Long time reader, first time poster:

I've been suffering from various ear-related symptoms, including a
peculiar form of tinnitus (partly reactive and possibly objective -- at
least one person claims to have heard it when it was particularly
loud), for the last 4 1/2 months.  I've tried various treatments
including decongestants, but the only one that seems to be working for
certain is my own immune system.

I was diagnosed with eustachian tube dysfunction by the gang at House
Ear Clinic in L.A. where I live, but the symptoms seem to be more
indicative of a eustachian tube that wouldn't close properly.  Because
I've had to live with this and have tried actively to get well, I've
also cataloged the symptoms pretty well, but all I get for my trouble
from the docs is the implication that I'm a hypocondriac!

The symptoms -- which include autophony, (formerly severe, now mild)
hyperacusis at certain frequencies, distortion of some incoming sound
(but not all the time), tinnitus that tracks inward and outward sound
(it's more like the sound of a speaker with a faulty wire -- sometimes
white noise, static, or "tingle"), a sensation of the eardrum being too
"loose" and moving too easily, reactive pressure and muscle tension in
the head to sound, ear pain, and constant clicking in the affected ear.

Oddly, after about two months I started having ETD symptoms in the
other ear too, though not nearly as bad.

I don't think hearing damage is a likely culprit because all the
symptoms clearly fluctuate and seemed to be related to the state of the
eustachian tube.  There are times the ear is almost normal.  I first
caught on to the possibility of the patulous eustachian tube when
wearing earplugs and noticed the sound was reverberating inside my head
on the affected side, and the sensation of sound passing directly from
the nose to the ear.

On the other hand, I haven't had much in the way of hearing my own
breath or blood sounds, which are two hallmarks of the patent
eustachian tube.  And sometimes things do feel blocked in there.

So here's my dillemma:  I do believe this thing will go away
eventually, because it has been slowly improving over time, but it's
really been a pain in the neck to live with, and I'd like to hasten the
recovery, but I don't have a solid diagnosis of this thing.

None of the ENTs I have seen have done any kind of testing other than a
standard hearing test (which was normal).  What I would like is to get
some other tests, specifically on the eardrum, because I am absolutely
positive that the eardrum is not reacting normally to incoming sound.
That way I can take the results back to an ENT and have some sort of a
benchmark for further treatment and not get at pat on the head.  It's
clear that there's a eustachian tube problem, but the treatment for a
blocked ET or one that's open are completely different.

I'm scheduled to have a typanometry done and a few other tests, but I'm
concerned about the effect of it on the hyperacutic ear.  The noise
sensitivity is now pretty mild, but still, I was wondering if anyone
knew of any audiologists in the Los Angeles area that specialized in
this kind of testing, and would be sensitive to the problems with
hyperacusis-tinnitus sufferers, or had any suggestions otherwise for
treatment?