Strange ear behaviour!

[AnotherFineMess]

Evening, I'm looking for some advice and to see if anyone has ever experienced this with their child/ren.

My son is almost 4. He's generally a fit and active little fellow, and he isn't complaining of any pain or illness.

However, I (and other close friends and relatives) have noticed that when he is chewing and swallowing he covers or holds his ears. He has recently mentioned that he can hear his heartbeat in his ears when he runs up the stairs. My MIL rang me tonight to say that it was playing on her mind today because he had mentioned it several times when she was looking after him yesterday.

The only other piece of info that I think may be relevant is that he has always rocked his head to soothe himself to sleep. We put pillows against his wall to stop him from banging his head, but my fear is that he has somehow damaged himself with all this head-rocking...what do you think? Worth going to GP or is there an innocent explanation?

Thanks MN.

I could hear loud noises when chewing when my ears were blocked. REALLY loud. I thought they would have to be syringed, but Otex drops cleared it after a few days.

Definitely one for your GP.

A lot of young children suffer from glue ear.

As an adult I suffered bouts of blocked Eustachian tubes, which is more-or-less the same as glue ear in children.

The effects are strange, but as an adult I had access to descriptive language and information I could use to interpret those somewhat bizarre effects. From what I understood back then (I haven't had problems for a long time now), there are two ways in which sounds reach the inner ear. One is the normal route through the ear canal, through which most sounds are received (air conduction); and the other is through the bone surrounding the ear (bone conduction). In people with normal hearing both routes are active, but the brain figures out which to take notice of. In people with either permanent or temporary blockage of air conduction, then the bone conduction becomes more noticeable. Trust me on this: the effects are weird, especially hearing my own voice transmitted through bone conduction.

My GP prescribed a standard decongestant (Sudafed), which thinned the gunk in my Eustachian tubes and allowed them to drain. That won't necessarily work in young children where the condition is more likely to be developmental, hence the use of grommets.

I agree with PixieOnaLeaf that it could be glue ear, and also with LowLevelSlashing that a visit to your GP is a good idea.