What are you really doing when you “pop” your ears?

water_skipper: What are you really doing when you “pop” your ears?
What are you really doing when you “pop” your ears? Please don’t explain HOW to do it. I already know how to do it. I want to know what’s going on in my ears when I do it. If I swim in water almost ten feet deep and don’t pop my ears, is that bad?

Answers and Views:

Answer by Smarty-Marti
Relieving pressure behind your eardrums. Gaining equilibrium in your Eustachian tubes and sinuses which always contains some fluid.

Maybe your ears could equilabrate without them popping – I am under the impression that it isn’t a good idea to do this since it may back fluid up into your tubes and actually hurt your eardrums (and if that fluid sits back there it could get infected).

Since your Eustachian tubes connect your ears and throat, try swallowing a lot to relieve pressure build up (like chewing gum when taking off and landing in a plane).

Answer by bffs789562
When you pop your ears you are releasing air pressure built inside your head. Your ears nose and throught are all connected so when you swallow you building up pressure in your ears. when you pop them the air is released.

Answer by Heidi M
You are equalizing the pressure in your inner ear and outer ear, equalizing on each side of the tympanic membrane (ear drum).

Answer by lindajune
You are equalizing the pressure inside your ear with the air pressure outside. When your ears are “stuffed” it means that the air pressure inside your ears (behind the ear drum) is different from the outside air pressure, and the feeling is due to pressure on the ear drum (either from the inside or from the outside, whichever has the higher pressure).
The ear is connected to the sinuses which are open to the outside air, so when you pop your ears you open the airways throughout the entire sinus/ear canal system

Answer by bellydoc
This is a really interesting question. It helps to know a tiny bit about the anatomy of the ear.

There are 3 general parts of the human ear mechanism. There is the “external ear” which is composed of the C-shaped cartilage that you’re familiar with, and the external auditory canal, which is the hole in the center which has your ear drum at the bottom. Behind the ear drum (tympanic membrane) is a small air filled cavity called the “middle ear” with some moving bones inside. These bones move with the delicate movements of the ear drum and at the other end, they press on the surface of the “inner ear” which actually has the nerve endings inside a structure called the “cochlea” that pick up the sound. The inner ear also has sensory mechanisms that help you detect where you are, relative to gravity. This is how you balance, and how you track things with your eyes even when your head moves. The inner ear is liquid filled and does not change in volume with respect to pressure, however the middle ear DOES.

Since all the surfaces of the middle ear EXCEPT the ear drum are made of bone, when the external pressure around the middle ear increases, only the ear drum can flex. Increased pressure around your head pushes your ear drum inward while the rest of the bony ear mechanism stays the same. If the ear drum is pressed inward enough, it will hurt. If it’s pressed inward even more, it will rip loose. It doesn’t take much. 10 feet of water is plenty enough to do it.

The middle ear is connected to the nasal space by holes called the “Eustachian tubes” which are passageways through the thin bony material of the mid-face leading from the inner nose to the middle ear. In the nose, they are covered from direct contact, being protected by the concha which are bony prominences within the nasal cavity. The Eustachian tubes are lined by a moist red type of skin much like what you see if you look into somoene’s nose. This skin produces mucus and can plug up, or it can become swollen and plug up. For this reason, it’s not always perfectly easy to blow air up into your ears in order to “equalize”. This is why the move to force air up there is to pinch the nose and blow against resistance.

It’s possible (but very difficult) to get a reverse block in the middle ear. This is where pressurization to depth is accomplished, but depressurization is not. This is just as painful and just as likely to injure the ear drum.

If you’re diving to 10 feet and you’re comfortable without making active efforts to clear your ears, then great. That’s all you seem to need. Your ears are probably clearing spontaneously.

However, if you go to 10 feet and it hurts, stop. You could pop an ear drum. If you pop an ear drum on land, it sucks, but its not nearly as bad as doing it underwater. If you pop an ear drum underwater, then a little rush of cold water is going to get in, and it’s going to cause instant spinning dizziness that *COULD* lead to disorientation and panic … even drowning.

Good luck.

Enjoy your time underwater!

Edit: I just read the post above. The “bends” are a completely different issue related to absorbed nitrogen gas from pressurized air used for breathing during a dive. Air is about 79% nitrogen. The “bends” involves dissolved nitrogen coming out of solution as bubbles just like when you open a bottle of soda. These bubbles can occur in a number of places in the body and have potentially injurious effects.