He gave up on music and retreated to the couch, clutching a hot water bottle against the side of his face. The heat helped, loosening the invisible knot of pressure behind his jaw, but the door remained locked.

Dealing with an ear blocked from a cold is a common and frustrating symptom of upper respiratory infections. This sensation, often described as "fullness" or "muffled hearing," occurs when the —small canals connecting the middle ear to the back of the throat—become inflamed or clogged with mucus.

The blocked ear from a cold usually resolves within a few days to a week as the cold clears up. However, you should make an appointment if:

The sound of the ceiling fan, previously a low hum only in his right ear, suddenly whirred above him in full 360-degree clarity. The distant sound of a car passing on the street didn't just arrive from one side; it traveled from left to right, a stereo pan of tires on asphalt.

The diagnosis was predictable: a nasty head cold. The doctor, four days prior, had warned him about the Eustachian tubes. "They equalize pressure," she had said. "When you're congested, the tubes swell shut. It’s like a door jamming closed."

He felt a spike of irritation, not at her, but at his own defective anatomy. He felt cut off, separated from the rhythm of the house. He missed the subtle creaks of the floorboards, the hum of the rain against the window. He missed the stereo field of his own life.