How can sound be muffled

If symptoms such as muffled hearing or plugged ears are more than just a day or two, you should seek out the help of an audiologist or hearing care professional. First, it is not a good idea to clean out wax with a common cotton swap. Cotton swaps can actually do more damage by pushing ear wax further down into the canal. If ear wax or debris is an issue an audiologist can help you remove safely and also provide at-home care tips to prevent in the future.

Muffled hearing may also be a sign of a tumor. An acoustic neuroma is a benign growth that forms on the main nerve that leads from the inner ear to the brain.

Other signs include loss of balance, vertigo, facial numbness, and ringing in the ear. A lump on the neck can be a sign of nasopharyngeal cancer. This type of cancer develops in the upper part of the throat and can cause muffled hearing, ringing in the ear, and ear pain. This disease of the inner ear causes a variety of symptoms, including muffled hearing, tinnitus, vertigo, and pain in the ear.

A serious brain injury or head trauma can damage bones in the middle ear or nerves in the inner ear. This can happen after a fall or blow to the head. Other symptoms of a head injury include headaches, dizziness, and loss of consciousness. It can appear with other symptoms, too. Along with muffled hearing, you may have tinnitus or ringing in one ear. Common causes of this combination of symptoms include:. Even though some people have muffled hearing while sick with the common cold, it can also develop after a cold.

This can happen when a cold progresses to a sinus infection or a middle ear infection. In this case, drainage or congestion from these secondary infections causes clogged ears. With earwax, your doctor may recommend an at-home earwax removal kit to soften and flush out the wax, or remove the wax in-office using a special instrument.

For a foreign object, your doctor may use a small vacuum device or small forceps to clear the blockage. When a sinus infection or middle ear infection causes ear congestion and muffled hearing, your doctor may prescribe an antibiotic to clear the infection.

A decongestant can open your Eustachian tube by constricting blood vessels and reducing swelling. This medication is also useful for airplane ear. Take a decongestant as directed before flying to equalize the pressure in your ears. You can also open your Eustachian tube by yawning, sneezing, or chewing gum.

A tear or hole from a perforated eardrum will likely heal on its own. Surgery is also an option for tumors that affect the inner ear. For a benign tumor, a doctor may monitor the growth and only recommend surgery if the tumor increases in size. If you have a malignant growth, your doctor may suggest radiation therapy or chemotherapy before surgical removal. If your doctor determines that hearing loss is permanent, a hearing aid may improve your hearing ability.

These sound-amplifying devices can be worn in your ear or behind your ear. Damage can occur after a one-time exposure to extremely loud noise or occur gradually from repeated exposure. Muffled hearing might be caused by something as simple as congestion from the common cold or hay fever, in which case, hearing may gradually improve on its own. But sometimes, muffled hearing is due to a serious condition like a tumor or head injury.

Sudden sensorineural hearing loss SSHL occurs when you lose your hearing very quickly. It can happen instantly or over a span of several days. Tinnitus, or temporary ringing in your ears, after a concert is common. Learn how to counter the muffled ringing and prevent it from happening again. If you have a numb ear or a tingle in your ear, it could be a symptom of a number of medical conditions that your doctor should investigate.

If your ears feel "full," you may find it helpful to pop them. Sound travels as a wave that can either absorb into a surface or reflect off it. The best types of surfaces for absorbing sounds are ones with jagged surfaces and hollow recesses within much like a sponge or cardboard. The proper object captures the sound waves and bounces them around within the object until the vibrations dwindle.

For example, a sponge will absorb sound and muffle vibrations whereas a marble counter top will reflect sound. If you want to prevent sound from leaving an area, it is a simple matter to set up sound-absorbing materials around the area.

Wall insulation already does a great amount to block sound from traveling from room to room, but sometimes a room requires a little extra padding to halt noise completely. For example, if you have a room that you want to dampen the sound in, you should coat the walls in a sound-absorbing material such as thick rugs.

Objects that absorb noise can sometimes cause problems when you want sound to travel long distances. For example, a theater stage must have a setting that projects sound away from the back of the stage to the front.

Unfortunately, theater curtains can sometimes capture and muffle the sounds of the stage.