Why Can’t I Hear When I Yawn?
Yawning is something that humans and animals do when they’re bored, sleepy, or just too relaxed. But, have you ever noticed that when you yawn, you can’t always hear the sound? Here’s why:
The Physiological Reason
The physiological reason why you can’t hear when you yawn is because your ears are blocked by your jaws when you open your mouth wide to yawn. This makes a barrier between the sound and your ear canal, meaning that you can’t hear anything until you close your mouth again.
The Psychological Reason
The psychological reason why you can’t hear when you yawn might be because of a phenomenon called selective attention. This is where your brain only pays attention to certain stimuli, and ignores other stimuli so that it can focus on what’s important to you. A yawn might be interpreted by your brain as an unimportant sound that it should ignore.
Benefits of Not Being Able to Hear When You Yawn
The fact that you can’t hear when you yawn might not be a bad thing. Here are some potential benefits of not being able to hear when you yawn:
- No Distraction – If you’re in an important meeting or a study session, being able to selectively ignore your own yawns will stop them from being a distraction.
- Less Embarrassment – Yawns can be loud and embarrassing to other people – being able to not hear your own yawns can stop you from being self-conscious.
- More Relaxed – Being unable to hear your own yawns makes them more like a relaxing sigh, rather than an intrusive sound.
So, there you have it. That’s why you can’t hear when you yawn. It might seem strange, but it’s actually a pretty handy ability to have.
Why does my hearing get worse when I yawn?
Yawning can cause a change in the pressure in your inner ear which can make it more difficult for your auditory system to detect sound. The change in pressure can also cause irritation and blockage of your eustachian tubes, which can further interfere with your hearing.
Why do yawns affect my hearing?
Yawns have not been proven to affect hearing. However, it is possible that a person’s ears may feel slightly pressure due to yawning which can cause a brief moment of muffled hearing. The sound of a yawn itself may also cause a minor change in hearing due to the loudness of the sound.
Why does yawning affect hearing?
Yawning can affect hearing because it causes a shift in ear pressure. As a person yawns, air is drawn into their mouth and this causes the Eustachian tubes in their ears to open, which causes a decrease in ear pressure. This sudden change can temporarily reduce a person’s ability to hear clearly.
Additionally, the sound of a yawn itself can temporarily cause muffling of sound.
As the air is expelled from your mouth, it creates a loud sound that can cause a momentary distortion of hearing.
What other sensory effects does yawning have?
Yawning may also have an effect on taste, hearing, and reflexes. Taste can be affected by the stretching of the throat and subsequent changes in the flow of saliva, resulting in a slightly different taste from that felt before the yawn. Movement of the jaw can also affect hearing by influencing changes in air pressure, though the effect is likely to be imperceptible. Yawning can also cause reflexes such as blinking and tearing.