What is a ruptured eardrum?
A ruptured eardrum is when there’s a hole in your eardrum (the thin tissue between your ear canal and your middle ear). This condition is also called perforated eardrum or tympanic membrane perforation.
Your eardrum creates vibrations that help you hear. A tear in this tissue can lead to many problems, including hearing loss and ear infections.
What causes a ruptured eardrum?
Common causes of a ruptured eardrum include:
- A foreign object, such as a cotton swab or pencil, going inside your ear
- Cholesteatoma (skin cyst in the ear)
- Obstructive Eustachian tube dysfunction (valve that equalizes pressure in your ear does not open properly)
- Head trauma
- Middle ear infection (otitis media)
- Rapid change in air or water pressure
- Very loud sounds, such as from an explosion
Conditions such as cholesteatoma, Eustachian tube dysfunction, and ear infections can weaken your eardrum tissue. The tissue wears down over time, which makes it more likely to tear.
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Will a ruptured eardrum heal itself?
A ruptured eardrum often heals on its own, but you may need treatment to fix it. A doctor will repair the tissue and address whatever caused it. You may also need treatment to manage complications from the hole, such as repeated ear infections or hearing loss.
How long does a ruptured eardrum take to heal?
Most small eardrum perforations will heal within three to six weeks. Other eardrums may heal many months after the initial rupture. This time frame varies depending on the size of the hole in your eardrum. Your ear may take longer to heal if you have an ear infection or other complications.
Ruptured Eardrum Symptoms
Most people feel sudden pain in their ear when their eardrum gets ruptured. This pain may go away soon after the tear happens. You may also experience:
- Balance problems
- Clear liquid or blood dripping from your ear
- Dizziness
- Earache
- Hearing loss
- Ringing in your ear (tinnitus)
Risk Factors for Ruptured Eardrum
Risk factors are things that increase your risk for a perforated eardrum. Your chances of rupturing your eardrum are higher if you:
- Are male
- Have chronic ear infections
- Experience an ear injury or trauma
Ruptured eardrums are commonly seen in children. Children are more likely to develop ear infections, or stick foreign objects in their ear. In older people, most ruptured eardrums happen from ear injuries and trauma.
Preventing Eardrum Rupture
In most cases, a perforated eardrum happens accidentally. However, you can take certain precautions to avoid damaging your eardrum, such as:
- Chewing gum, sucking on hard candy, or yawning while flying during takeoff and landing (if you usually feel pain or pressure on airplanes)
- Keeping objects and your fingers out of your ears, including cotton swabs (your ears naturally get rid of wax and clean themselves)
- Teaching your children to never put items inside their ears
- Treating ear infections promptly
- Wearing ear protection around loud noises
If you do experience a ruptured eardrum, make sure to keep your ear dry as it heals. Water inside your ear can lead to a middle ear infection (otitis media). Infection can cause more serious problems to develop, such as facial nerve paralysis (inability to move your face muscles) or permanent hearing loss. In very severe cases, infection can spread outside the ear to the neck or brain.
Our skilled ear, nose, and throat (ENT) specialists diagnose a ruptured eardrum during an office visit. We may do several tests to get more information about the tear and learn if it has caused any complications.
Ear exam
We examine inside your ear using a lighted microscope. This ear microscope gives us a closer look at your ear canal, eardrum, and middle ear. We’ll see the size and location of the hole in your eardrum. We’ll also check for signs of an ear infection and other potential ear problems.
Hearing tests
A hearing specialist called an audiologist will do hearing tests to check if you have hearing loss from the ruptured eardrum. Hearing tests look at your response to several aspects of sound, such as tone, pitch, and loudness.
Hearing loss from a perforated eardrum is usually temporary. In severe cases, the rupture may lead to chronic (long-term) ear infections. Repeated ear infections can damage the structures of your middle and inner ear, increasing your risk for lasting hearing loss.
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Ruptured Eardrum
A ruptured eardrum, also called perforated eardrum or tympanic membrane perforation, is a hole in the tissue separating your ear canal from your middle ear.
Perforated eardrum
tympanic membrane perforation
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tympanoplasty
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