this post was submitted on 21 Jun 2023
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I think it's probably this. I can actually make this muscle vibrate using some of the same muscles you use when you yawn, but I had no idea that it protects your hearing. I also play music and used to tour in some pretty loud bands. Remarkably I don't have any hearing loss, and actually hear better than many of the high schoolers I teach. (I teach physics so we actually have a section on sound, and we test what frequencies people can hear.) I always felt very lucky that in my mid 40s I'm still hearing well. But I also notice that when things are very loud something seems to "overload" in my ears, and it seems like the sound is being blocked. Maybe I have stronger tympanic tensors?
I can do the same and I wonder if you just got lucky. I've had a penchant for loud music for decades and I'm only just noticing that my hearing may not be that great as a result. Nothing's muffled, but the one single time the tinnitus let up I remember being shocked and hopeful it would stay that way (it did not).