by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.
Kissing causes hearing loss? You’ve got to be kidding!
Actually, it’s true. Not all kissing, mind you, but kissing someone on their ear can be dangerous to their hearing health. Here’s the incident that brought this fact to light.
A mother and her 4-year-old daughter were sitting on the floor watching TV. Impulsively the child hugged her mom and vigorously kissed her. Unfortunately, the kiss landed directly on the opening to the mother’s left ear canal.
This sudden (and considerable) suction applied negative pressure to the ear drum. (1) As the mother related, “While she was doing it, it felt like she was sucking the air out of my head.” (3) “When she finished, I had no hearing in that ear.” In addition to the total hearing loss, “she had a very intense screeching tinnitus. She had a lot of facial twitching, muscular twitching and pain.” (2)
Fortunately, most of her hearing returned a few hours later, but she was left with a permanent 35 dB hearing loss in the lower frequencies, “screeching tinnitus” that later subsided to a permanent soft rushing sound, hyperacusis (normal sounds are now too loud—”any loud sound would jostle her and send her through the roof”) (2), dysacusis (distorted hearing) and facial twitching. (3)
About a year later, she contacted Dr. Levi Reiter, professor and head of the Audiology program, at Hofstra University in New York. Dr. Reiter’s testing revealed that she had no auditory reflex in that ear any more. The auditory reflex is where the tiny stapedius muscle (actually the smallest muscle in the human body) contracts and pulls the tiny stapes (or stirrup) (the smallest bone in the human body) away from the oval window to reduce the volume of sudden loud sounds. (2)
In addition, “she had another interesting symptom, whenever she would turn her head from side to side, it felt like something was loose in her middle ear.” (2)
Further investigation by Dr. Reiter indicated that what likely had happened was that the ligament that fastened the stapedius muscle to the stapes had ripped apart, leaving her with a non-functioning auditory reflex in that ear. Since the auditory reflex could no longer dampen louder sounds, she was left with permanent hyperacusis.
Interestingly enough, this mother only experienced sensorineural hearing loss. There was no conductive loss whatsoever. You would have thought the middle ear bones would have been dislocated causing a conductive loss, but nothing of the sort happened (apart from the ligament on the stapedius muscle being ripped apart—which doesn’t cause hearing loss).
Initially the press reported this event as the “Kiss of Deaf”, but due to Dr. Reiter’s ongoing research in this area, this phenomenon is now going by the moniker of “Reiter’s Ear-Kiss Syndrome” (REKS).
Ever since the first reports came out in the media, Dr. Reiter has been receiving calls and emails from people all over the country who also have experienced hearing loss from a kiss on the ear. (4) Rather than it being a strange and unique occurrence, Dr. Reiter told me that REKS is much more common than it first appeared to be.
He emphasizes that you must never kiss anyone on their ears, or let them kiss you there. (Nibbling on someone’s ears is an entirely different matter!) He writes: “My biggest concern as far as warning the public and getting this out is regarding newborns and infants. Mothers and fathers, and even sisters and brothers and grandparents love to smooch up that little baby—give him a whole kissing frenzy.” (2)
Note that this may be especially true when little children try to kiss a baby sibling. They aren’t discerning where they kiss, and may forcefully kiss them on their ear. (Adults may inadvertently do this too.)
Dr. Reiter continues, “The ear canal of an infant is very small, so that negative pressure you’re applying to the ear canal is going to have a much greater impact than on an adult. I’m afraid there are infants out there who are experiencing this, but they can’t say ‘Mommy, I can’t hear in one ear,’ and the net result is that five years later, when they have a hearing test, no one will know to relate it to this.” (2) Therefore, for the sake of everyone’s ears, confine smooching to other parts of the body.
If you have had any hearing loss or other ear problems resulting from a kiss on your ear, Dr. Reiter would love to hear from you for his ongoing research into this phenomenon. His email address is ears@drreiter.net.
_________
(1) “The Kiss of Deaf”: A Case Study by Levi A. Reiter. The Hearing Journal. August 2008. Vol. 61, No. 8. pp. 32-37.
(2) Interview with Levi Reiter, Ph.D., CCC-A, Professor of Audiology, Hofstra University. Topic: The Kiss That Caused Hearing Loss, or Reiter’s Ear Kiss Syndrome (REKS). 7/28/2008.
(3) Little Girl Gives Mom Kiss Of Deaf. Hearing Review, The Insider. July 31, 2008.
(4) Ear Kiss Causes Rare Syndrome by Dee Naquin Shafer, the ASHA Leader. August 12, 2008.
12-24-08
Me. I am a 5’10, 135lb vocalist.
Last night, I had my hair done by my big, gregarious, Greek, demonstrative, hand gesturing hair dresser. He was saying good bye, and does his kisses with a vaccuum packed “spock” sound at the end. In addition he grabs the other side of your face to anchor your head.
