Orgasm: Here’s the possible reason why some people go deaf when climaxing

People experience orgasm in different ways; there’s no formula to determine when, how long and how often a person can achieve orgasm. The same way people have no control over how their bodies respond to heightened pleasure. Some people see colours when they come, while others report feeling relieved from bodily pain. Temporary deafness or ringing in the ear is another way pleasure manifests for some people.

Ringing in the ears or deafness

Losing one’s hearing for two to ten minutes after an orgasm is not unheard of. For those who experience this, they may also sometimes hear a ringing in their ears, a condition known as tinnitus. Although some people get sexually aroused through stimulation of the ears, there is hardly any research done to establish a link between orgasm and temporary hearing loss.

Read more:

⋙ Tinnitus: The condition that produces ringing sounds in your ears

⋙ Orgasm: Here’s how to stimulate the ears for an ear-otic experience

⋙ Female orgasm: Dolphin and women's clitorises have this in common

However, an ear, nose and throat surgeon developed some theories to explain why some people experience this when they climax. Dr Eric Levi hypothesized that the decrease in heart rate and blood pressure during intercourse can reduce the flow of blood to the inner ear, causing muffled hearing or a ringing sound.

The sudden reduction in heart rate and blood pressure results in sudden pressure changes in the middle ear and reduction of blood flow to the inner ear. This might result in a muffled hearing.

On and off switch

Dr Levi has a second hypothesis, which suggests that during sex and orgasm, parts of the brain become deactivated while others are switched on. The temporal lobe, which is associated with hearing is among those parts that get turned on during sex. He explained:

My second hypothesis therefore is that the change in the activity of the temporal lobe after orgasm results in a change in auditory perception. This may result in some people having a change in their threshold for experiencing tinnitus.