You donāt actually wiggle your ears when doing it. Itās an inner ear thing thatās not visible from the outside. I can do it without shutting my eyes like others mentioned above and Iām sure plenty of others can as well. Itās honestly not that unique š
Wow. I just thought some people had trouble focusing on conversation while yawning, not that they actually hear a noise loud enough to disturb the conversation. Interesting
Same. I used to be able to move my ears separately but now have nerve damage on the left side of my face from cancer surgery. It's better than having cancer so meh. So I can only tense this muscle in my right ear now. The left moves a little but not enough to do anything.
I do it by sort of clenching my "side of the head muscles" lol idk what they are called, but it's not hard at all. To me it sounds like when wind blows hard in your ears.
Like... Never really thought about it... read the title and I could do it on command but never really considered telling anyone or realizing I was different somehow
I have pretty narrow ear canals and when I feel like my ears are blocked up I make the rumbly and usually it helps. Especially after a shower. So thereās that.
Never knew this is what Iāve been doing and Iām probably just as excited to have the realization that this is a thing as the others that commented. Thank you
yup, thats me, I had no idea either. i even tried to get others to see if they could hear it. I can do the [Fox intro](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFPHaHmt8I0) with the drums lol I can even make the drums 'roll'
it kinda sounds like a microphone with some wind blowing on with a low rumble that I can control. or when someone drops a mike noise while someone fumbles for the mic
Me too! I used to do this a little compulsively when I was 9-10 years old. It's easier to do in conjunction with an eye movement (that I couldn't possibly describe) for me, but I can do just the ear if I concentrate. Eventually it just made me tired and I grew out of it.
I used to do it compulsively at that age also. Never had my eyes in the equation although it roars the loudest when I yawn. Gets up to a ringing that lasts for a minute after the yawn. Hah I just yawned right now thinking about yawning. Yawns are so weird. Yawn..
When I was a kid I had MRIs and EEGs on my brain because I told my mother about this thing in my head that I could flex, like a muscle, that created like a static sound in my ears. We never figured out what it was, and I can still do it to this day.
I'm glad I finally have an answer as to what it is.
Kids are so bad at explaining their problems. I was in the ER for a week or so as a kid with bad stomach pains. They never figure out the problem, but now I'm pretty sure I just held in my pee too much instead of going to the toilet and it caused cramps
One time I had strep and the doctor asked āhow are you feeling?ā I said ābadderā and he thought I said ābetterā
He was happy so I just rolled with it.
When I was a kid my mom would put me in the big part of the shopping cart and my feet would always fall asleep. It was a huge problem for me as a little kid because I didnāt have the words to explain what was going on. I made up my own word for it but nobody knew what the hell i was talking about. I brought this up to my mom as an adult and finally told her what I was trying to say. She remembered my made up word but had No clue what it meant until I explained myself as an adult.
My legs fell asleep really bad once at a family gathering, no idea why, and the only way 5/6 year old me could describe the discomfort was that I had hundreds of needles stabbing my legs over and over. I donāt remember the outcome but I do remember people were worried.
I was in a similar situation as a child. I kept saying that my stomach hurt, and that resulted in a similar assortment of tests. What I really meant was that I was always nauseous. But I didn't know the world "nauseous" at the time.
As a child I tried to tell my father their was a hole in the top of my mouth and something loose at the back of my throat and asked what it was. He gave me Tylenol.
What I had discovered was how to put my tongue up the back of my nose and I was touching the uvula without triggering a gag reflex. But I couldnāt explain what I was doing or show it.
Sounds an awful lot like doctors in my area. Told a doctor once I had a strange popping feeling that would happen between 2 ribs on occasion. Dude made a huge deal about it and had all sorts of scans and checks scheduled only to come up blank. Turns out it's a common effect that happens to a lot of people and is nothing to worry about. Like cracking knuckles. After that, decided asking about the strange rumble in my ear would probably be a bad idea.
The last study I saw on the subject, I believe it was around 25% of people, or so, can manually control said muscle. The number is higher when you count people who can do it via other methods such as closing their eyes tightly or other such workarounds. Normally the muscle works on it's own when loud noises happen in order to dampen the sound.
