Why Does My Ear Feel Clogged?

Clogged ears can feel uncomfortable, and there are several reasons for them. Changes in altitude and the effects of a cold or virus can cause swollen or blocked eustachian tubes. Excess earwax or an ear injury can also cause clogged ears. If your ears feel clogged, you might find that yawning, chewing gum, or swallowing helps. Most ears will eventually unclog on their own or once the cause is addressed.

If it doesn't and your ear has been clogged for days, treatments are available depending on the cause. In some situations, you should leave the ear unclogging to a healthcare provider so you don't damage the delicate structures inside your ears or make the blockage worse.

Reasons for Clogged Ears

The sensation of a clogged ear is uncomfortable, especially when your ear feels clogged for days. Reasons why your ear feels clogged include, but are not limited to:

• Pressure changes
• Eustachian tube dysfunction
• Ear infections
• Cholesteatoma
• Acoustic neuroma
• Noise damage
• Hearing loss
• Fluid in the ear
• Earwax
• Foreign objects
• Swimmer's ear

Fortunately, most of these conditions are treatable at home, over time, or with the help of your healthcare provider.

If your ear has felt clogged for more than a few days and isn't going away or is accompanied by other symptoms such as acute hearing loss, pain, or fever, contact a healthcare provider for advice. There might be an underlying cause (e.g., an infection) that your healthcare provider needs to treat to clear the clogged ear.

Changes in Altitude or Atmospheric Pressure

Causes: When atmospheric pressure changes or you change altitude, the pressure change can cause your ears to clog or "pop." Extreme changes may injure your eardrum or other structures.

Symptoms: Clogging while driving up a steep mountain, taking off in an airplane, or SCUBA diving is called barotrauma. The pressure may be uncomfortable and reduce hearing.

Treatment: The best ways to prevent this are to swallow, chew gum, or yawn frequently. This opens up your eustachian tube and lets outside air enter the ear, equalizing the pressure.

If you have allergies or frequently have trouble unclogging your ears during altitude changes, you may want to take your allergy medication or a decongestant ahead of time.

Eustachian Tube Dysfunction

Eustachian (or auditory) tube dysfunction is an umbrella term for many things that can make your ears feel clogged.

Causes: There are several possible causes, including:

• Excess mucus due to allergies or upper respiratory illnesses (e.g., the cold, flu, COVID-19)
• Inflammation or infection of the sinus passages (sinusitis)
• Damage to the ear's natural cleaning system due to smoking cigarettes
• Fatty deposits around the eustachian tubes due to obesity

The first two problems are especially common in children.

Symptoms: Symptoms may include the following:

• Runny and stuffy nose
• Facial pressure or pain
• Sinus headache
• Excess mucus in your throat
• Sore throat, cough
• Bad breath (with an infection)
• Sneezing

Treatment: Treatments include over-the-counter or prescription antihistamines, decongestants, cold and flu medications, and nasal sprays; steroid nasal sprays may lower inflammation.

Some sinus infections require antibiotics, which must be prescribed by a healthcare provider.

Ear Infections

As with sinus infections, ear infections sometimes go away on their own. Other times, you may need antibiotics. If symptoms are mild, you can try home remedies before seeing a healthcare provider.

Causes: Causes of ear infections include viruses (which don't require antibiotics), and bacteria (which may), allergies, and occasionally fungi.

Infections most often occur with upper respiratory illnesses (colds, flu, sinusitis, strep throat, laryngitis, and tonsillitis), but can develop independently of other illnesses.

Common bacterial causes include streptococcus pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae, Moraxella catarrhalis, and streptococcus pyogenes (the cause of strep throat). Bacteria can also be introduced by contaminated water that enters the ears while swimming or when objects such as cotton swabs, earplugs, or fingers transfer bacteria into the canal.

Symptoms: Ear pain, fever, and difficulty sleeping are all symptoms of an ear infection. In children, fussiness, irritability, and rubbing or tugging at the ear may be observed.

Treatment: In many cases, ear infections are uncomplicated and will heal without medical intervention. Home treatment can help ease the discomfort of an infection. Try using a cold or hot compress over the ear, OTC pain relievers (e.g., Advil, Tylenol), or a few drops of hydrogen peroxide (allow it to bubble, then tip your head to drain it out).

If the infection doesn't start getting better in two or three days, see a healthcare provider. For more serious conditions, treatment can involve antiviral drugs (viral infections) or antibiotics (bacterial infections). Oral steroids and antinausea medications can also help ease symptoms.

Cholesteatoma

A cholesteatoma is a benign (non-cancerous) skin growth that develops in the eardrum and can grow into the middle ear and mastoid bone. Cholesteatomas grow aggressively and significantly increase the risk of middle ear infections.

Causes: The most common cause is dysfunction in the eustachian tube. Other times, dead skin accumulates in the ear, which attracts bacteria and leads to infection. Some cholesteatomas result from a birth defect.

Symptoms: Symptoms tend to be mild at first and worsen as the cholesteatoma grows. Symptoms include pressure in the ear that can affect hearing and balance. There may also be foul-smelling drainage from the ear.

Treatment: Cholesteatoma can only be removed with surgery. If the cholesteatoma has grown into the mastoid (the large bone behind the ear), a mastoidectomy is done to remove the cholesteatoma from the bone. Or, a tympanoplasty may be done to repair the eardrum and restore hearing.

Acoustic Neuroma

An acoustic neuroma is a rare, benign tumor that forms along the eighth cranial nerve. This nerve leads from the brain to the inner ear and is highly involved in hearing and balance. Most acoustic neuromas do not grow. Those that do usually grow slowly. Symptoms develop when the neuroma presses on nearby structures.

