For me...certain kinds of noises can flare up my pain but it's not "ear pain"...just my regular RSD areas start to burn and flare up worse. I don't know why this is...but it seems fairly common for RSD sufferers. There are certain sounds that make me worse, and some that make me feel better (not that they help the pain but they calm me down or block out the bad noises) so I have some different playlists on my ipod for those times. Sounds that are really bad for me are things like the vacuum, road work noises, rumbling type noises of any kind, static on the tv, etc.