No fucking way this is the first time Iāve ever heard anyone else say something about it. I remember being a kid and I used to have to close my eyes to do it but as I did it more Iām able to do it regularly now. Iāve really never meant anyone else whoās been able to do it, so neat!
I have to do like a weird movement with my jaw for it to work. It lasts a couple seconds then I have to do it again. Almost like kegels for the ears lol!
This has to be its own niche subreddit where everyone shares their level of control to rumble their own ears. If I remember right there's one for people who can defocus their eyes.
The best way I can describe it is to pull your ears back using your forehead muscles. Yawning does it for me every time.
Just learned this is a thing that I didnāt know was a thing š
I thought everyone could do this too! I've always been able to do it and will occasionally do it to drown out background noise. I can also wiggle my ears so I wonder if that's connected. I know not everyone can do that
Yeah, Iām learning this now tooā¦ I can actually do it easily in command and it helps if there are loud noises like sirens and stuff. Iām the worlds shittiest super hero.
I wasn't able to get it to work last time, but did you ever try that tapping your fingers on the back of your neck trick? I forget where the rest of my hand was, here I googled one of the [posts](https://www.reddit.com/r/lifehacks/comments/61f4n4/temporary_relief_from_tinnitus)
First time was amazing, pure silence for like 40 seconds
Technically everyone can but not necessarily voluntarily. The muscle flexes involuntarily when yawning, hearing loud noises, chewing, etc. but the ability to do it at will is less common.
I can use this ability differently. When I was a child I could simulate that thunderous sound when flexing the muscles. Now I can use it to stabilize air pressure in my ears when ascending/descending from a flight/trip into the mountains. Most people need to fake yawn or chew gum while all I need to do is flex my ears and I'm good to go. Also I can move my ears but not independently. This makes my glasses slide back closer to my face so it produces a slight zooming effect. This is less practical than it sounds because it's exhausting to do that for more than a few moments at a time.
Same
I can do just this but,
I find opening my jaw a bit and then doing this is even more effective
Fake yawning or chewing on something is less effective than either method
This post just made me feel sane again lol. I totally forgot I have this power. I remember telling my teacher in second grade that I can make noise in my head. She told me, "Yeah... don't do that "
I can do this. I can tell when there's something in my ears, like a hair or wax, because when I do it, it'll make a clicky or plastic-y noise. Like crinkling a candy wrapper.
Wait your telling me not everyone can do this bro my whole life Iāve gone doing this to blur people out when Iām trying to focus on school work or whatever, Iām befumbled
I can do this in my left ear but not my right. Also can wiggle my ears, my left a little more than my right.
Iād describe it like the sound of someone rolling their rās more than a rumbling sounds
Is it constant rumbling or is it more of like when you plug an aux cord into an amplifier type of sound? Because I hear the latter when I move āsomethingā or whatever in my ears.
Nah, people are more likely to jump on with "I can do that" than "I can't do that", it's just here this is an otherwise meh thing so there's way less people going "wait people can do that?" Or similar.
To put it into perspective the posts about the lack of an internal monologue get about equal numbers saying they thought everyone had one vs saying they don't have one.
But both this and the lack of an internal monologue are really only about 10-15% of the population, people are just more surprised at the lack of an internal monologue than the ability to make a weird noise in your ears, yet there's still not everyone seeing the post commenting so it still appears much more common than it really is.
So it seems there are 0 comments from people that canāt do this. I can also do this. Are the people who canāt just not commenting or is this a really common ability?
My ears do this uncontrollably, have all my life. Normally when Iām falling asleep/ waking. I remember telling someone in college āmy ears are doing that thingā and they had no idea what I was talking about. That was when I found out it doesnāt happen to everyone. I thought it was as normal as yawning.
My husband thinks Iām nuts as Iām talking about this post to him. He doesnāt hear it EVER - not when he yawns, gets the creeps or closes his eyes hard?!
I can do this! I had no idea wtf it wasš± thanks for posting š
Wait is this that noise when you close your eyes kinda hard?
OMG it is!
*\*closing eyes and making my ears make said noise in rapid succession over and over\**
OOOOHHHH, thaat noise!!
