Ringing in the ear
In folklore, a sudden ringing in the ear is a sign that people are talking about you. It is also one of the oldest beliefs still in everyday use, and it can make you notice how many such sayings you carry from home.
This page only describes folk beliefs. If the sensation keeps coming back or worries you, please see a doctor.
What it may mean
A sudden ringing in one ear is the classic folk sign that someone, somewhere, is speaking of you. You do not need to believe that to use the moment. The saying goes back at least to ancient Rome, and many people still first hear it at home, as children. Most of us carry dozens of such sayings, about itchy palms, spilled salt or a black cat, picked up without ever deciding to keep them. The next time you catch yourself repeating one, you might notice whose voice you hear in it.
Depending on how you saw it
Ringing in the left ear
Old sayings disagree about which ear carries the good news, so the left ear is open to your own reading. You might take it as a moment to think of someone who has been kind to you, and whether they know how much it helped.
Ringing in the right ear
In an old Scottish rhyme, a ringing right ear was a sign that people were speaking well of you, though other versions read it the other way around. You could simply choose the kind reading for one day and see whether it changes how you walk into a room, answer a message or ask for what you need.
Both ears at once
When the sound seems to fill both ears, the moment can feel bigger and harder to ignore. It may be a chance to stop for a few seconds and let your attention settle on where you are, rather than on what others might be saying about you.
At night in a quiet room
In the stillness before sleep, small sounds stand out. If you notice the ringing then, you might also notice which thoughts are still circling from the day, and pick one to set aside until morning.
Just as someone comes to mind
If it happens the moment you think of a person, folklore would say they are thinking of you too. Whether or not that is so, it may be a sign that this connection deserves a message, a call or simply a few minutes of your attention.
Why it happens in nature
Hearing a brief ringing, humming or high tone in one ear is a common experience, and it is easiest to notice in a quiet room or at night. Our hearing never fully switches off, and in silence the brain picks up faint sounds it would normally filter out. This page looks only at the folklore of the moment, not at its causes.
What folk beliefs say
England and ancient Rome
The belief that a tingling or burning ear is a sign that someone is speaking of you is very old. Brand traces it through English sayings and Shakespeare back to the Roman writer Pliny, who already listed it as a common opinion.
Source: John Brand; Henry Ellis (ed.), Observations on the Popular Antiquities of Great Britain, vol. 3 (1849), vol. 3, p. 171. View the page
Scotland
A Scottish rhyme recorded by Brand asks which "lug" (ear) is tingling or burning. If it was the left ear, people were speaking ill of you; if the right, they were speaking well.
Source: John Brand; Henry Ellis (ed.), Observations on the Popular Antiquities of Great Britain, vol. 3 (1849), vol. 3, p. 172. View the page
Bohemia (Czech lands)
In Bohemia, when your ear was ringing you asked someone to guess which ear it was. A right guess told you that people were speaking well of you; a wrong one, that they were speaking ill.
Source: Cora Linn Daniels; C. M. Stevans (eds.), Encyclopaedia of Superstitions, Folklore, and the Occult Sciences of the World, vol. 1 (1903), vol. 1, p. 257. View the page
To reflect on
Which saying from your childhood home do you still catch yourself repeating, and whose voice do you hear in it?