Autophony

How it works

Everyone hears their own voice partly through the skull. Autophony is that effect turned up too far. Your voice booms as if you were speaking into a barrel. Each breath sounds like wind. Some people hear their own eyeballs move¹.

A common cause is a patulous Eustachian tube². The Eustachian tube links the middle ear to the back of the nose. It is normally closed and opens only for a moment when you swallow or yawn. In some people it stays open. Sound from the throat then travels straight up the tube into the ear². The tube is held shut partly by fatty tissue and blood flow around it. Weight loss, dehydration, pregnancy, and hormone changes can make the tube floppy². The symptom can fade when you lie down with your head low, because blood pools around the tube and closes it².

Another cause is superior canal dehiscence. A thin patch of bone over one of the balance canals in the inner ear is missing or worn through. This creates an extra window into the inner ear. Sound and pressure leak through it. People with this hear their heartbeat and footsteps, and some feel dizzy when they hear loud noises³. It was first described by Lloyd Minor and colleagues in 1998³.

How common it is

Published estimates put patulous Eustachian tube at about 0.3% to 6.6% of people⁴. Mild autophony likely goes undiagnosed, since many people never seek a doctor for it. A 2000 study of 1,000 temporal bones found the gap in the bone in about 0.7% of people⁵. The full syndrome, with symptoms, is rare³.

Is it a problem?

Often it is only annoying. But the causes need to be told apart, and a doctor can do this with a hearing test and a scan. See an ear specialist if your own voice or breath has sounded too loud for more than a few weeks. Go sooner if you also have:

• dizziness triggered by sound,
• hearing loss,
• a feeling of pressure that does not clear.