Help. It was like the ‘Perfect Storm’ of REKS. He cupped my other ear to anchor my head tightly. Then, he did the major vaccuum kiss on my right ear. I suffered, and still do, a ringing…my own voice is to loud for my head…my voice sounds odd (muffled and tinny)…and I was standing in line at a cash register…and I could hear little electronic sounds in the register that no one else could hear.
How do I solve this?
I just got kissed by my gf and have ear pain. What is the treatment?
My BF kissed by ear with a big suction.. I immediately had a very loud screeching sound in my ear accompanied by a roar . I have lost hearing in that ear. It has been six weeks with no improvement.. It’s causing me to be depressed and short fussed. What can I do. My PA had no ever heard of this and made light of it..
Hi Anita:
What I’d do is take my article “Kiss of Deaf” and go to an ear specialist ENT)–not just any old doctor or PA who doesn’t have a clue what is going on and makes fun of it.
He should check you out for a torn stapedius ligament and dislocated inner ear bones, etc. If everything checks out ok there is nothing MEDICALLY that can be done for your tinnitus. This doesn’t mean that nothing can be done–just that nothing MEDICALLY can be done. Thus, the next step is to go to an audiologist that specializes in treating people with tinnitus. Or contact me and I’ll try to help you. There are a number of ways to successfully deal with your tinnitus.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Everyone:
It’s not just kissing that can be a problem. It can be anything that creates a strong vacuum and then suddenly releases.
For example, here is one man’s story.
“I put my little finger into my left ear as it was itching. It was very waxy, and on pulling my finger out it must have created an air lock/seal with the wax in my ear, and the withdrawal caused a suction which caused immediate deafness. It did recover quite a bit, but now, some 12 weeks later I am still having serious problems.
I get quiet and then louder periods, which can vary, if I pressurise my ears by holding my nose and carefully pressurising them by blowing gently into my nose it usually makes everything suddenly very loud, and then my voice sounds loud within my head and not anything like I usually would have had. It will then eventually get quiet again.
It has gradually gotten slightly worse and I am waiting for a specialist to carry out a final diagnosis. His first diagnosis was very unhelpful, he did not know or would not say, what he thought it was, and he has now sent me for a deafness test. Following the results I will revisit the specialist for a further and possible final diagnosis. But from I have read about REKS it does not sound very promising.
I can only hope the damage was not that extensive and sone repair will take place, as long as it does not get any worse.”
So, be careful with you ears.
Cordially,
Neil
My wife kissed my ear a few days ago. I heard a loud pop and suction. Since then I have a constant low pitched sound in my right ear. I went to an ENT physician who said that my ear drum is fine along with my hearing. She prescribed predisone and said that it will disappear in time. Should I try something else before I start the medication. Thank You.
Hi Daniel:
When your wife kissed you, the suction and sudden release caused the same sensation in your ear as if you have just been exposed to a very loud sound. The result–instant tinnitus. I agree that if this should fade away in time–assuming you have not abused your ears with loud sounds in the past.
I don’t know how much good the Prednisone will do. I think mostly it’s a waiting game. Just be sure to protect your ear from loud sounds for the next few weeks so it can “heal”. Don’t overprotect it though–just when you are around very loud sounds.
Cordially,
Neil
I had same thing 10days ago. From my daughter. Can I ask you if and when your tinnitus got away?? Gilberto
Hi there,
I’m from Brazil.
A friend’s kiss on my cheeks unfortunatelly landed very close to my ear (I don’t quite recall if it was directly at my ear).
I heard a loud noise (but that was the kiss) and my ears are a bit full. No tinnitus or hearing loss.
Am I okay? I mean, the kiss of death are always accompany by tinnitus and hearing loss?
Thanks.
Hi Guilherme:
That’s “kiss of DEAF”, not “kiss of DEATH”–quite a different thing! Typically, when you ear suddenly feels full after a loud noise, that means you have a temporary threshold shift–in other words a temporary hearing loss. So you may have some degree of hearing loss that you don’t even recognize you now have.
Often this is accompanied with tinnitus, but that does not have to occur.
Cordially,
Neil
Thank you, Doctor.
And yep, I only noticed I wrote Death after sending the comment. 🙂
Did it get better?
I had this happened to me about 8 months ago. I have hearing loss in the lower frequencies and a low frequency tinnitus that has not improved in the slightest bit. Could this be something that could get better in time? How can you tell if you have a torn torn stapedius ligament? Has anyone else had this happen? Did it improve with time? The tinnitus has been such a struggle for me. Any advice or suggestions would be helpful
Hi Stacey:
If it’s been 8 months now, and you have a sensorineural hearing loss, I doubt it will improve in the future. Probably your low-frequency tinnitus is in response to your low-frequency hearing loss.
Is your hearing loss sensorineural or conductive? If conductive, there may be something an ear doctor could do to fix things, but not if its sensorineural. Have you been checked out by an ENT or otologist?
