Why does my voice sound different in recordings? (Autophonia)

This is my very first time posting here. Up until now, I’ve mostly just been lurking in the shadows, reading through everyone's stories. But today, I find myself in need of some guidance.

I am 34 years old, and I’ve been dealing with some rather "strange" discomforts that have been steadily intensifying over the last few years—certainly two or three, if not longer. I use the word "strange" because, technically, nothing actually hurts; there is no sharp pain, which makes it even more baffling.

1) When I speak, there is this echoing sensation in my ears... I'm not quite sure how to describe it properly, but it feels as though I am speaking through my own ears. While it isn't painful, it is incredibly distracting during conversations. It didn't used to be constant; about two years ago, it would only happen occasionally, perhaps after something like a local high school football game, but lately, it has become a near-constant presence regardless of any physical exertion. It is most pronounced in my left ear.
It feels exactly like I have an ear infection, even though I don't, and various doctors have examined me multiple times without finding anything.

2) In my throat, right around the junction where the throat meets the nasal passage—but specifically on the left side—I feel a stinging sensation, much like a raw, sore wound. You know that scratchy, stinging feeling you get when your throat starts to get irritated? That is exactly what I experience, except it is localized strictly to one spot on the left side rather than the whole throat. I have this nagging suspicion that this specific irritation might be linked to the ear issues, as if there is some sort of underlying inflammatory process at play.

3) Additionally, I feel a sense of tightness and swelling stretching from my left shoulder up through my neck to my ears. Even though there isn't any visible swelling, the sensation is very real to me. Everything on my right side feels perfectly fine, though I do occasionally experience that same ear echoing in the right ear, albeit much less frequently and intensely than on the left.

I have consulted several physicians and specialists, including ENT doctors, and I have undergone a mountain of tests—ultrasounds, biopsies, CT scans, thyroid checks, even having a scope passed through my nose to inspect my throat. I've had hearing tests and endless blood work... yet, nothing. My results come back perfect. The doctors palpate the area and see nothing abnormal, aside from perhaps some slightly enlarged lymph nodes. Despite this, my symptoms seem to worsen with every passing week and month.

Has anyone else dealt with something similar? Any idea what might be going on?
I should mention that I am in excellent physical and mental health; I live a life free of significant stress or depression. If I had to point to one flaw, it might be my diet. Since I live alone, my eating habits are somewhat irregular and far from ideal—mostly quick grab-and-go meals, sandwiches, and processed snacks, though I do make an effort to eat fruit and vegetables whenever I can.

If it helps with a potential diagnosis, there is one more symptom that may or may not be connected:

4) About ten months ago (though it might have started even earlier without me noticing), a few circular patches appeared on my chin. They are about 1 to 2 cm in diameter, and hair no longer grows in those spots. I saw a dermatologist, and she diagnosed it as alopecia. Given that stress certainly isn't the culprit here, she suggested that it might be a "trigger" signaling some other internal inflammatory or perhaps even something more malicious happening in the body. So, it's possible these patches are linked to the other symptoms I mentioned.
To make matters even more unsettling, I’ve noticed significant hair thinning over the last few months. I’ve always had thick, wavy hair, despite my age, but over the last month, I've noticed it thinning quite a bit at the front and receding at the temples. It isn't a crisis yet, but since it's just starting, I fear it will only get worse.🙂 Of course, this could just be the natural aging process, which I am perfectly fine accepting, but I am mentioning it here because I wonder if it’s a byproduct of whatever is causing my other symptoms.🙂
Please forgive me for being so long-winded, but these symptoms are truly beginning to interfere with my daily life. I teach at a school, and it is incredibly awkward trying to lecture while your own voice is echoing inside your head. I am at a loss for what to do, especially as things continue to escalate.

I find myself in a bit of a predicament and was wondering if anyone might be willing to lend me a hand?

I'm honestly not entirely sure how many of those symptoms are actually linked together.
Every once in a while, I get this strange sensation where my own voice seems to echo inside my head, and it usually lingers for anywhere from a few minutes up to half an hour. When it hits, I find myself yawning repeatedly just to try and "pop" my ears, because listening to that internal echo is honestly a nightmare. The worst part is that when this happens, I lose all sense of my own volume; I feel like I’m shouting at the top of my lungs, but people tell me I’m barely even whispering. It’s particularly embarrassing when it catches me off guard while I'm grocery shopping—I'll be trying to ask a clerk for help, and she just gives me this look like I don't know what I'm doing.
As for what's causing it—it sounds like low blood pressure. You should probably get that checked out! It isn't anything life-threatening, just a nuisance. Try eating some salted tomatoes for lunch and definitely don't stop playing soccer. 🙂

I was experiencing some similar symptoms myself, so I ended up heading to a clinic for a quick ear irrigation, and since then, things have been feeling alright, I suppose

