Saturday Night Entertainment - Who can make their Tensor Tympani muscles vibrate at will?

[ThoseDarnCrows]

I've always been able to do this wondrous thing, but never knew what it was. It is seemingly quite a rare achievement to be able to do at will. preens

Maybe it could be a new olympic event, who know!!

Is that when you make your ears “rumble”? If it is then yes, I can do that (but presumed everyone could)

As above - if it's the ear rumbling thing then yes.

I have always been able to do it, sounds like thunder and when i was little I thought it was what you had to do when you 'weren't listening'

I can. I have to close my eyes, concentrate and somehow increase the pressure in my ears.

I had no idea this was a thing! I can do it but had totally assumed everyone could!
Had a Google to find out what percentage of the population can - not clear, but the University of Bath is currently recruiting people who can do this for a study!!

I thought everyone could do this! Especially when they yawn. Well you learn something new everyday!!

Wow!
did not even know this was a thing and yes I can do it !

Fantastic! .....and I bet there are more. A study too - who knew! I think I just might sign up for it.

@Ilovetuesdays Love the idea of doing it when you're 'not listening'!

@vipersnest1 I do it with my eyes both open and closed - I imagine you could too.

I've been thinking of trying to do it in just one ear next - anything is possible!

I can do it, but I have no idea how I'm doing it!

I can do this but have never been able to describe it properly!

It's not like popping them is it?

No, not popping. It’s the sort of thunder rumble that apparently everyone (I think?) hears when yawning.

I’m another who can do it on demand but never realised it wasn’t the norm til now so never considered what it was! I’ve learned something today. Would like to help with the study but I’m a bit far away.

Ooh, I can do this too! But only when I encourage myself to yawn. Does this count? 🤔

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 than the percentage of the general population who have voluntary control.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tensor_tympani_muscle

When I close my eyes quickly or scrunch the shut it's also happens

How did I never realise

https://www.bath.ac.uk/guides/ear-rumbling-the-participants-project-guide/

I assume that you need to be near Bath to take part but can't see where it says that...?

I can do it by shutting my eyes really tightly! And by yawning.

I can do this. No yawning or closing my eyes.
I am also not far from Bath, so might sign up to the study

Thank you, @ThoseDarnCrows, I needed some entertaining distraction!

Fascinating to read about the research project.

I’ve always been able to do this, though apparently only with both ears simultaneously. And I’m ashamed to say I’m not sure I’ve ever asked anyone else if they could, too. It has always been frustrating that I couldn’t say how I do it - the research project information has made me realise I was askng the wrong question. I’ll probably go to sleep tonight imagining a situation where rumbling my ears is the only thing left that I can do - and how it might be my only means of communication. It’s slightly terrifying …

I can do this but I have to close my eyes! I just assumed everyone could do it? Sat here now trying to do it without blinking which is causing some pretty odd facial expressions!

Can’t everyone do that? You’re just kind of squeezing your ears?

I can do in when I'm tired but I don't fully control it, I feel like my eyelids control it. I close my eyes & it happens but stops when I open them. It's so hard to explain it to ppl who can't do it!

I can only do it if I make myself yawn or if I shut my eyes really really tightly or really tense my neck muscles (but then only a little bit). I can’t do it just by concentrating on it

I can do this too. I thought everyone can? I don't need to scrunch my eyes up or anything. It's like kegel exercises for my ears!

I had never heard of this and am now intrigued. Like PP's mine appears to be controlled by my eyelids, I couldn't do it without