Cordially,
Neil
Yes I have been to several MD and have been told there is nothing that can be done. In just having such a hard time dealing with the tinnitus
Hi, I got low pitch tone started after headphone buds pulling too fast that make suction (like kiss of deaf) in March 2019. After two weaks it turns to high pitch tone and constant ringing in left ear worsen, can’t concentrate anything for a first 2 month . I went ENT and tested PTA that result shows bilateral normal hearing sensitivity. My ENT told me every thing of your ear is normal it will go away after 6 month and prescribe multivitamin tablets. After three months the tone getting low pitch again. And some day got spike often and getting old level again but it not bother my concentration. My hearing level is normal but I don’t know what causes my tinnitus. Now I’m at 4’th month a new constant hissing tone started along with variation of low pitch tone. I don’t know what happend to my ear.
Hi Adhavan:
I don’t really know what is going on with your tinnitus. Generally, tinnitus occurs near the frequency of your greatest hearing loss. So with the new tinnitus being high-pitched, I wonder if you have lost some very high frequency hearing lately–above 8 kHz where they typically don’t test.
Cordially,
Neil
I have suffered a sudden distortion of sound affecting my perception of people’s voices (worse with women’s voices) and music following ear wax removal by suction 3 months ago. At 76 I have some hearing loss in the higher frequencies but this distortion is not deafness where I have trouble hearing but it is distortion of sounds that I can hear. Any help appreciated, thank you.
Hi Michael:
If the suction caused your eardrum to be pulled out and then as the suction released, snapped back, the effect is the same as experiencing a loud noise–and that could cause distorted sound due to more hearing loss in the high frequencies. You can get distortion when you no longer hear the high frequencies or if the high frequencies are damaged.
Probably you just need to give it time for your ears to return to normal, or as normal as they can depending on the damage caused. However, since this happened 3 months ago, I’d say you have given it plenty of time. Thus, the next step would be to try hearing aids and see whether that makes things sound normal again. It can do this by amplifying the higher frequency sounds until they sound more normal.
Cordially,
Neil
Thank you Neil, I really appreciate your kind advice. I think you are right in your diagnosis as there were loud bangs in both ears during the procedure. I’ve had my hearing tested again confirming my high frequency hearing loss and I will be trying hearing aids. The problem has improved ever so slightly over the 3 months, so hopefully it may settle and my sound perception will improve further with proper amplification,
Thanks again, regards,
Michael
I am waiting for my perforated eardrum to heal, it was caused by infection and have taken antibiotics and seemed to be healing well.
In the meantime my boyfriend kissed my ear, was a disturbing sensation and noise, now I am wondering has he set my healing back do you think ? Thank you
Hi Joan:
I don’t think the kiss is setting your eardrum’s healing back, but it might have given you some degree of hyperacusis that can take a bit of time to get back to normal.
Cordially,
Neil
Thank you for taking time to reply. I had to look up hyperacusis. Sensitivity to sounds ? Is there anyway I can encourage healing?
Thank you very much
Joan
Hi Joan:
Yes, hyperacusis is a hypersensitivity to sound, typically caused by loud noise (and a kiss right at your ear can be considered “loud”).
You want to protect your ears from loud sounds while your ear heals. But you don’t want to starve your brain for sound either. So you want to be around low-level sound, but if there is going to be a loud sound, put in ear protectors (foam ones work fine). Just don’t leave them in any longer than you really need to so you don’t make your hyperacusis worse.
It can take a number of weeks or months to get your hyperacusis under control–assuming that no other loud sounds cause problems in the mean time.
Cordially,
Neil
I kissed my wife in her ear. Then rifhtaway she stopped hearing anything on the ear that I kissed. After few hours she started hearing a bit but it has not got back to normal. What can you we do now?
Hi Hossain:
As you have found out, you have to be careful not to kiss anyone on the central part of their ears. Anyway, what’s done is done. Now you have to wait for her ear to heal. What you can do in the meantime is have her consider taking N-acetyl-cysteine (NAC) which will help her body make more glutathione–a power anti-oxidant that zaps the free radicals generated in the inner ear that otherwise would zap the hair cells and cause permanent hearing loss. If it were me, I’d take about 1,800 mg per day for a week or so. She needs to start taking the NAC right away (within 2 days or so) in order for it to be effective. After 3 days or so, the damage is already mostly done, so it is too late to do much good.
The minerals zinc and magnesium are good for your ears, and will help in the healing process.
Second, have her see an audiologist or ENT for a complete audiological evaluation to see how her hearing is returning and whether the middle ear bones are dislocated or not.
Third, she needs to avoid loud sounds in that ear while it heals. This could take a couple of months or so.
Cordially,
Neil
Thank you so much Neil for your reply.
After I kissed my wife, the ear got blocked like it gets when an aircraft lands. After that she started hearing a bit but there has been a constant low pitched sound. It has been there now for more than 24 hours. We would be visiting an specialist day after tomorrow
Could you please kindly suggest any further.
Hi Hossain:
Has her hearing improved a lot since yesterday? It could just be a temporary loss like you get when you listen to excessively loud music at a concert, etc.