It sounds to me like you might be dealing with some issues with your Eustachian tube—you know, that little passage connecting your throat to your ear. It’s supposed to balance out the pressure in your ear, but if it gets clogged, things start feeling pretty weird. Have you dealt with ear infections before? Or maybe sinus stuff? And that little sore you mentioned... that’s probably just on your tonsils. Since they're lymphatic tissue, they tend to react like that whenever there's inflammation nearby. I actually went through something similar myself, but it happened right after an ear and sinus infection. Honestly, it could even be muscle tension in your neck making everything feel so much worse than it is. Oh, and about the hair loss—stress is such a huge culprit for that. Even when you think you're doing totally fine, your body can just suddenly scream that something is off. Another thing to consider is focal infections—basically, a tiny pocket of inflammation somewhere in your system that triggers all these different symptoms. Maybe that ear issue is actually a chronic little hotspot? Did you ever get an ear swab done? Also, teeth can be a sneaky source of these kinds of infections. You should really head to the dentist and ask for a full panoramic X-ray to see if there's any hidden inflammation around a tooth root... or maybe get those sinuses checked out too. I really think the answer is buried in one of those spots; we just have to hunt it down. In the meantime, try to live life without all the stress and seriously, learn how to relax!!🙂

I truly want to extend my heartfelt thanks to everyone for providing such incredibly helpful suggestions; your collective wisdom has been absolutely wonderful.

@William Harris14
Everyone who has taken a look at my ears up until this point has assured me that they are perfectly clean. However, I’ve decided to take your advice to heart and go ahead with the irrigation treatment anyway—mostly because I promised to report back here. I figured that by providing such an exhaustive little update, I might be able to offer some helpful insight to anyone else reading this down the road. Honestly, that sense of wanting to be useful is one of the main reasons I tend to be a bit overly thorough in my reporting!

@darkbear8
A huge thank you for providing such an incredibly thorough and detailed response!
I honestly feel like you might be getting quite close to the heart of the actual issue here. In fact, if you look back at one specific part of your post—even without me double-checking the details—you actually managed to touch upon almost everything (and perhaps even a few extra things) that the ENT specialists I’ve consulted with recently have been mentioning to me.

I should probably mention that I actually had my tonsils removed way back in third grade, so any inflammation isn't coming from those; instead, it’s centered exactly where I described, over on the left side. I’ve been doing a little bit of digging online, and I can't help but wonder if this might all be related to what people call a "third tonsil" issue, or perhaps even a bout of pharyngitis?

I’ll definitely take your advice regarding my dental care to heart; in fact, I've already gone ahead and scheduled an appointment for those X-rays.
I can't quite recall if I actually went through with that earwax removal—my memory is a little fuzzy on the details lately—but I did sit through consultations with three different ENT specialists to get to the bottom of things.

I recall having a couple of those pesky ear infections back when I was just a little kid in elementary school, if my memory serves me correctly.
It has certainly happened to me as well, much like what Carol Ramirez described; I’ll experience that slight echoing sensation for a few minutes at a time, though it is quite rare—perhaps only once or twice a year on average.

I have honestly never dealt with any issues regarding my sinuses—not even in the past—and I actually just went in to get some imaging done recently, which confirmed that everything looks perfectly fine.

I find myself inclined to agree with your assessment regarding the cervical vertebrae, especially since I've noticed my own neck alignment seems just a little bit off lately.
Perhaps I should have mentioned earlier that, given everything I’ve shared with you all, most people wouldn't exactly look at me and envision some sort of twisted, broken monster—certainly not someone who would completely unravel before they even finished loading a webpage in their browser. 🙂 And if you really want to know what my most glaring flaw is? Honestly, I’d have to say it's this absurdly thick skin of mine—I suppose you could say I’m practically incapable of feeling any kind of sting from what people throw at me. 🙂 I can’t help but feel that this is exactly why some doctors don't take patients seriously. It’s almost as if, when you walk into the clinic looking like you just finished training for the Olympic trials, they assume you’re just there to waste their time with trivial complaints. You look perfectly fit, perhaps even overly athletic, so they dismiss your concerns as mere drama rather than legitimate health issues. Honestly, I’ve started thinking that next time I need to see a physician, I should probably make an effort to look absolutely miserable—maybe a bit pale, a lingering cough, or acting as though I can barely pull myself through the door. If I want to be heard, it seems I might have to fake a total breakdown just to get a shred of professional attention! 🙂

I think the only point where we might find ourselves at odds is regarding the whole concept of stress. Personally, I truly enjoy life and don't really suffer from what most would call "problems" that weigh heavily on my mind or spirit; in fact, I find that the very sensation of being stressed is something I simply haven't encountered. Of course, I do wonder if that might be linked to the time I spent deployed in combat zones, though even during those intense periods, I don't believe I felt any particular sense of distress.

