Ears Sound
Autophony
Your own voice, breathing, or heartbeat sounds far too loud inside your head. It can mean a tube or a thin patch of bone is letting sound take a shortcut into the ear.
About 0.3–6.6% for patulous Eustachian tube
Get it checked
Showing 15 oddities.
This tag marks entries that are usually benign, but worth a doctor's attention to rule out a more serious cause. Pulsatile tinnitus, floaters, and migraine aura all carry this tag for the same reason: the common explanation is harmless, but a rarer one is not.
A reader here is usually deciding whether a symptom is worth a visit to a doctor. That is a reasonable question, and this tag exists to answer it honestly rather than reassure automatically.
This list will tell you what the usual, harmless cause looks like, and what features would make a doctor want to look further. It will not tell you which one applies to you. Only an examination can do that, and the entry will say so.
Spiritual 5Icky 5Not an emergency 21Get it checked 15Try it 67Learnable 18Party trick 19Vestigial 7Genetic 37Sleep 6Illusion 22Childhood 8Debunked myth 11Community 14Famous people 14Record 7
Results narrow the list below as you type.
Mouth Variation
Bifid uvula
The uvula, the dangling flap at the back of the throat, is split into two lobes, in about 1 to 2% of people. On its own it is harmless, but in a baby it can be a clue to a hidden cleft of the palate.
1–2% of people
Ears Involuntary
BPPV
A short, intense spinning feeling set off by turning over in bed or tipping your head back. Tiny crystals in the inner ear have drifted into the wrong place. It is the most common cause of vertigo and it is very treatable.
About 2.4% of people, lifetime
Bones Variation
Camptodactyly
A finger that stays bent forward at its middle joint and cannot fully straighten, usually the little finger. Under 1% of people have it. Mild cases rarely cause trouble, but the bend can get worse while a child grows.
Under 1% of people
Eyes Variation
Distichiasis
A second row of eyelashes growing from the oil-gland openings along the inner edge of the eyelid. It is rare. It can be inherited or acquired. Elizabeth Taylor was born with it.
About 1 in 10,000 people
Eyes Involuntary
Floaters
Small grey threads, dots, or cobwebs that drift across your vision and dart away when you look at them. They are shadows of tiny clumps inside the eye. They are common and usually harmless.
76% in one survey of 603 people
Bones Variation
Joint hypermobility
About 1 in 5 people have joints that bend further than usual, measured with a nine-point test called the Beighton score. For most people it causes no trouble.
10–25% of people
Brain Involuntary
Migraine aura
A shimmering zigzag or C-shaped patch of light that grows across your vision over 5 to 60 minutes and then fades. It can come before a migraine headache or, in some people, with no headache at all.
About 5% of people
Eyes Perception
Palinopsia
An image that keeps appearing after the thing you saw is gone. A faint afterimage after a bright light is normal and harmless. Copies that persist or return later need a doctor.
Not counted in the general population
Ears Variation
Preauricular pit
A tiny hole in the skin just in front of the ear, present from birth, that can lead to a tunnel under the skin. It is harmless unless it gets infected.
0.1–10% of people
Ears Sound
Pulsatile tinnitus
A whooshing or thumping in one ear that keeps time with your pulse. It is usually the sound of blood flowing near the ear. It often has a treatable cause, so get it checked.
Under 10% of people with tinnitus
Ears Involuntary
Tinnitus
A ringing, hissing, buzzing, or roaring sound with no source outside your head. Between 10% and 15% of people have it. It is mostly the hearing system filling in for damaged or tired inner-ear cells.
About 10–15% of people
Heart Reflex
Vasovagal syncope
The most common reason people faint. A trigger like blood, pain, heat, or standing too long makes the vagus nerve slow the heart, and blood pressure drops. The brain briefly runs short of blood and you go down.
About 1 in 3 people faint at least once
Brain Involuntary
Visual snow
Tiny flickering dots across the whole field of vision, like static on an old TV, present with eyes open or closed. About 2% of people have it. The eyes are fine. The visual part of the brain is over-active.
About 2% of people
Bones Trick
Voluntary joint dislocation
Pushing a joint partly or fully out of its socket on purpose, then back in. Between 10% and 25% of people have some joint hypermobility. One survey of students and their siblings found 0.5% to 2.6% could dislocate a shoulder at will.
0.5–2.6% (shoulder, one survey) Icky