The low-pitched sound is tinnitus. Very often tinnitus accompanies hearing loss and may go away as hearing returns. In any case, it is nothing to worry about, and indeed, worrying about it just makes it worse.
Cordially,
Neil
Hearing did not improve today. It improved a little bit yesterday and that’s about it.
Hi Hossain:
I’d get her to an audiologist or ENT and have her hearing checked out as soon as possible. The ENT doctor may prescribe Prednisone to hopefully help hearing come back.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi,doctor should I worry about hearing loss in my ear after a kiss if there is no considerable change in hearing or pain
Is there a chance I got lucky from that kiss on the ear
Hi Sal:
Did you have a muffled feeling right after the kiss? And/or tinnitus? If it went away in a few hours, I’d say you don’t have to worry. If you hearing is now the same as it was before the kiss, I wouldn’t worry.
Cordially,
Neil
Thank you Neil,Sorry for my late reply.There are a very small number of people like you highly qualified and eager to help on the internet.
Much Appreciated
Hi,Doctor if suction caused by kiss is the problem for eardrums .How come sucking to remove ear wax is considered a safe procedure.
Hi Sai:
You’re error is assuming that suction to remove ear wax is safe. It’s not. The same “rules” apply to kissing on an ear as to sucking on an ear. In order to be safe, both have to be done gently–i.e. not much suction and slowly released so the ear drum doesn’t “snap back”.
There’s nothing wrong with a very delicate, gentle kiss on the ear.
I’ve heard from numbers of people that have gotten tinnitus and other ear problems from doctors and other health professionals using too much suction.
The same applies to syringing–if they use too much force and suddenly push the eardrum in. One doctor did that to me and it messed up my balance so I couldn’t stand up for a few seconds.
And this also applies to doctors or others who use a pick and tweezers to remove wax. If they grab the wax and yank it out and the wax lets go suddenly, the eardrum snaps back and instant problems.
So the secret is never to do anything that suddenly allows the eardrum to snap back if you’ve created a vacuum. You need to let the air in slowly to break the vacuum. And never blow (or syringe) into the ear forcefully either–opposite problem but same results.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi doctor, my boyfriend gave me a kiss on my ear and it felt like I went deaf for a few minutes and it’s been 2 days I hear fine and no pain my ears are just popping like if I’m in high altitude. Should I be concerned?
If I’m breathing I can feel feel the air coming out of the ear he kissed
Hi Stephanie:
If everything is working fine and you hear ok, and your ears are popping and clearing themselves, then I don’t see anything to be concerned about.
I just don’t understand how you can feel air coming out of your ear unless your eardrum is ruptured and your Eustachian tube is open. If that was the case, you shouldn’t be hearing fine. Maybe you need to explain it a bit more fully.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Doctor, my husband woke me up yesterday by kissing on the ear 5 times or so. It took a while for him to take my yelping seriously and pry him off. Since I’ve had an uncomfortable feeling of fullness in the ear and feel a bit nauseous, and more so when eating. Yesterday after I took a sip of coffee I felt extremely hot and nauseous. Today during mealtime it happened again however it subsided quickly. In the comments I didn’t find a similar mention. What is your take? Do you think this will heal with time or would an ENT or audiologist be preferable? Thank you!
Hi Audrey:
I’d give it a couple of more days to “normalize” and if it keeps getting better, then there should be nothing to worry about. If not, let me know your symptoms then and I’ll tell you what I think your best plan of action should be.
Cordially,
Neil
Thank you for your reassuring response. If the fullness experiencing in one ear were to go away, would it take 2 weeks? Hearing volume seems to be slightly affected as well.
Hi Audrey:
It could, or longer or shorter. Ears take their own sweet time to “heal”. So don’t worry as long as things continue to get better, you’ll be fine.
Are you saying your hearing is worse–meaning a hearing loss, or that sounds seem louder and sharper indicating a bit of hyperacusis? Either scenario is possible.
Cordially,
Neil
Thank you doctor. It seems to be getting better.. If the other ear is a 4, the kissy ear is like a 3, a slight decrease in volume. Also any thoughts as to why the other ear also now feels clogged and hearing a bit of ringing noise? Thank you again
Hi Audrey:
Since your other ear wasn’t “kissed”, all I can think of is that it has linked itself sympathetically to your other ear. And focusing on it can make things worse.
Cordially,
Neil
My 3 year old daughter just kissed my left ear. There was a very loud screech, which now after an hour is less severe, but have extreme fullness in my ear and an echoing sound. Is there anything I can do to make this better? I would appreciate any direction that can assist with the tinnitus. I’m very scared. Please let me know. Thanks.
