Tensor Tympani & Me

Wait! Are you telling me not everyone can shut off those invisible gills in their head and control the sounds they hear??? 😲

Apparently, that is the case.

I was talking about something with my friend yesterday and tried to compare it to a familiar sound, so I said, You know, just like when you make that noise in your head.

She said, What do you mean?, and I was like, You know… when you contract some muscle in your head and make that vibrating sound?

She responded, Um, no I don’t?, and I thought she was joking.

I asked my partner, who confirmed he had no idea what I was talking about, so I started to do my own little research.

According to what I found (and you can see the gist here, here, and here), there is a small number of people in this world who can voluntarily contract, or even control, the tensor tympani, a muscle in the middle ear, which creates vibration and a rumbling sound.

And – silly me – I always thought everyone could do this!

Of course, I immediately sent the link to my bestie and said, Please tell me you know what I’m talking about, to which he responded, I thought everyone can do that?!

Relieved, I sighed and engaged in a conversation about how special we were. But just a few minutes later, I realized he only uses the muscle to regulate the pressure when diving or climbing, not to shut off the water or sounds. How odd!

For me, this vibrating noise was one of the first sensations I discovered in my body. I asked my mom about it, and she said, Oh, we use it to keep water out of our ears! LOL – as obviously, she can do it too!

However, with time, I realized we can use it for a bunch of other things. For example, to shut off unwanted sounds, which came in quite handy when she used to give me a lesson or preach about my unholy behavior. Those were the best time to practice, to be honest. Which I did – a lot! I used to play this game – every time she started talking, I’d close the gills.

Later I discovered this ability also comes in handy when dealing with shrill pitches – you just shut them off. It’s not like you can’t hear them; they’re just… muffled? If that’s even the right word. But their intensity is reduced, and they don’t give you headaches anymore.

I checked with my partner, What do you do when there’s really loud and annoying sound, like a fork scraping a plate? He shrugged his shoulders, I suffer. Honestly, I’ve never felt more privileged in my whole life.

Fun fact: I can hold this muscle for about half a minute without wincing. I can go up to a minute or so, but then the vibration turns into buzzing, and I get a weird, numbingly dizzy feeling in my head, so I try not to push it. I also assume the vibration comes from the muscle twitching or quivering, as it’s impossible to hold it still (for me, at least).

So, yeah… apparently, that’s (one of) my (secret) superpower(s). 😁

What’s yours?

P.S. This post clearly has nothing to do with PREXcoaching®. It’s just little old vain me bragging about how delightfully weird and special I am. 🦚