It all seems to me that I’m dealing with some sort of inflammatory process occurring right near the junction where my Eustace tube meets my throat—it feels like a small, localized area, perhaps about half a centimeter in diameter, if I were to venture an educated guess.
It seems quite obvious to me that we’re dealing with a chronic situation here, given that this has been dragging on for two years now—if not even longer.
It seems that an inflammation has triggered some swelling in my lymph nodes, specifically around my neck and just beneath my tongue. I have this rather peculiar little habit where, thanks to the way my lower jaw is shaped, I can actually feel one specific node swelling up right under my tongue whenever I’m fighting off something in my head—be it a stubborn toothache or an ear infection. Looking back, I distinctly remember that about two years ago, that exact swelling was actually the very first symptom I noticed.
Because of those increased lymph nodes and the issues with my cervical vertebrae, I’ve been feeling this persistent swelling and a sense of discomfort—especially when I touch it—stretching from my left shoulder up through the left side of my neck all the way to my left ear. Just to be absolutely clear, this sensation is strictly localized to the left side.
It seems that this ignition process is somehow affecting the pressure within Eustace's tubing, creating a persistent resonance that has become increasingly disruptive to my daily routine. It’s one of those little technical hiccups that starts off unnoticed but eventually begins to interfere with one's ability to simply go about their day in peace.
Furthermore, I suspect that this inflammatory process was likely the underlying culprit behind that noticeable patch of hair loss in the beard area as well.

Well, there we have it—the issue has finally been isolated. So, what on earth do we do now? 🙂
Is it possible that I might be dealing with some sort of lingering residue from a liquid medication, perhaps some leftover ear drops or even a course of antibiotics? Or, if we look at it from a different angle, could this simply be my body's way of signaling that I’m running low on a specific vitamin or mineral? I find myself wondering if there's a deeper nutritional gap somewhere that I haven't quite accounted for yet.

acqua, ako mi pomognes dat cu ti zvizdaljku kao u crtanom filmu, i kad god ti zatreba samo zazvizdi i ja sam tu.. 🙂

@Carol Ramirez
:-*

Get your teeth checked out too... and I'm being dead serious here, no jokes.😳 A friend of mine spent five years constantly fighting ear infections, only to find out she had granulomas on two teeth. They looked perfectly fine on the surface, but the infection was buried deep in the roots.

Gargle some sage tea and rub some St. John's Wort oil on that hair loss.

Look, I’m not a medical professional, so I might be totally off base here, but I wanted to share my two cents.
That echoing sensation is almost certainly due to Eustace tube dysfunction. You might want to try using some nasal spray along with some hydrogen peroxide ear drops at the same time to help equalize the pressure.
Everything else could easily be chalked up to stress. I know that’s probably the last thing you want to hear. You mentioned you aren't living a stressful life—okay. I used to say the same thing, but then my body just started falling apart and I felt like everything was going wrong (and honestly, it was), all while I was getting frustrated with doctors who couldn't find an answer. It’s very likely something suppressed is bothering you without you even realizing it. You mentioned serving in the military, and man, if that isn't stress, I don't know what is. To be honest, your belief that you aren't stressed feels a little hard to swallow... we're all under some kind of pressure. Stress isn't necessarily about what happens to you; it's more about how you process it internally...
But still... please go get every test possible. That is incredibly important. You really need to rule out any physical underlying issues first.

Sorry I’ve been MIA for a few days!
Look, you know I really want to know what your diagnosis ends up being. I’m telling you, I deal with some similar symptoms myself, though in my case, it turns out to be my spine and my ear issues.
And seriously—get your teeth checked. You absolutely have to get some imaging done. They might find something with the root canals or maybe even your salivary glands... you might just have a tiny little stone in there, which would explain why you’re feeling that swelling when you touch it with your tongue...
Listen, just be persistent. You know what’s bothering you, so who cares what the doctors think? It’s not like this is life-threatening, so they don't tend to get all worked up about it, but it’s *your* quality of life we're talking about here.
For the longest time, I kept telling myself it wasn't stress. I couldn't wrap my head around why I felt so restless and panicked when my life was actually pretty put-together, but it turns out my body was just trying to tell me I needed to chill out a bit.
Try rinsing with chamomile, or better yet, marshmallow tea—that stuff is great for soothing inflamed membranes and your throat.
If you can, try to see a specialist about your spine, or at least do some light neck stretches—mostly just stuff to help relax those neck muscles—and please, please keep me posted on everything!!!!
I'll be waiting by the phone like a kid on Christmas morning🤣 😘

I cleared up my alopecia using tons of B-vitamins, but now I’m hearing double. Help me out here. May 19, 2012