Hi Katie:
How is your ear doing this morning? If it is pretty much back to normal, I’d just give it time. If you are still having problems, then I’d treat it much the same as if you had exposed your ears to loud noise. This consists of taking N-acetyl-cysteine (NAC) (if you can still get it), magnesium (magnesium threonate is the most biologically-available form) and zinc (zinc picolinate is the best form). If you can’t get NAC, then high doses of Vitamin C is a good substitute.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Doctor,
Thanks so much for your reply. I can hear okay, but am experiencing very disruptive tinnitus and hypersensitivity to sound. I saw the audiologist and ENT today and my hearing test was normal and they saw nothing disputed inside the ear. They have prescribed a steroid pack, and a follow up next week to look at steroid injection, if not resolved. I ordered the NAC, but it will take a week to get it. I am praying that these symptoms dissipate as it is very hard to function like this. Please let me know if you have any further recommendations. Thank you, Katie
Hi Katie:
The big thing is to protect your ears from louder sounds while they “heal”. The supersensitivity to sound should go away in time–may be a few months. And as you treat your tinnitus as a totally unimportant, useless background sound, you will find it fading into the background. The worst thing you can do is focus on your hyperacusis and tinnitus. Instead focus on the loves of your life.
Cordially,
Neil
What if the love of my life is my autistic toddler? I am also on the spectrum and the shrieks from her are dizzying as it is. There is absolutely no way for me to avoid this.
My kiss just happened a couple hours ago. Would earplugs make things worse? I usually use them on more sensitive days before this happened.
Hi Jade:
Wearing earplugs when around shrieking kids is perfectly ok, and in you case I’d recommend that you do. The secret is to take them off as soon as you don’t need them. You make matters worse when you wear them when you don’t need them. It can be easy to forget to take them off when the racket dies down.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi,
My son who is 8 had his ear cupped and blown into, not loud but he moved away saying that didn’t feel good.
Went to bed and been waking thru the night with pain. He can hear a whisper in it.
What can I do to help.
Hi Ruth:
Blowing into a person’s ear doesn’t have to be loud, just forceful to cause problems. The tighter the seal and the stronger the blowing, the worse the resulting problems.
When you say he didn’t feel good, exactly what symptoms besides ear pain was he experiencing? Did he feel nauseous and have balance problems, dizziness or vertigo?
What do you mean he can hear a whisper in it? Are you meaning a tinnitus sound sort of like a hissing sound?
Is his hearing in that ear normal or?
Did you take him to a doctor, and if so, what was the result?
I need to know this kind of information and anything else you can add so I know how best you can help him.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi,
I stumbled across this article because I am experiencing a variety of ear issues and you are clearly so expert and knowledgeable on this subject that I would love to briefly get your opinion on some things that are going on with me. First, I experienced trauma to the left ear from a very tight cuddle at an awkward angle, felt my tragus bend all the way into my ear with sharp pain, followed by immediate earache and the next day couldn’t speak without pain. It seemed to recover over the next two days to my great relief but one day later it was back just as bad as ever with noticeable pain hyperacusis when hearing certain loud sounds as well, not just when I was speaking. I should say that in the night that things worsened I was exposed to some very loud snoring and was not wearing earplugs in the left ear as I normally would because of the tragus pain – could that have been a contributing factor? I then managed to yell something the next day, which sent me into excruciating pain and brought on TMJ issues also. I also just acquired a side sleeper pillow with ear holes to relieve those issues and experienced the beginnings of the cochlear kiss suction effects when I put my right ear into the hole, and a little ear pain immediately afterwards. No pop though, I realise this is quite a litany of complaints, but I am feeling totally lost and the GPs in the UK are clueless. The final piece of the puzzle is that I have been suffering severe side effects from a fluoroquinolone antibiotic which is known for ototoxicity so am already suddenly very susceptible to ear issues. Your help would be greatly appreciated.
Hi Natasha:
I am having trouble visualizing what you are explaining about your tragus. I can push mine in all the way without any pain. I can bend it over and in without pain, so I’m not understanding exactly what you did that caused your problems.
Could we talk via Zoom if you are familiar with Zoom so I can understand better and hopefully help you? Email me privately–my email is at the bottom of this (and every) page on this website and we can arrange a Zoom meeting if you are willing to.
Cordially,
Neil
Thank you for your research on this topic.
My little girl kissed me goodnight on my cheek, but it landed right in my ear.
Immediately after, the same side nostril and throat were affected. I know they are all connected but hoping this is all temporary. My ear feels muffled a little with a very minor discomfort but as far as I can tell, I haven’t lost hearing.
Hi Melissa:
From what you say, I’d expect things to return to normal in a few days. Thanks for writing.
Cordially,
Neil
Hello,
I came across this site because I had a “suction” incident today while getting custom made ear plugs. To get the shape of my ear, the acoustician puts some kind of paste in the ear that dries within minutes. When she tried to take it out again, an immediate sharp pain set in. I told her it hurts but she seemed unimpressed and continued to fiddle with it until she got it out. I told her again how painful it was and she took a quick look at the ear drum and said it’s fine.