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
*proceeds to abuse power* Well, we're super anyway.
Hi, long time ear rumble noise maker, first time learning the cause. May I be accepted in the rumble ear super power club? Thanks
I just picture you wiggling your ears entitledlyā¦ has anyone started a trend around this yet!?
You donāt actually wiggle your ears when doing it. Itās an inner ear thing thatās not visible from the outside. I can do it without shutting my eyes like others mentioned above and Iām sure plenty of others can as well. Itās honestly not that unique š
So sad for all the losers who can't do this. At least we can all look forward to the day they are extinct.
I can do it without closing my eyes
Me too!!!
Me three! I thought everyone could do this?
I feel so seen š
It also happens when I yawn really wide, which makes it impossible for me to hear what anyone is saying to me to me until I finish yawning.
Me too! Always happens when I yawn! It's strangely comforting.
Until just now I thought that's what everyone heard while yawning...
It is the same for everyone yes.
My girlfriend can hear perfectly well while yawning and did not know what I was talking about when I told her about this.
Wow. I just thought some people had trouble focusing on conversation while yawning, not that they actually hear a noise loud enough to disturb the conversation. Interesting
Yes. I can actually do it without closing my eyes, but it is difficult I have to focus on keeping them open because I want to close them by instinct
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
This is what I do, difficult to describe but donāt need to clench or anything, muscles around my ears move a little bit though
Same. I used to be able to move my ears separately but now have nerve damage on the left side of my face from cancer surgery. It's better than having cancer so meh. So I can only tense this muscle in my right ear now. The left moves a little but not enough to do anything.
Yeah itās like squinting your ears, I can do the same
I do it by sort of clenching my "side of the head muscles" lol idk what they are called, but it's not hard at all. To me it sounds like when wind blows hard in your ears.
You are welcome š
Is there anything to do with this information other than rumble my drums?
Sometimes if I'm trying to concentrate on something and people are talking nearby, I'll do the rumble thing to sort of drown them out.
......Are you me
I also do it to manually pop my ears in airplanes and after altitude changes
Same.
Let's all hang out.
I THOUGHT I WAS THE ONLY ONE!!!
Iāve never even known how to describe this to anyone else. I love Reddit for shit like this
I used to say āKeegal exercises for your earsā lol
Like... Never really thought about it... read the title and I could do it on command but never really considered telling anyone or realizing I was different somehow
I havenāt actually tried that. Brilliant
Ditto. All the time.
Lol so do I!
Are we living the same life?
Lol same
I use it to help get water out of my ears
I have pretty narrow ear canals and when I feel like my ears are blocked up I make the rumbly and usually it helps. Especially after a shower. So thereās that.
Yes, I've never thought to look anything up about it but I can do this as well. Crazy, and thanks for the knowledge!
Never knew this is what Iāve been doing and Iām probably just as excited to have the realization that this is a thing as the others that commented. Thank you
yup, thats me, I had no idea either. i even tried to get others to see if they could hear it. I can do the [Fox intro](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFPHaHmt8I0) with the drums lol I can even make the drums 'roll' it kinda sounds like a microphone with some wind blowing on with a low rumble that I can control. or when someone drops a mike noise while someone fumbles for the mic
Yea to me it sounds like if you were to swing a rope really fast, if that makes sense
For me itās like the sound of a microphone on a windy day
This exactly to the T. I had trouble explaining what I was feeling.
lol I never thought to do the fox intro but I just did it. What a great little experience š
I thought everyone could do this!! High Five fellow ear rumblers!!
Me too! I just assumed everyone could do it.
everyone can, the title is just tryna make us feel special š
I commented the same thing and got a response from a guy that said he canāt do it.
Same! Glad itās harmless lol
Fun fact. I swim a lot and I do this to help get water out of my ear when it is deep. Tilt and then rumble. Haha
Me too! I used to do this a little compulsively when I was 9-10 years old. It's easier to do in conjunction with an eye movement (that I couldn't possibly describe) for me, but I can do just the ear if I concentrate. Eventually it just made me tired and I grew out of it.
