• stepan@lemmy.cafe
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    3 months ago

    I think I have the same thing. Is yours also kinda connected to blinking? I can do it without blinking, but closing my eyes at the same moment as rumbling the eardrums feels easier and more natural than rumbling with eyes open.

    • LogicalDrivel@sopuli.xyz
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      3 months ago

      I can do it without closing my eyes but when i was younger, I remember closing my eyes or scrunching my face made it easier to do. If you can wiggle your ears without lifting your eyebrows, it kind of feels like its the same muscle group that causes the rumbles. The rumbling sounds like white noise inside my head. Its caused by constricting Tensor Tympani muscle in the ear voluntarily. From Wikipedia:

      Some individuals can voluntarily produce this rumbling sound by contracting the muscle. According to the National Institute of Health, “voluntary control of the tensor tympani muscle is an extremely rare event”,[5] where “rare” seems to refer more to the scarcity of test subjects and/or studies more than the percentage of the general population who have voluntary control. The rumbling sound can also be heard when the neck or jaw muscles are highly tensed as when yawning deeply. This phenomenon has been known since (at least) 1884.[6]

      • AA5B@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        TIL; I always thought it was temporarily spiking your blood pressure that made that rumble. Now I’m no longer scared to do it

    • paddirn@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      Same. I hold my eyes shut and I can activate it. I like to think of it as my automatic ear-cleaning mode.

    • slingstone@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      I do this thing where I pop my ears (like when pressure changes from altitude) and then it’s like I’m hearing my breathing inside of my sinuses or something. When I breathe this way, it effectively blocks conversations I don’t want to overhear. Do other people do this, or am I odd?

      • jpeps@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        I can do this! I forget the name for it but I can rumble my ears, and then I can also ‘pop’ them if I go a little further. I’m so grateful for it if I ever go through a pressure change, I can’t imagine how people cope without being able to do it.

        • slingstone@lemmy.world
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          3 months ago

          Wait a minute. If I hold my jaw right, I do get a very short rumbling apart from my breath. Is that what you guys mean?

          • jpeps@lemmy.world
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            3 months ago

            Sounds about right. I would connect this action to my jaw, not anything with my eyes like some others have said. When you say short, do you mean the sound doesn’t last very long? I can keep it going more or less as long as I want.

            • slingstone@lemmy.world
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              3 months ago

              As long as I tense my jaw, I guess, but it’s kinda awkward for me. I kinda have to pop my jaw down and hold it. I feel I’m making a silly face when I do it, so I’m not holding it long.

              • jpeps@lemmy.world
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                3 months ago

                I guess there’s multiple ways to hit it. I feel it in my jaw but it’s the same process as wiggling my ears (though I don’t have to do that at the same time if I don’t want to).