ear equalizing ????

[ghosty_old]

Recently did my OW dives and had trouble equalizing my ears. It turns out that i was doing it all wrong. I had to blow fairly hard against a pinched nose, and in turn was actually squeaking my ears. Went to the doctor after, he said that i had water in my ears and there was signs of prior bleeding. I just wanted to know what people hear or feel when they equalize there ears. Is it actually just that crackling sound that one hears when they yawn. Because this i can do without very easily. Have actually made an appointment to sneak into one of my LDS OW classes next monday night to practice this. I leave in 2 weeks for the carribbean so i want to make sure im doing it correctly before i go. Also if it is just this crackling sound that i can do fine on dry land, will it be harder in the water because of the pressure.?

 

[WreckWriter]

the trick is to equalize "early and often". Do it as soon as the water hits your ears, don't wait until it gets to the point where its hard or you will, as you see, squeek your ears.

WW

 

[Dryglove]

Read this link
http://faculty.washington.edu/ekay/index.html

 

[MechDiver]

I hear more of a slight pop. Keep in mind that a pressure difference of only a couple feet can cause your etausean (sp) tubes to close, after which you cannot equalize. My ears are very sensitive to pressue and I have to equalize almost contiuously for the first 40 ft or so.
DO NOT BLOW HARD or you can break something! Stay at a depth until your ears are okay, then descend while clearing or go slowly. If you feel any pressure or pain, stop, ascend to where you don't feel it, clear and try again.

Phil

 

[joens]

it is important to start equalizing before you feel discomfort .if you wait till you feel it sometimes all you can do is go up a bit . start equalizing on the surface and as you go down . if you feel discomfort stop either resolve it or ascend slightly but resolve it before you go deeper. some people do have more trouble equalizing than others .
joens

 

[Popeye]

lal7176 once bubbled...
Read this link
http://faculty.washington.edu/ekay/index.html

Another good one:

http://www.ent-consult.com/for_divers.html

 

[Soggy]

I equalize in two ways...

1) Swallowing
2) swallowing while blowing and pinching my nose shut.

On the surface, I do option 2 a couple times before descending. While descending I just swallow. If I have trouble equalizing, I'll do option 2 again, but usually if I have trouble, I need to ascend a bit.

The only time I really have problems is if I have to ascend (to get a compass heading) and then redescend immediately. Sometimes I have finish my dive in the 10 ft range.




I'm glad this is a diving forum, otherwise this might sound bad...

 

[Fetch]

http://faculty.washington.edu/ekay/MEbaro.html

This is a subpage of the link lal7176 posted, and has (IMO) one of the best lists of ear pressurization techniques you can find on the web.

I really recommend reading up on the Frenzel technique, and practicing it on dry land. As the others said, equalize early, equalize often. In fact, pre-pressurizing is also beneficial (increasing the internal pressure before submersing at all).

The Frenzel is one of the easiest, and prevents the negative aspects of the Valsava manuever (that most people are initially trained to do).

 

[Dectek]

I have to swallow to equalize and it normally sounds like a slight thump and maybe a short crackle. If I am having a problem equalizing and have to use a little force then I get the Sweeeeak with a sharp momentary piercing pain.
I wanted to know if others experience a little discomfort when they hear the SWeeeeak.

Side note:
Because I swallow with every equalization, I have to remember to "off gas" before fine tuning my buoyancy at depth.

 

[DiverBuoy]

99% of the time my ears clear on their own, I very rarely have to use my hand. However, on a couple of occasions I've become lazy, sort of relying too much on the fact that they will clear on their own. And once in a while I go too deep before I realize they weren't clearing at all. If I don't come back up and work on them with help from my hand it's "Danger, danger Will Robinson." The reason I'm telling this is to describe a round window ear rupture feels and sounds like. It's a sharp pain followed by a feeling of relief. I've done this to myself on two occasions. It sounds like a bunch of crackling followed by a high pitched whine that slowly gets quieter over a few seconds - just like air escaping from a childs pinched balloon. At this point you are toast and have to end the dive.

It heals in after about three weeks, but unless you want to invite infection and further risk of more severe reprecussions it ends diving for a while. If you try to clear your ears while the window is still ruptured it makes severe crackling sounds - like a handful of mylar paper.

The lesson: Don't take chances. Instead, as WreckWriter said you should clear early and often before you feel discomfort. And if you feel any discomfort at all ascend a meter (or so) and work it out before trying to descend a few feet again.