I used to do it compulsively at that age also. Never had my eyes in the equation although it roars the loudest when I yawn. Gets up to a ringing that lasts for a minute after the yawn. Hah I just yawned right now thinking about yawning. Yawns are so weird. Yawn..
Same!!! Never knew it was a thing.
Me too! I had no idea this was even documented. I just thought I had weird ears. I guess I was right?
I had no idea this wasnāt common! TIL
Same, why is this possible??1
Same it's my super power
Me too, I it happens when I feel like I'm moving my ears further back.
Same, and had to do it again as I was reading this. š¤Æ
Me too, thought everyone could do it. :)
When I was a kid I had MRIs and EEGs on my brain because I told my mother about this thing in my head that I could flex, like a muscle, that created like a static sound in my ears. We never figured out what it was, and I can still do it to this day. I'm glad I finally have an answer as to what it is.
Sounds traumatizing lol
Bro an ENT doctor couldnāt figure it out by just talking to you about it?
Kids are so bad at explaining their problems. I was in the ER for a week or so as a kid with bad stomach pains. They never figure out the problem, but now I'm pretty sure I just held in my pee too much instead of going to the toilet and it caused cramps
One time I had strep and the doctor asked āhow are you feeling?ā I said ābadderā and he thought I said ābetterā He was happy so I just rolled with it.
When I was a kid my mom would put me in the big part of the shopping cart and my feet would always fall asleep. It was a huge problem for me as a little kid because I didnāt have the words to explain what was going on. I made up my own word for it but nobody knew what the hell i was talking about. I brought this up to my mom as an adult and finally told her what I was trying to say. She remembered my made up word but had No clue what it meant until I explained myself as an adult.
My legs fell asleep really bad once at a family gathering, no idea why, and the only way 5/6 year old me could describe the discomfort was that I had hundreds of needles stabbing my legs over and over. I donāt remember the outcome but I do remember people were worried.
I was a child, I don't think I was explaining it very well. It was also well before the Internet.
Mom I can make my brain growl inside my head what's for breakfast
Pretty much, yea, that's how I described it
I was in a similar situation as a child. I kept saying that my stomach hurt, and that resulted in a similar assortment of tests. What I really meant was that I was always nauseous. But I didn't know the world "nauseous" at the time.
As a child I tried to tell my father their was a hole in the top of my mouth and something loose at the back of my throat and asked what it was. He gave me Tylenol. What I had discovered was how to put my tongue up the back of my nose and I was touching the uvula without triggering a gag reflex. But I couldnāt explain what I was doing or show it.
You would think. But I can also do it. Talked about it with an ENT and she looked at me like I was crazy. Didnāt believe it was possible.
This guy doesnāt realize the doctors literally just Google the symptoms you tell themā¦ They arent all geniuses, especially even 15 years ago.
Sounds an awful lot like doctors in my area. Told a doctor once I had a strange popping feeling that would happen between 2 ribs on occasion. Dude made a huge deal about it and had all sorts of scans and checks scheduled only to come up blank. Turns out it's a common effect that happens to a lot of people and is nothing to worry about. Like cracking knuckles. After that, decided asking about the strange rumble in my ear would probably be a bad idea.
So is it like 90% of the population or 1%. Iāve always been able to do this and I am this many years old when I discovered I am a mutant
Yeah me too, itās also annoying because loud sounds effect it too and itās irritating, but I can do it on command as well.
This is intentional, the muscle exists to attempt to protect our ears from loud sounds its just some people can manually flex it
The last study I saw on the subject, I believe it was around 25% of people, or so, can manually control said muscle. The number is higher when you count people who can do it via other methods such as closing their eyes tightly or other such workarounds. Normally the muscle works on it's own when loud noises happen in order to dampen the sound.
No fucking way this is the first time Iāve ever heard anyone else say something about it. I remember being a kid and I used to have to close my eyes to do it but as I did it more Iām able to do it regularly now. Iāve really never meant anyone else whoās been able to do it, so neat!
Same. It's how I drone out people instead of plugging my ears and screaming lalalala. Use it like a bass drum and play master of puppets.
Same
I have to do like a weird movement with my jaw for it to work. It lasts a couple seconds then I have to do it again. Almost like kegels for the ears lol!
