > being distorted. Something to do with sinuses not draining properly, he > guessed. I was referred to an ENT clinic and my appointment is in 2 > weeks time. > > When I got home from seeing my GP, certain sounds were different. My > jeans rubbing together when I walked, running my hand through my hair, > anything that sort of rustled sounded slightly distorted and more > muffled and unreal than other sounds. Sort of higher pitched, maybe > missing some of the other frequencies that you normally hear from those > sounds. Those sounds almost appear to be heard in a different part of > the ear to the other sounds. > > A couple of hours later I came down with a nasty head cold, so assumed > the strange hearing was because my sinuses were blocking and would > return to normal when it went. > > After 4 or 5 days the head cold appeared to go, but the weird hearing > remained. This was just over 3 weeks ago now, and those certain sounds > are still strange. I notice that when my ears start to block more, > which they do quite a lot throughout the day, the distortion and muffle > is enhanced. These higher pitched rustling sounds did not sound like > this 4 weeks ago before the head cold. > > I have a few questions I'm hoping someone might be able to answer. > > Is it likely that these problems can be fixed when I visit the ENT > clinic in two weeks? > > Can a head cold permanently damage your hearing like this? It seems > unlikely, especially as this more recent hearing loss appears to be in > both ears rather than one, but I don't understand why it wouldn't have > returned to normal by now. > > Is it possible that the head cold moved the trapped fluid around in my > sinuses and ears, and it's now settled in a different place, causing > certain sounds to now sound more muffled than they were before the head > cold? > > Otosclerosis runs in my mother's side of the family, something I'll > also be tested for at the ENT clinic; could any of my original symptoms > or my more recent ones be signs of otosclerosis? > > Any answers or other comments about the problems I've described would > be very gratefully received. This is causing me great concern.