The Medical Consumer's Advocate
Q: 
Last year, my ear "closed
up" due to airplane cabin pressure and didn't seem
to "open up" for about 30 mins despite trying
to yawn, chew gum, and annoy girlfriend with "why is
it taking so long to pop" questions. Once it did I
didn't think anything of it.
Two weeks afterwards I was in
the studio recording (I am a singer) and noticed a
strangeness to my voice but it wasn't overwhelming and
wasn't noticed by anyone else in the sessions.
Mid January I got very sick
and, like an idiot decided to stick it out instead of
visiting my GP. Typical symptoms for me: hurts to swallow
and sore, sore throat. That took about two weeks to clear
up. This is when I really noticed a difference in my
voice. About the first week of February, my voice would
tire much earlier than usual. Sometimes 20 minutes into a
performance which is UNHEARD of for me. It was more
obvious when I tried getting head tones (resonation).. to
the point of feeling like I was singing from a pinched
throat to make up for the lack of good head resonation. I
noticed that after several minutes of singing my left ear
(the one that took forever to "pop" on the
plane) would close up again. Breathing through my nose
would cause my ear to seemingly go deaf while I inhaled
and then clear up when I exhaled. It would even feel as
though I could hear my breath in my ears (like breathing
over an empty bottle).
To make it shorter... I went to
the doctor. Had a transnasal thingy. There are slight
vocal nodules on my cords (he said they were barely
detectable) and besides that they looked fine. I
still feel a "clogging" in my ear though.
My question(s) is ... could
fluid/blockage be in my Eustachian tube for that long? If
so, what effects could a stopped up Eustachian tube have
on head resonation tones? vocal cord strength? and
general singing ability. I would like to add that even
prolonged bouts of speaking leave my ear a bit stuffy and
my throat dry. This has never happened to me before and I
have been singing semi-professionally for about 6 years.
I do sing from my diaphragm except in quiet spots of the
songs.
A: You describe a very unusual constellation of problems. It
sounds like you are a professional singer (if you are recording in a studio,
I am guessing that you can make a living at it!) Do you have a voice coach?
Many voice coaches are extremely sharp at picking up on vocal "bad habits."
What typically happens: some inflammatory problem in the ears, nose or
throat leads to an alteration in the voice. The singer attempts to
compensate, because what he/she is trying very hard to do is "sound like I
normally sound." This can lead to the development of bad
habits which can cause a whole host of problems which can
persist even after the inflammatory condition has resolved.
Gastroesophageal reflux disease, or "GERD", is one
of the most common inciting factors, but I do not get the
sense that this is your problem.
Your ear symptoms sound a bit like Eustachian tube
dysfunction, but also sound a bit like the opposite problem,
"patulous Eustachian tube." In ETD, problems arise
when the patient is unable to open the tube in order to
equalize middle ear air pressure. In patulous Eustachian
tube, the tube stays open all of the time (it is supposed to
remain closed most of the time), and the individual
"hears himself speak", breathe, etc. As I said,
what you are describing sounds a bit like both problems, but
that's not possible.
To answer your narrow question: yes, Eustachian tube
problems can persist for weeks, months, years. The main hope
for relief: first figure out exactly what the problem is (ETD
or patulous tube?), then figure out what the inciting factor
is and correct it.
I don't know whether you are aware of this or not, but
there are ear, nose and throat docs who do a year of extra
training in voice, and then do nothing else but work with
patients such as yourself. Since they have a general ENT
background, they are also very capable of figuring out how
your other ENT problems contribute to your voice
problem.
Eustachian tube dysfunction should not change your
resonance significantly. Patulous Eustachian tubes could
alter resonance, in theory. Either problem will certainly
alter the way your voice sounds TO YOU, which in turn could
very easily lead you to think that your voice has changed (a
trained listener, such as a voice coach, could help you to
figure this out). If you struggle to achieve the
"right" voice, this could certainly lead to strain.
Bottom line: get a good coach if you don't already have
one, and see an ENT voice specialist (I'd be happy to help
you find one -- just email me what city/state you live in, and
I will ask around for you.) Let me know how things go.