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No Popping Sound While Yawning. Have Nausea. Hard Wax In Eustachian Tube. Reduced Hearing. Reason?
Posted on
Thu, 24 Mar 2011
Medically reviewed by
Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team
Thu, 24 Mar 2011
Answered on
Tue, 17 Jul 2012
Last reviewed on
Question : I have a feeling likemy ears wont pop like they should after yawning or descent, and feel nauseous. doctor says there may be a lump of hard wax in the eustachian tube. have used olive oil drops but still feel nauseou, and my hearing is a bit woolly. what else could this be
Hi,
Generally most people would hear the 'pop' like sound while yawning and descent. Popping sounds in the ear occur when the eustachian tube (ET) opens to establish equal air pressure on both sides of the eardrum. Normally ET is closed at rest and it opens only to equal the pressures on either sides thus causing pop sound.
So you were having this normal mechanism earlier and now you are not able to hear the pop sound. Moreover you also complain of nausea and hearing issues too, the possible reason that narrates the condition is 'Wax' or 'Cerumen'. The other reasons are limited, though a bubble in the ET (cold, sorethroat) can cause similar symptoms. In such case, a warm water gargles with salt should help in relieving.
Use of olive oil can soften the wax but it would not be better unless the impacted wax is removed manually by the physician. So I suggest to get this removed by ENT Surgeon. I specify to see an ENT surgeon so that he can further evaluate the hearing problem.
Hope it helps. Keep me posted if you need further answers.
Regards,
Dr. Mazumdar.
Generally most people would hear the 'pop' like sound while yawning and descent. Popping sounds in the ear occur when the eustachian tube (ET) opens to establish equal air pressure on both sides of the eardrum. Normally ET is closed at rest and it opens only to equal the pressures on either sides thus causing pop sound.
So you were having this normal mechanism earlier and now you are not able to hear the pop sound. Moreover you also complain of nausea and hearing issues too, the possible reason that narrates the condition is 'Wax' or 'Cerumen'. The other reasons are limited, though a bubble in the ET (cold, sorethroat) can cause similar symptoms. In such case, a warm water gargles with salt should help in relieving.
Use of olive oil can soften the wax but it would not be better unless the impacted wax is removed manually by the physician. So I suggest to get this removed by ENT Surgeon. I specify to see an ENT surgeon so that he can further evaluate the hearing problem.
Hope it helps. Keep me posted if you need further answers.
Regards,
Dr. Mazumdar.
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Yogesh D
Answered by
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