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The eardrums move when the eyes move

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Re: The eardrums move when the eyes move

#51

Post by taneq »

gothroach wrote: post #25
taneq wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's one of the automatic functions of the tensor tympani muscle. It also does it when you talk, and as part of your startle reflex. Fun fact: some people have conscious control of this muscle and can voluntarily "screw up their ears" (at least that's what it feels like, it also makes a roaring/rushing sound) to dampen sounds.

That is really interesting, thank you for that information! Apparently, I've been able to control that muscle my entire life and occasionally wondered what is causing that noise. It's been difficult to describe to people who (now I know) may not be able to do it voluntarily.

Glad to help! :) Yeah, I only realised it wasn't "normal" to be able to control it when I saw one of those "do you know...?" posts about it.

Re: The eardrums move when the eyes move

#52

Post by dingo_bat »

martin-adams wrote: post #26
ThrustVectoring wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is why buddhist monks talk about reality vibrating - the continuity of reality is an illusion constructed by the brain, while the actual perceptions generated are a series of discrete experiences. Also, eye saccades are a great example of this. If you look at your own eyes in the mirror and switch between looking at your left and right eyes, you don't see your eyes move. If you watch someone else do this, you do…

Yes, it is also why when you look suddenly at a clock it appears to be stopped. This explains it in more detail: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNBTLbw1_2Q

This thing perplexed me to no end when I was younger. I literally used to sit around for hours after school, trying to catch the wall clock stopped.

Re: The eardrums move when the eyes move

#53

Post by jacobush »

taneq wrote: post #51
gothroach wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is really interesting, thank you for that information! Apparently, I've been able to control that muscle my entire life and occasionally wondered what is causing that noise. It's been difficult to describe to people who (now I know) may not be able to do it voluntarily.

Glad to help! :) Yeah, I only realised it wasn't "normal" to be able to control it when I saw one of those "do you know...?" posts about it.

It took a while even reading these posts here until I got it - I can too! :)

Re: The eardrums move when the eyes move

#54

Post by thinkingemote »

pazimzadeh wrote: post #3
nerdponx wrote: post #2

Is this something a person would be able to perceive? I am moving my eyeballs around and imagining I can also feel my ears move, but that might just be the muscles around my ears in my head, or I'm completely imagining the effect.

My guess is that the data gets sent to the brain but sometime during development the brain learned to ignore it (if it's not useful). I think that when people talk about the "doors of perception" being opened by psychedelic drugs, often leading to experiences of synesthesia (seeing sound, etc), that it's this kind of sensory data that's made available to the brain once again, or that the brain is made unable to ignor…

I recently read a study based in experiments which said that contrary to the idea that psychedelics make the world unfiltered and open up the brain to more information, what they actually do is the reverse. Psychedelics reduce information, reduce sensory input, and as a consequence the brain fills in the gaps via hallucinations.

Re: The eardrums move when the eyes move

#57

Post by pharke »

wh313 wrote: post #33
lttlrck wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I listen to the radio (speech) and then start to read and try to simultaneously listen to the radio it becomes incomprehensible. Quite weird.

Funny, it still works for me. Could it be an attention thing instead?

Probably has more to do with how you process written vs audio information. Richard Feynman had an anecdote about discovering that he couldn't read and count in his head at the same time but others could, turned out the person who could counted in his head by visualizing the numbers rather than 'hearing' them in his inner monologue which allowed him to continue reading.

Re: The eardrums move when the eyes move

#58

Post by mullethunter »

amelius wrote: post #9

There is a medical condition where people can hear their own eye movements. > The bizarre phenomenon of being able to hear the sound of the eyeballs moving in their sockets (e.g. when reading in a quiet room) "like sandpaper on wood" is one of the more distinctive features of this condition and is almost exclusively associated with SCDS. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superior_canal_dehiscence_sy...

I can hear mine but only when I’m congested. My wife never has understood, but it’s my first signal that I have inflammation and some type of illness is forthcoming.

Re: The eardrums move when the eyes move

#59

Post by ghthor »

JabavuAdams wrote: post #38

This makes me wonder ... um ... this might be TMI, but I'm wondering if anyone else has experienced a sudden "clearing" of the sense of smell when washing the perineum. Do we have olfactory cells down there that kind of cancel out our own scent? I'll start washing "downstairs" and experience a something analogous to clouds parting, but for smell. It's not the smell of the soap per-se, it's a sudden removal of some ki…

I woundnt be surprised as tissue is very connected. You might maintain that sensation with some consistency by adding more yoga/stretching to your daily routine.

Re: The eardrums move when the eyes move

#60

Post by ghthor »

somethingsimple wrote: post #42
JabavuAdams wrote: post #38

This makes me wonder ... um ... this might be TMI, but I'm wondering if anyone else has experienced a sudden "clearing" of the sense of smell when washing the perineum. Do we have olfactory cells down there that kind of cancel out our own scent? I'll start washing "downstairs" and experience a something analogous to clouds parting, but for smell. It's not the smell of the soap per-se, it's a sudden removal of some ki…

Never heard of it, but I have a weird one too: my left ear pops when I crack my upper back.

Most of the tissue in the neck and exteding into the upper back is connected to the walls of the sinus cavities. Stretching the jaw, neck and shoulders/upper back does a good job of massaging the interal parts of the sinuses that are unrechable otherwise. Feels really good after you hydrate them, from a shower, and you might loosen and expell some nasty snot that could be draining your immune energy!
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