I have a slight hearing loss in my left ear. For the past two years I had been wearing ear plugs almost daily for about 20 minutes during vacuuming, steam cleaning etc. Initially everything was fine but then I started to hear a ticking sound in that ear, on and off. and when I tilted my head the ticking would stop. It was like that for about 6 months and then went away by itself. I thought whatever was wrong had healed itself. However nowadays after I take out the ear plugs, I have noticed a slight sensitivity/pain in that ear. It only dawned on me today all the problems might be because of the ear plugs. I have stopped wearing them. I don't have health insurance so am putting off a doctor visit. I did google about eardrum ruptures..am not sure if I have that...can ear plugs do that? I don't think I have any infection in the ear. Does anyone have any advice?