On new year's eve someone came up behind me and pulled a party popper rather close to my right ear. I cannot say exactly how close but I know that in the minutes afterwards all sounds seemed distorted.

Nearly a week later my hearing still seems slightly dulled in that ear and some sounds - particularly loud and high pitched ones - still seem slightly distorted (by this I mean that when the sound is above a certain threshold I get a high pitched buzzing sort of sound in my ear). There is no ringing sensation, which I have experienced occasionally after concerts or going to night clubs, but my ear does feel kind of blocked.

It might also be relevant to mention that I have had quite a few ear infections in my life (i am 18), and that for the last couple of weeks I have had a blocked nose and been coughing up a fair bit of mucous.

I am planning to see a doctor about this next week but in the meantime I would be very grateful for any pointers you can give me on just how serious this might be.

Cheers