Autophony is the unusually loud hearing of a person's own voice.
Possible causes are:
* The "
occlusion effect", caused by an object, such as an unvented hearing aid or a plug of ear wax, blocking the
ear canal
The ear canal (external acoustic meatus, external auditory meatus, EAM) is a pathway running from the outer ear to the middle ear. The adult human ear canal extends from the auricle to the eardrum and is about in length and in diameter.
S ...
and reflecting sound vibration back towards the eardrum.
">The "Occlusion Effect"
* Serous otitis media
Otitis media is a group of Inflammation, inflammatory diseases of the middle ear. One of the two main types is acute otitis media (AOM), an infection of rapid onset that usually presents with ear pain. In young children this may result in pullin ...
* Open or patulous Eustachian tube, allowing vocal or breathing sounds to be conducted into the middle ear
* Superior canal dehiscence, which can lead to an abnormally amplified bone conduction of sound into the inner ear. Persons with superior canal dehiscence syndrome (SCDS) typically hear not only their own voice but also heartbeat, footsteps, chewing, intestinal sounds and possibly even the sound of their eye movements when reading.
References
External links
* {{cite journal, pmid=7346684, year=1981, last1=O'Connor, first1=A. F, title=Autophony and the patulous eustachian tube, journal=The Laryngoscope, volume=91, issue=9 Pt 1, pages=1427–35, last2=Shea, first2=J. J, doi=10.1288/00005537-198109000-00003 , s2cid=27024279
Definition of Autophony
Painhealth.com - Definition of Autophony
SCDS with Autophony - animation
"Doctor, I can hear my eyes" - W Albuquerque, A M Bronstein
* ABC News - Health
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