I did NOT have immediate tinnitus after it. Nor did I have ear fullness. I also did not hear a loud bang (as one other commenter recounted from his experience in a similar situation) which makes me hope that the ear drum did not snap back. Though this would surprise me in a way because the pain was excruciating while she pulled on the plug.
Two hours after I got home, I had a little drop of a liquid like water and blood comming out of my ear. Not much and not for long. The ear feels a bit raw in general but I it is not in pain. I do not seem to have hearing loss. I recently had tested my hearing myself in a music production program. Even though this method doesn’t allow to assess real hearing thresholds (because I have no way of knowing how many decibels come out of the headphones) it is still a way to compare results from one day to the next. I can say that the hearing thresholds after the incident are roughly the same as before.
In the end, I struggle making sense of all of it and the little bit of blood is a bit concerning.
Maybe with all of this it’s possible to gauge if the acoustician was right and “everything is fine” or if really an accident happened and I need to get help.
Hi Marianne:
The reason for the sharp pain was that the suction as the acoustician tried to pull the impression out of your ear pulled and really stretched your ear drum. (Think of a sprain or equivalent.)
I assume that he/she didn’t break the suction suddenly so your eardrum didn’t snap back violently causing damage to your hearing. So that was a blessing. That is why you didn’t get immediate tinnitus, ear fullness or hear a “bang”.
However, your acoustician was wrong in saying saying everything was fine. It wasn’t or else you wouldn’t have had the fluid/blood oozing out later. That’s proof that at the very least he/she scraped the sides of your ear canal, or hurt your eardrum in some way.
I think it is just a matter of time for your “sprain” (and pain) to go away and everything should be ok.
Cordially,
Neil
Hello Neil!
Thank you so much for your reply!
After I wrote the message, I went to bed (European time) and felt even more pain in my ear, accompanied by more blood. In that moment I decided to get it checked after all. You were absolutely right. It turned out my ear canal was scraped.
It is thanks to this site and your replies to people’s questions that I was able to prepare a few specific questions I could ask the ENT. I had the feeling my ENT wasn’t very familiar with the ear kiss syndrome. However, with my list of specific questions, I think I could compensate for it. All this just to say thank you for your time and dedication.
Hi Neil,
My girlfriend experienced a very sharp pain after I sucked on her ear. It pulses now, half an hour after the initial injury.
She’s not sure whether or not she can feel a difference between her two ears.
She says it might be slightly muffled in that ear.
She doesn’t know to induce a yawn.
She said she can feel pressure in the area below her ear, around her jaw and neck. It kind of hurts her too.
She said it’s akin to the pain she feels in her ears when she’s on an airplane “but worse”.
She just had ibuprofen now, in the event that it could reduce inflammation of the ligament[s] surrounding the ear.
What would you suggest is the best course of action?
We’ve learned our hard truth about ear kisses 🙁
Hi Ariel:
As it appears this episode hasn’t really affected her hearing, I think the only treatment necessary is time to let any stretched or damaged tissues to heal. As that happens, the pain and pressure feeling should go away. I’d also suggest not exposing her ears to loud sounds during this time either. I’d expect this to take from two weeks to a month.
As you now know, kissing on ears is “off-limits”, but that still leaves a LOT of real estate that is fair game for kissing!
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Doctor,
My girlfriend kissed me on the ear while saying goodbye around 2.5 months back. I felt pain and clogged up then but there’s no loss of hearing.
Since then, I’ve had a muffled feeling in my ears and the pain returns whenever I seem to get a cold or allergies. I’ve shown a couple of ENTs, both said the eardrum is fine and the pain should subside over time. I was prescribed a mild dose of steroids (cortimax) which did help to some extent.
The pain is bad some days and barely noticeably on most days. I’m quite confused about what the situation is and what I should do next. Please advice if possible. Thank you!
Suraj
Hi Suraj:
You say the pain is bad some days and not on others. Is there a correlation between your level of stress or anxiety and the pain level. In other words, does the pain go up when you are more anxious or stressed out? Also, is there any correlation between your muffled feeling and your levels of stress and anxiety?
Both the pain and muffled feeling can be due to an overactive trigeminal nerve. Thus, calming that nerve down should help you. Perhaps taking some GABA (gamma amino butyric acid) would help.
Cordially,
Neil
Hello,
I had a relative lean in to kiss me goodbye after a visit. I had my hair down and they kissed me over what felt and sounded like my ear. It was quite a forceful sounding kiss. The kiss sounded loud in that ear for a brief second or two. But I did not experience pain, hearing loss or ringing in that ear immediately after that. I was concerned because it felt like it was right over my ear and it was one of those long kisses ending with a loud smack while pressed up against where my ear is.
Hi Michelle:
Acoustic trauma from a kiss on your ear doesn’t have to show up right away. Some of the symptoms may be delayed up to two weeks, but if nothing untoward shows up in two weeks, you can assume it do any appreciable damage. However, symptoms may show up right away if the bones in your middle ear are dislocated–but that is only in extreme cases.