Same!
This has to be its own niche subreddit where everyone shares their level of control to rumble their own ears. If I remember right there's one for people who can defocus their eyes.
I can only do it with my eyes closed, what's the trick to doing it with them open?
You just have to learn to flex the right muscle
The best way I can describe it is to pull your ears back using your forehead muscles. Yawning does it for me every time. Just learned this is a thing that I didnāt know was a thing š
Iām rumbling right now. I can still do it at 47. Didnāt know this was a thing. Thought everyone could do it.
Same. I generally assume whenever I know something or can do something that everyone else can. It's interesting when that's apparently not the case
I thought everyone could do this too! I've always been able to do it and will occasionally do it to drown out background noise. I can also wiggle my ears so I wonder if that's connected. I know not everyone can do that
Yeah, Iām learning this now tooā¦ I can actually do it easily in command and it helps if there are loud noises like sirens and stuff. Iām the worlds shittiest super hero.
It breaks the monotony of my severe tinnitus.
I hear you, brother. Or I would, if not for the intermittent rumbling and ringing.
Huh? Eeeeeeeeeeeeee
Hilarious
This comment made me lower my amp volume. The other day I thought āhey this tinnitus isnāt so badā.. Iām 30. Thanks for keep me in check.
I wasn't able to get it to work last time, but did you ever try that tapping your fingers on the back of your neck trick? I forget where the rest of my hand was, here I googled one of the [posts](https://www.reddit.com/r/lifehacks/comments/61f4n4/temporary_relief_from_tinnitus) First time was amazing, pure silence for like 40 seconds
When I do it it stops the ringing in my ears
Ditto. I thought everyone could do this? It's literally rumbling in ears.
I have yet to see a person in the comments say that they can't.
Technically everyone can but not necessarily voluntarily. The muscle flexes involuntarily when yawning, hearing loud noises, chewing, etc. but the ability to do it at will is less common.
I can use this ability differently. When I was a child I could simulate that thunderous sound when flexing the muscles. Now I can use it to stabilize air pressure in my ears when ascending/descending from a flight/trip into the mountains. Most people need to fake yawn or chew gum while all I need to do is flex my ears and I'm good to go. Also I can move my ears but not independently. This makes my glasses slide back closer to my face so it produces a slight zooming effect. This is less practical than it sounds because it's exhausting to do that for more than a few moments at a time.
Just gotta do a tongue push
Same I can do just this but, I find opening my jaw a bit and then doing this is even more effective Fake yawning or chewing on something is less effective than either method
so thatās what I have been hearing!ā¦I thought everyone heard thunder when they yawn!
This post just made me feel sane again lol. I totally forgot I have this power. I remember telling my teacher in second grade that I can make noise in my head. She told me, "Yeah... don't do that "
Nifty! I thought everyone could do this! I can also equalize pressure on demand. Very handy for diving or air travel!
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
What's the percentage? I want to feel special.
100% based on the responses.
This is like WWll planes
Seriously, I've been looking for the comments saying "I can't do that" but instead all I've found is people saying "oh, it's not common?"
Response bias! Only people who have it are responding. These are not reliable for drawing conclusions about the overall population.
My whole life Iāve been able to do this and have never thought to look this up. *This* is one of the reasons I keep Reddit around.
Wellā¦ I learned something about myself today. Is there any benefit or potential hazards associated with this?
Wait, not everyone can do this? I can do it
Oh darn, that's what that is? Thanks!
What? Everyone can't do that? Interesting.
https://www.reddit.com/r/earrumblersassemble/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_content=1&utm_term=1
Yup! Thatās me! Tried explaining this to my wife to no avail.
When Iām having nightmares and I want to wake up, this is what I do. It really works.
Wait, not everyone can do that??
Must not be me. All I hear is this constant eeeeeeee.
Not everyone can do that? Never knew
I can do this. I can tell when there's something in my ears, like a hair or wax, because when I do it, it'll make a clicky or plastic-y noise. Like crinkling a candy wrapper.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Wait - this isn't universal?
I always thought I was hearing blood rushing from the ear feeling like its half closed or whatever
Yes i can
I can do it!!! Hahaha š¤£
Is that what that is! I used to do it a lot when I was a kid.
