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I have this weird muscle in my ears I can flex to block out (or at least lessen) loud noises. I've never been able to explain it adequately to anyone, or find o
by hyperbovine 2y ago
I have this weird muscle in my ears I can flex to block out (or at least lessen) loud noises. I've never been able to explain it adequately to anyone, or find out what is going on, but it's absolutely real and not just, wait for it, .. in my head :-)
- gorlilla 2y agoI tried explaining this to my wife and she thought I was crazy. Turns out she was right, but not for this reason.
- fumar 2y agoIf I do that, I hear a rumbling. I never used it to block out sound.
- hinkley 2y agoAccording to the Wikipedia article it may be involuntary.
- mimentum 2y agoSame. Wonder how common this is.
- Tor3 2y agoSame here, I hear a rumbling. I do occasionally use this to block or lower very loud (potentially hearing-damaging) sounds if there are no other means available.
- wkjagt 2y agoI can do the rumbling too. And a clicking too. I can even make someone else hear my ear clicking by having them press their ear to mine. I wonder if that's causes by the same thing.
- NitpickLawyer 2y ago> And a clicking too. You should get a check-up, when I heard clicking I had some wax accumulation.
- dguo 2y agoI can do the same and also didn't know how to explain it until I stumbled upon this subreddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/earrumblersassemble/ https://www.reddit.com/r/earrumblersassemble/ So apparently we can control our tensor tympani muscle: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tensor_tympani_muscle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tensor_tympani_muscle
- krisoft 2y agoThat's absolutely real. It sounds like you are describing the Tensor tympani muscle. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tensor_tympani_muscle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tensor_tympani_muscle In modern cars when the vehicle detects an impending collision it floods the cabin with pink noise to trigger a reflexive contraction of this muscle to protect the passenger's hearing from the even louder sounds of the collision and the airbags. https://spectrum.ieee.org/pink-noise-says-prepare-for-impact https://spectrum.ieee.org/pink-noise-says-prepare-for-impact
- albrewer 2y agoSounds like you might have conscious control over your tensor tympani muscle[0]. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tensor_tympani_muscle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tensor_tympani_muscle