Plugged Feeling in Ear

Why your ear feels plugged

The middle ear is an air-filled space behind the eardrum. The eustachian tube connects it to the back of the nose and opens briefly each time you swallow or yawn, keeping air pressure equal on both sides of the eardrum. When the tube is swollen or blocked, pressure falls in the middle ear, the eardrum is pulled inward, and you feel fullness and muffled hearing. Fluid may then collect behind the eardrum.

A plugged feeling can also come from something in the ear canal (wax, water, a foreign body) or, less often, from the inner ear or nerves.

Causes of a plugged ear

Eustachian tube dysfunction

Eustachian tube dysfunction is the most common cause. Triggers include:

• Colds and sinus infections: swelling at the back of the nose blocks the tube. Fullness may last 1 to 2 weeks after the cold.
• Allergies: seasonal or year-round allergic rhinitis.
• Altitude changes: flying, diving, mountain driving. This is ear barotrauma.
• Smoking, reflux and enlarged adenoids in children.

You may hear popping, crackling or your own voice and breathing sounding loud.

Earwax

Earwax impaction causes gradual fullness and muffled hearing, often suddenly worse after showering or swimming when water makes the wax swell. Cotton swabs push wax deeper and are a common cause. People who wear hearing aids or earplugs are more prone.

Fluid behind the eardrum

Otitis media with effusion is fluid in the middle ear without active infection. It is very common in young children after ear infections and colds, and usually clears on its own within 3 months. In adults, persistent one-sided fluid needs a check of the back of the nose.

Ear infections

• Middle ear infection (acute otitis media): pain, fullness, fever, and sometimes discharge if the eardrum bursts.
• Outer ear infection (swimmer's ear): pain when the ear is pulled, itch, discharge and swelling of the canal.

Inner ear and nerve causes

• Sudden sensorineural hearing loss: often starts as a plugged feeling with hearing loss in one ear, sometimes with ringing or dizziness. People often mistake it for wax or a cold. Steroid treatment works best when started within 2 weeks, ideally within days.
• Meniere's disease: episodes of fullness, ringing, fluctuating hearing loss and vertigo lasting 20 minutes to hours.
• Acoustic neuroma: a rare, slow-growing benign tumor causing gradual one-sided hearing loss and ringing.

Other causes

• Jaw joint (TMJ) disorders: fullness and pain near the ear, clicking jaw, worse with chewing.
• Water trapped in the ear canal after swimming.
• Patulous eustachian tube: the tube stays open, causing fullness and loud echoing of your own voice and breathing, often after weight loss. It improves when lying down.
• Foreign object in the ear, especially in children.

Telling the causes apart

How to unclog your ear safely

For eustachian tube blockage

• Swallow, yawn or chew gum to open the tube.
• Gentle Valsalva maneuver: close your mouth, pinch your nose and blow very gently until you feel a pop. Do not blow hard, and avoid it if you have a cold with thick mucus.
• Toynbee maneuver: pinch your nose and swallow.
• Steam inhalation or a warm shower.
• Saline nasal spray or rinse, and a steroid nasal spray if allergies are the trigger.
• Decongestants: a decongestant nasal spray for up to 3 days can help, for example before a flight. Oral decongestants are not suitable if you have high blood pressure, heart disease or glaucoma.
• When flying: stay awake during descent, swallow often, and use filtered earplugs or chew gum. Babies can feed during takeoff and landing.

For earwax

• Softening drops: olive oil, mineral oil or over-the-counter carbamide peroxide drops for 3 to 5 days, as the label directs.
• Gentle irrigation with a bulb syringe and body-temperature water, only if you have no eardrum perforation, ear tubes or ear surgery.
• Professional removal by microsuction or instruments if drops do not work.

Do not use cotton swabs, ear candles or sharp objects. Ear candling is ineffective and can cause burns.

How doctors evaluate a plugged ear

A doctor will look in your ear with an otoscope, check eardrum movement, and do simple tuning fork tests to tell conductive hearing loss (wax, fluid) from sensorineural hearing loss (inner ear or nerve). A hearing test (audiogram) and tympanometry measure hearing and middle ear pressure. Persistent one-sided symptoms may need an MRI or a scope exam of the back of the nose.

Frequently asked questions

How do I get rid of a plugged feeling in my ear?

If it started with a cold, allergies or a flight, try swallowing, yawning, chewing gum, a gentle Valsalva maneuver, steam and saline or steroid nasal sprays. If it is earwax, softening drops for several days usually help. If it does not improve in 1 to 2 weeks, see a doctor.

Why does my ear feel full but there is no wax?

The most common reason is eustachian tube dysfunction after a cold, allergies or a flight. Fluid behind the eardrum, TMJ problems and Meniere's disease are other causes. Sudden fullness with hearing loss and no cold may be sudden sensorineural hearing loss, which needs urgent care.

How long does a plugged ear last after a cold?

Usually a few days to 2 weeks. Some people have fullness for several weeks while the eustachian tube recovers. See a doctor if it lasts more than 2 to 3 weeks, keeps returning, or comes with pain, fever or significant hearing loss.

Is a plugged ear an emergency?

Usually not. It becomes urgent if hearing suddenly drops in one ear without an obvious cause, after head or ear injury, or with severe pain, fever, pus or bleeding. It is an emergency if it comes with facial weakness, slurred speech or inability to walk.

Can allergies cause a plugged ear?

Yes. Allergies cause swelling in the nose and around the opening of the eustachian tube, leading to ear pressure and fullness. Daily steroid nasal sprays, antihistamines and saline rinses usually help. Fullness that persists despite allergy treatment should be checked.