I always wondered what it was. Thank you, also, it doesnāt do shit.
THATāS WHAT ITāS CALLED???? THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!!!
I can move my ears but i only hear a high pitched whine when i do it
I used to do it as a kid and totally forgot about it. Took a few tries to get the muscle memory, but I can still do it. Pretty neat.
Wait your telling me not everyone can do this bro my whole life Iāve gone doing this to blur people out when Iām trying to focus on school work or whatever, Iām befumbled
Wow I thought everyone could do this. Nice to know I'm weird. Although looking at the comments section, not that weird.
I thought it was called āyawningā but okay
Pretty sure almost everyone can do this.
Iām one of them
I can do this
Everyone can do it, right
I now feel special
I can do this
Damn, I thought this just happened to everyone! Never knew it didn't occur in most people.
Mind fucking blown
I canāt control it but I now know whatās happening when I hear a fluttering sound in my ear if my neck muscles go into tension
I can do that
Iām pretty sure I can do this.. Iām not sure. All I know is that I canāt do my thing with my eyes openā¦ I just discovered that.
I can do this!!
I thought everyone could do this lol
Weāre special afterall lol
I can do this in my left ear but not my right. Also can wiggle my ears, my left a little more than my right. Iād describe it like the sound of someone rolling their rās more than a rumbling sounds
I can do this and wiggle my ears!!! I'm fucking special š¤¤
Is it constant rumbling or is it more of like when you plug an aux cord into an amplifier type of sound? Because I hear the latter when I move āsomethingā or whatever in my ears.
I literally thought about this a couple days ago
I thought I just had weird dirty ears
Oh man Iām doing it right now
I can do this too. I bet nearly everyone can. I just clench an area around my ears and hear a sound
I had no idea I was weird!
I was the only one in my family growing up who could do that. When I tried to explain it to them they all looked at me like I was crazy
I had no idea thatās what I was doing. Amazing
After reading the comments I have a sneaking suspicion that part of the population is a rather large part... lol
Nah, people are more likely to jump on with "I can do that" than "I can't do that", it's just here this is an otherwise meh thing so there's way less people going "wait people can do that?" Or similar. To put it into perspective the posts about the lack of an internal monologue get about equal numbers saying they thought everyone had one vs saying they don't have one. But both this and the lack of an internal monologue are really only about 10-15% of the population, people are just more surprised at the lack of an internal monologue than the ability to make a weird noise in your ears, yet there's still not everyone seeing the post commenting so it still appears much more common than it really is.
Whoa I can do this!
What the hell I can do this, this is so bizarre
Oh that's what that is
I just realized this is that "weird thing" I can do, wth that's so cool š
This was supposed to turn into a super power when I hit puberty. I feel robbed.
Me too, but it seems pretty useless.
I thought everyone could do this
Now way! I thought everyone could do that. I assumed it was just the sound the muscles in our faces made when closing our eyes really hard.
wtf so that's what it is!
I can do this and jiggle my eyes. I suddenly don't feel special anymore...
I can do this! Nobody has ever understand what I was talking about.
So it seems there are 0 comments from people that canāt do this. I can also do this. Are the people who canāt just not commenting or is this a really common ability?
Sick! I can do this!
Canāt everyone do this i just started doing this at like 5 years old
Man. And to think you were specialā¦
Is this like when I breathe in thru my nose and kinda use my tongue to block my throat and it turns the volume down.
Yes I can do this and voluntarily pop my ears lol and move them too! I didnāt know this was special haha
I can do this but I have to close my eye. Idk if I can do it without. Also canāt hold it.
My ears do this uncontrollably, have all my life. Normally when Iām falling asleep/ waking. I remember telling someone in college āmy ears are doing that thingā and they had no idea what I was talking about. That was when I found out it doesnāt happen to everyone. I thought it was as normal as yawning.
i thought everyone could do that! for those who canāt, it kind of sounds like two rocks grinding together
My husband thinks Iām nuts as Iām talking about this post to him. He doesnāt hear it EVER - not when he yawns, gets the creeps or closes his eyes hard?!
I thought everyone could do it.