Sinus congestion and hearing loss Fluid in the Eustachian tube can cause muffled hearing. Many people equate the sensation to that of descending in an airplane, being underwater, or even having earplugs in. Changes in hearing such can be distressing.
The pressure in your sinuses affects more than just your nose. It can also cause pain in your ears, dizziness, and the feeling that your ears feel stuffed up or clogged.
There may be discomfort, pus-like ear discharge or a sensation of subdued hearing. Fluid accumulation can also cause ear or throat pain. But in the case of a sinus infection, there is a feeling of fullness and pressure in the ears. This is because there is clogging in the sinus region.
Cause of Ear Congestion
Common causes include fluid in the middle ear, hay fever, allergies or over-excessive nose blowing. Ear pain can be associated with ear congestion in cases of infections or with airplane travel, with sudden changes in barometric pressure, which most often occurs during descent.
When pressure builds up in the ears, people can usually relieve it by yawning, chewing gum, or wiggling the jaw. If these do not help, a person may need a nasal spray or other medical treatment.
If you're experiencing nasal drip with thick yellow-green mucus, you likely have a sinus infection, not an ear infection. Ditto with a cough, bad breath and reduced ability to smell. However, signs such as sharp stabbing pains in your ear canal, earaches and muffled hearing point to ear infections.
Antibiotics are not needed for many sinus infections. Most sinus infections usually get better on their own without antibiotics. When antibiotics aren't needed, they won't help you, and their side effects could still cause harm. Side effects can range from mild reactions, like a rash, to more serious health problems.
“Typically acute sinusitis resolves by 10 days, but if not, then the possibility of a bacterial infection should be considered,” says Dr. Chen. “Getting one or two sinus infections a year is considered normal. More than four should prompt a visit to an ear, nose, and throat surgeon,” explained Dr.
Patients with eustachian tube dysfunction often have muffled hearing, feeling like they're hearing underwater or in a barrel. Some people can even hear water sloshing or bubbling in their middle ear! Friends and loved ones might point out that you're talking louder than normal.
Tinnitus is the medical term for "hearing" noises in your ears. It occurs when there is no outside source of the sounds. Tinnitus is often called "ringing in the ears." It may also sound like blowing, roaring, buzzing, hissing, humming, whistling, or sizzling.
Sinus-related ear congestion
Conditions that lead to inflammation or congestion in the sinuses can also lead to ear congestion. Examples of conditions that affect the sinuses and the ears include: sinusitis, or inflammation of the lining of the sinuses. allergies.
Your sinuses are located close to your ear canal, and when they become congested, swollen, and clogged, these issues can affect your ear's hearing function. Your Eustachian tubes, which connect the middle of your ear to your throat, will become clogged, preventing fluid from moving through.
As your body works hard to fight off the sinus infection, you'll feel more tired than usual. Fatigue can be also be caused by head pain, a lack of adequate sleep, and difficulty breathing due to sinusitis.
You doctor may recommend antibiotics if: You have symptoms of a bacterial infection and you have not gotten better after 10 days, even with home treatment. Your symptoms are severe, or you have other problems, such as pus forming in your sinus cavities. You have had sinusitis for 12 weeks or longer (chronic sinusitis).
This may give you the idea that you need antibiotics, but most clear up without them. Antibiotics have no effect on viruses and aren't recommended within the first week of developing a cold. About 70% of sinus infections go away within two weeks without antibiotics.
Muffled hearing can have several causes, including sinus congestion or infections, clogged ears, earwax build-up and/or changes in altitude or pressure while flying.
This can happen for brief periods during air travel, but also due to allergies, sinus or ear infections, or other respiratory viruses (including COVID-19). Sudden onset of muffled hearing in one ear may signal an urgent problem requiring prompt treatment to prevent or reduce possible hearing loss.
Pseudoephedrine is used to relieve nasal or sinus congestion caused by the common cold, sinusitis, and hay fever and other respiratory allergies. It is also used to relieve ear congestion caused by ear inflammation or infection.
Eustachian tube massage
Using firm, steady pressure, slide your finger down until you feel a groove between your ear lobe and jaw. Trace that groove all the way down your neck to your collarbone using the same firm pressure. Repeat this process three times on each side, three times a day.
The most common form of hearing loss due to a sinus infection is caused by severe congestion and sinus blockage — specifically, sinus blockage of the Eustachian tube, a small section of your ear that helps regulate pressure. Fluid in the Eustachian tube can cause muffled hearing.