What is the reason for a crackling noise in the ear with a slight headache?

Hi doctor,

I am a 21-year-old female, and I feel a crackling noise in my right ear with a slight headache and some discomfort but no pain. When I was younger, I had a severe case of mastoiditis in my right ear. I needed surgery. Anytime something small or big happens to that ear, I get a little paranoid. At the start of this year, I caught pneumonia, and then I got a double ear infection. On top of it all, I tried OTC ear drops for both ears. I thought that was a good option, but clearly, it was not. I went almost completely deaf in my right ear. I immediately got to my doctor, and it turned out that the drops I used once and only a drop put a hole in my ear drum in the same ear I had surgery. Now, I just got over a weird cold, I guess. I do not know what it was. It was like allergies and cold in one. But I was out of state, so I could not go to the doctor for it, which was fine. I have been back home for three days now, and my right ear started making a crackling noise, like when you put bubbles in the bathtub, and they make that noise; that is what my ear is doing. It is super annoying, and I do not want to go to the doctor if it is nothing. From what I read, there is nothing to do about it, but I am just not sure what it is or if I should go to the doctor just to be safe.