Causes: Acoustic neuroma can be caused by radiation exposure to the head or neck, in which case the neuroma often grows years after the exposure. It may also be caused by a genetic disorder called neurofibromatosis 2 (NF2).

Symptoms: Hearing loss on one side, a feeling of fullness in the ear, ringing in the ear (tinnitus), dizziness or balance problems, facial numbness or tingling, headaches, and mental confusion are the most common symptoms.

Treatment: Treatment may involve watching and waiting, surgery, or radiation, depending on how severe the acoustic neuroma is.

Noise Damage

Noise-induced hearing loss, or noise damage, is caused by damage to hair cells in the ears, which help create electrical signals from the sounds you hear. Those signals are then carried to the brain via the auditory nerve. Hair cells that are damaged do not grow back.

Causes: Being exposed to very loud noise can result in noise-induced hearing loss. The damaging noise can be a brief exposure, like an explosion, or a chronic exposure, like loud noise from workplace machinery.

Symptoms: Signs of noise damage usually happen gradually. Sounds may become increasingly muffled or distorted over time. There may be roaring, buzzing, or ringing in the ears, which may subside over time. Hearing loss can also make the ears feel clogged. Noise damage hearing loss may be temporary or permanent.

Treatment: Permanent hearing loss may be treated with the use of hearing aids or cochlear implants.

Hearing Loss

General hearing loss can cause the sensation of fullness in the ear. In addition to loud noises, there are several other reasons for hearing loss.

Causes: Reasons for hearing loss include age-related changes, genetics, medication side effects, and environmental factors such as heavy metal exposure.

Symptoms: Symptoms of ear fullness or clogged ears due to hearing loss depend on the cause. Since hearing loss can be slow and gradual over time, individuals may not notice it is happening. Thus, symptoms often include being told you speak louder than usual, needing to turn the volume up on devices, and having difficulty understanding what others are saying.

Fluid in the Ear

Causes: Congestion or inflamed structures can trap liquid in the eustachian tube, which connects your middle ear to the back of your throat, where fluid typically drains.

Symptoms: It may not cause symptoms other than clogging. However, there may be pain, and eventually, permanent changes to the eardrum and/or hearing loss.

Treatment: For prolonged cases, your healthcare provider may re-check it every few months. After the six-month mark, they may recommend ventilating tubes to clear it out.

If young children have fluid in the ears for a long time without treatment, it may lead to hearing loss and/or delayed speech.

Excessive Earwax

Causes: There is generally no known cause. Your body may produce too much wax or it may not be able to clear it efficiently.

Symptoms: If you have a blockage, you may have ear pain, ear infections, a feeling of fullness, ringing, hearing loss, dizziness, itchiness, or cough.

Treatment: Your healthcare provider may flush your ear with water, scoop out the wax with special tools, or use ear drops that dissolve the wax.

As tempting as it may be to try and remove excessive earwax with a Q-tip, it's best to leave the task to a healthcare provider. Trying to remove it on your own may push earwax deeper into the ear canal, making the blockage worse. Using a Q-tip could also damage nearby structures within the ear or rupture the eardrum.

Foreign Objects

Causes: A foreign object can become lodged in the ear canal; this is most common in young children, who may put something in there out of curiosity or because a friend dared them to.

Symptoms: Pain is common. You may notice a child rubbing their ear and looking uncomfortable. If left in for a long time, the object may cause an infection.

Treatment: A healthcare provider can remove the object with special tools.

Don't try to remove the object yourself. You may push it in deeper and cause damage.

Swimmer's Ear

Swimmer's ear is also known as acute otitis externa, an outer ear infection.

Causes: Typically, your outer ear has a protective layer of wax. When it becomes wet for an extended period, for example, when swimming, the skin on the ear becomes vulnerable to infection.

Symptoms: Symptoms include pain, redness, and swelling of the ear. The ear may also be itchy, and drainage may be present.

Treatment: Treatment often involves antibiotic ear drops.

How to Clear a Clogged Ear

Depending on the cause, there are several measures you can try at home to unclog your ears. For example, when you first notice your ears are clogged and think the cause is due to pressure changes, you can try:

• Pinching your nose and swallowing (Toynbee maneuver)
• Chewing gum or eating
• Yawning

You can also try the Valsalva maneuver by trying the following steps:

1. Pinch your nose shut.
2. Close your mouth.
3. Try to blow out through your nose.

If your ears are clogged due to allergies or an illness such as a cold or the flu, relieving congestion may help. Over-the-counter antihistamines are one option to reduce nasal stuffiness. Other options include using a neti pot, saline rinse, drinking warm tea, or decongestants such as Mucinex.

If those options don't work or your symptoms are potentially related to a more serious cause, you may need medical attention versus self-treatment at home.

When to See a Healthcare Provider

Sometimes, you need to see a healthcare provider for clogged ears so you don't risk damaging your ears, which could impair your hearing. You can get a good idea of possible causes by paying attention to your other symptoms.

Consult with a healthcare provider if you have:

• Lost, muffled, or distorted hearing
• Pressure in your ears that won't go away
• Dizziness
• Ear pain
• Ringing in the ears
• Fluid discharge from the ears
• Vertigo
• A foreign object in the ear
• Any other new or unusual symptoms

Go to the nearest emergency room if any of these symptoms begin suddenly, won't go away, or are severe.

Summary

For simple causes of clogged ears, you can try swallowing, yawning, chewing, or eating. Decongestants or antihistamines may sometimes help.

Changes in altitude or atmospheric pressure, eustachian tube dysfunction, ear infections, foreign objects, or earwax blocking the eustachian tube are common causes of clogged ears.

Most of the time, these problems are easily diagnosed and treated. Some causes always require medical help (e.g., fluid, foreign objects, or earwax buildup).