What's wrong with my ear?

[gongle]

I have a strange ear problem and would love to get some thoughts on it. My left ear reacts badly when in a noisy environment, this can be caused by music (I have to keep my headphones really quiet) or just people talking. It's particularly bad when out with a bunch of people because loud voices can be quite tough to handle. Two things happen, one is a distortion of sound, as if I'm listening to a speaker that's having problems and making distored shhh sort of noises. The other is hard to explain and feels like something sort of flapping in my ear sort of like the pressure is changing.

I've had this problem for a number of years now and it's not going away. I've seen two specialists and neither has been able to offer much guidance. I will pass the standard hearing tests with flying colours because those sorts of low level noises I don't have a problem with. My hearing is fine and my problems are more like an overlay to my hearing that get in the way and just make things uncomfortable. One specialist was able to offer no assistance and the other could only suggest holding my nose/mouth and blowing to try to pop my ears. This sometimes does help but if I'm in a busy restaurant for example then all the chatter noise will soon set my ear off again.

Would like to get some advice as my only option at present is to avoid noisy situations.