Cordially,
Neil
My 90 yo mother in law kissed my right ear the end of Feb 2023z. The next day I woke with blood in my ear canal. Was prescribed drops to use in my ear. Pain in ear no immediate hearing loss. Fast forward to mid April and I woke to pressure in my right ear and tinnitus. Went to ENT, audiologist said I had conductive hearing loss from fluid in my ear. ENT did NOT see fluid, but said she could have missed it. Went back for follow up today. Her plan was to put a pediatric tube in with no further testing. I reminded her of the kiss and that she did not see fluid in ear upon exam. She checked again and decided to schedule CT. Could this be a delayed reaction to the kiss?
Hi CP:
It’s possible that the two are related–a delayed action as you say, but there may be other factors involved.
I take it you only saw blood for 1 day–correct?
How long did the pain last?
I doubt that the CT scan will show anything unusual, but at least you’ll know that. Did you get another audiogram recently to see whether you still have a conductive loss? That is what I’d do.
Cordially,
Neil
Blood for about a week…. Pain for a day. Audiology repeat schedule for early July and CT scheduled for early June. Another interesting thing, ENT says there is still residue on tympanic membrane from cipro ear drops I was prescribed when this first occurred. Just worried about damage internally from the negative pressure I felt. Thank you for your reply, I appreciate it.
Hi CP:
One possibility we haven’t yet considered is that the Cipro drops you took caused your tinnitus and feeling of pressure–especially since you were putting the drops in an ear with a ruptured ear drum. You have to be very careful about putting antibiotics into an ear with a ruptured ear drum–and I assume that is what caused your bleeding.
Cordially,
Neil
Dear Neil,
A day ago I was wearing a pair of over-the-ear headphones (Sony 1000XM4) and a door slapped over the right side suddenly pushing the cup into my ear creating what I believe was an increase of preassure in the “air chamber” between my ear and the headphone cup. It didn’t feel significant at all. It’s a professional headphone but seal is far from perfect.
The ‘incident’ just caused a slight discomfort for about 1 hour (just like when you get off a plane).
Hearing seems normal.
I’ve suffered from tinnitus for 2 years (from dental treatment, not high volumes) and thing is that I noticed it has spiked on that ear after the incident.
I’ve waited 24 hs but it doesn’t get back to “normal” level and I’ve started to became increasingly worried (An spike has never lasted more than a few hours to me).
I’d certainly appreciate your take and if I should get any medication urgently. (I don’t think I can get NAC quick enough)
Thanks a lot in advance.
Marcelo.
Hi Marcelo:
The most important thing at this point is to calm down. The more anxious you become, typically the louder your tinnitus becomes.
Your ear suffered acoustic trauma. The muffled feeling and increase in tinnitus tell me that. Probably, as you suggest, the headphone suddenly pushed against your ear increased the air pressure against you ear drum much the same as a loud sound would–resulting in a temporary threshold shift (a temporary hearing loss which gives you the muffled feeling) and the associated tinnitus spike.
Apart from NAC, you might want to consider taking a course of Prednisone if you can see a doctor in the next day or so. Maybe go to an emergent care place. No guarantees that it will work.
But the best therapy is to NOT focus on your tinnitus, but focus on the loves of your life. When you focus on your tinnitus, that just tells your limbic system that this is a threat to your well-being and its job is to bring threats to your conscious attention so you can’t ignore them.
When you treat it as a totally unimportant background sound that is safe to ignore, then your limbic system doesn’t have to bring it to your attention and it tends to fade into the background and you habituate to it.
Cordially,
Neil
Good morning Neil,
Thanks for your quick reply to my deep concerning.
Let me clarify that fortunately sound on that ear doesn’t feel muffled at all. Hearing levels on that ear feel just like before (the tinnitus spike is the only apparent difference).
I’ve even tested my hearing with an app I regularly use to monitor it and I can hear the really quiet tones in both low and high frequencies pairs so threshold apparently didn’t change.
When the door hit the outer part of the headphone, sound inside the cup didn’t hear extremely loud either (noise cancelling was on).
I just felt a bit of discomfort (not pain) on that ear for a little longer than 1 hour (just like when you take a plane)
NAC is not easily available in pharmacies from where I live and, from all what I’ve read from your valuable contributions, Prednisone is more for sudden hearing loss (which apparently is not my case).
Will Vitamin C supplements do the trick? Which dose? (1000 mg?)
Thanks once again for all what you do for all of us.
Cordially,
Marcelo.
Hi Marcelo:
I understand that the muffled feeling went away within the hour–but it still indicated that some damage had been done (mostly temporary) which is why you don’t perceive any hearing loss now.
It’s not the sound that was loud, but the pressure wave that mimicked a loud sound that was the culprit.
I doubt that Vitamin C at 1,000 mg will do the trick. I take that dose every day just for good health. Since you don’t apparently have hearing loss, I don’t think supplements will help much. As I said, much better to learn to focus on other things that your tinnitus and thus give your limbic system to ignore it and let it fade into the background.
