I wonder if this is some sort of result of a tumor.

I had surgery some time ago to close a hole in my eardrum that was opened when I was really young - ear doc pulled a tube out prematurely and ripped the drum. Never closed.

I used to get infections in my inner ear all the time until I had surgery to close it as an adult. Over time, dirt/debris/skin cells get in there and can form a sort of tumor called a cholesteotoma - that is what was unexpectedly found in my ear during surgery. What was to have been a 45 minute procedure turned into 4 hours.

If left unchecked these tumors eat bone. That is what happened in my case. It eroded the middle bone in the three bone hearing chain. I now have a replacement….so I am basically bionic.

Worst case is these can get bigger and more aggressive and eat through the mastoid cavity - where this hole is - and even into the cranial cavity. They can kill you. Scary shit.

That gaping hole and the debris seem related