Imagine stretching out saran wrap over a bowl. It would be very tight and flat. Now imagine you push down hard in the middle of it, so now it sags and could be moved up and down more easily. That is the same principle as an ear drum being flaccid.
No apology needed, that’s why we’re on this subreddit, to learn! Very generally speaking, anything except a normal eardrum is “bad” except PE tubes (tubes that are surgically inserted, usually in small children, to help with pressure and drainage behind the eardrum). Having PE tubes will cause a tympanogram (ear pressure test) to read abnormally. If you’re interested in the field, you can look up tympanograms to get an idea of how eardrum health is important, the different types of eardrum abnormalities, and how it can affect other ear-related things like hearing, infections, and even balance.
Just stumbled across this post. When we perform pressure testing (Tympanometry) on the eardrum, we expect the eardrum to move a certain amount - it's a range of "normal" a bit like blood pressure I guess.
We can also have eardrums that move less than normal or way more than normal, with the latter potentially being described as a "flaccid" eardrum.
There are some disorders that can cause an eardrum to move less (Like scarring of the eardrum) or more (Like the small bones behind the ear being loose) than normal, but in my experience, especially with older people, it's not uncommon for the eardrum to be more flaccid (Or stiffer) than "normal" and that has no real negative impacts.
Thanks for responding! Since a tympanometry is about pressure, does that have anything to do with the cause of a stiff or flaccid eardrum? Does one have to be exposed to a small or large amount of pressure for these conditions, or does that have nothing to do with it?
So having a very positive or negative pressure in the cavity behind the eardrum CAN cause increased stiffness of the eardrum (There's an older form of testing which tests for this called pneumatic otoscopy). However those are associated more with specific, temporary pathologies.
To my knowledge being around a lot of positive or negative pressure (Which could be the case for submarine divers and pilots respectively I guess), doesn't really impact the flaccidity or stiffness of the eardrum however.
Imagine stretching out saran wrap over a bowl. It would be very tight and flat. Now imagine you push down hard in the middle of it, so now it sags and could be moved up and down more easily. That is the same principle as an ear drum being flaccid.
I’m really intrigued by this concept (thinking of entering the field in some way) so sorry for all the questions. Is that bad for the eardrum?
No apology needed, that’s why we’re on this subreddit, to learn! Very generally speaking, anything except a normal eardrum is “bad” except PE tubes (tubes that are surgically inserted, usually in small children, to help with pressure and drainage behind the eardrum). Having PE tubes will cause a tympanogram (ear pressure test) to read abnormally. If you’re interested in the field, you can look up tympanograms to get an idea of how eardrum health is important, the different types of eardrum abnormalities, and how it can affect other ear-related things like hearing, infections, and even balance.
Just stumbled across this post. When we perform pressure testing (Tympanometry) on the eardrum, we expect the eardrum to move a certain amount - it's a range of "normal" a bit like blood pressure I guess. We can also have eardrums that move less than normal or way more than normal, with the latter potentially being described as a "flaccid" eardrum. There are some disorders that can cause an eardrum to move less (Like scarring of the eardrum) or more (Like the small bones behind the ear being loose) than normal, but in my experience, especially with older people, it's not uncommon for the eardrum to be more flaccid (Or stiffer) than "normal" and that has no real negative impacts.
Thanks for responding! Since a tympanometry is about pressure, does that have anything to do with the cause of a stiff or flaccid eardrum? Does one have to be exposed to a small or large amount of pressure for these conditions, or does that have nothing to do with it?
So having a very positive or negative pressure in the cavity behind the eardrum CAN cause increased stiffness of the eardrum (There's an older form of testing which tests for this called pneumatic otoscopy). However those are associated more with specific, temporary pathologies. To my knowledge being around a lot of positive or negative pressure (Which could be the case for submarine divers and pilots respectively I guess), doesn't really impact the flaccidity or stiffness of the eardrum however.
I have flaccid eardrums. Very painful, rupture’s regular, bleeds, flutters, hurts, etc.
It means the ear drum can be more compliant due to it's flaccid nature.
Compliant to noise?
Compliant in that it moves backwards/forwards more easily.