Cordially,
Neil
Many thanks for your gentle words, Neil.
I’m sorry I was not clear enough. When I wrote “discomfort” I meant that very slight pain in the middle ear (or perhaps in the eardrum, IDK) that someone feels when removes an earplug a bit faster than it should or after experiencing cabin pressurization during or after a flight. I didn’t notice any hearing threshold change in the minutes after the incident (nor now), only the tinnitus spike.
Well, I’ll follow your advice, try to relax a little bit and pray to God the spike recede as soon as possible.
Have a very good day.
Cordially,
Marcelo.
Good afternoon, Neil.
Just a quick follow up FYI.
Yesterday monday I woke up much better and barely heard the tinnitus spike (though I noticed it was still there in the “background”).
I had a quite good day until late afternoon when I noticed it was getting a bit worst again.
I went to bed and woke up today in the middle of the night with a trully piercing tinnitus on that ear. I never had anything like this.
In the early morning I saw an emergency ENT who said everything seemed normal “from the outside” and ordered an audiometry test and other studies (impedance, etc) which will be done tomorrow.
The sound I started hearing today (4 days after the incident) is really piercing and disturbing (specially after the improvement I had observed yesterday). The most concerning is that it’s been more than 10 hours of it and its level didn’t change.
What can be going on?
Is it there hope that it will subside?
Thanks for your help
Cordially,
Marcelo.
Hi Marcelo:
With tinnitus you can have good days and bad days so don’t assume the worst just because you have some bad days. You habituate to your tinnitus exactly as you have in the past. You first do NOT think of your tinnitus as a threat to your well-being, but as a useless background sound that is safe to ignore. Then you ignore it as much as you can by focusing on the loves of your life.
And remember to stay calm. Anxiety just makes things worse.
How is your tinnitus today?
Cordially,
Neil
Good morning Neil,
Thanks for your concern and help.
The situation is better now. I just came back from the medical center where I saw an ENT and had all the ear and hearing tests done. The results were normal.
Doctor agree with you in everything. He said I should stay as much calm as possible and not focus on it.
I’ll do my best but what I experienced yesterday was totally unprecedented to me in my 2 years with tinnitus.
Fortunately the situation today is different.
Once again thanks for all your support words!
Cordially,
Marcelo
Hello Dr. Neil.
I have a question about popping in the ear with earplugs.
First off some breif history: 37 y.o. male. I had tinnitus for 10 years, probably due to noise exposure. Habituatet to the point where it did not bother meatier a couple of years. 3 months ago I was victim to an acoustic shock and got a new high pitched tone after a few days. Also developed some hyperacusis, and phonophobia for sudden noises and bangs.
Now to the issue. Due to this I wear earplugs when I think I might be exposed to bangs. I often wear a type named Pacato ACS plugs these are 3- flanged silicone plugs with filters. they are quite small and shorter than regular foam earplugs, so I don’t think they displace that much air when they are fully inserted. I imagine there is some suction when removing them, however, even though I try to remove them slowly they still make a little pop when removing then due to their softness and seal.
Now, when they pop during removal it doesn’t feel like the it’s a lot of force from the vacuum that actually makes the eardrum snap, as I said it is a loud-ish pop but no sensation of vacuum or forceful trauma in the ear. I experienced this last today and I wonder can just the sound of the pop due to the seal itself be dangerous to the cochlea/ear, or is it just my hyperacusis and phonophobia playing tricks with me?
I am BTW on 60 mg of Prednisolone for an acoustic event that scared me a week ago and I have three days left before I start tapering. I am also taking 12-1800 mg of NAC per day, plus about 300 mg magnesium and multivitamine.
Your answer will be deeply appreciated. Thank you very much
Hi Gard:
Personally, I don’t think the sound of the popping, nor the suction is enough to cause you problems since you are being as careful as you can about taking them out slowly. Therefore, I think it is your anxiety affecting your hyperacusis/phonophobia. I wouldn’t worry about it as the worry just makes it worse. Hopefully, things will get better as time goes on and you will habituate to it again.
Cordially,
Neil
Hello Doctor!
How about car doors? I was getting in to a car and the passenger behind me shut the door at the same time. It was loud, but I don’t think it was dangerously loud. However there was quite an increase in air pressure in the car and I could feel the ear drum get rattled, with some mild pain and irritation an hour later. Is this dangerous?
Hi Gard:
The sudden increase in air pressure as the two doors slam shut pushes your ear drums in just as if were a loud sound, so it can be a problem for people with hyperacusis. So either close the doors relatively slowly–one at a time, or open a window to prevent the pressure build-up.
Cordially,
Neil
Thank you for you answer doctor.
I am not so worried about the hyper acusis in it self. But can it damage the cochlea in the same way as described in the article here?
Best regerds,
Gard
Hi Gard:
I doubt you sustained any permanent inner ear damage, nor middle ear damage for that matter.
Cordially,
Neil