Hello all, Anybody got any tips for equalising without pinching the hooter. My missus can do it by swallowing and wiggling her jaw (no jokes please). A mate of mine who dives a full face mask says it just happens (!) but no matter how much I try other methods I need to pinch my nose and do it the usual way. Is it something that can be learnt or just the way it is? Ta Pete
Can you wiggle your ears? Or push your tongue to the back of your throat? You can feel a crackling in your ears To be honest it was something I found by accident, it wasn't taught
I think you have covered all the usual ways. I just nose pinch, but have found that the more I have been diving the less I need to, usually just twice or so on decent, the rest is sorted with a jaw wiggle or swallow.
from the surface down to about 30mts i have to do the nose thing despite vigourous efforts do do otherwise-after that i can get away with jaw wiggling.
His ears will definitely Pop... unfortunately, he's also likely to spit his reg out at the same time!! LOL
I sometimes have to move my neck look up and sideways as I wiggle my jaw. I have found it gets easier with practice.
Hi Pete, Try yawning while keeping your top/bottom front teeth in contact. That open the eustachian tube down at the bottom end. Then add breathing in and out through your nose to change the pressure differential inside/outside. Listen for your eardrum popping. By the way, fancy a trip to Holborough soon? I have some sparkly new dry gloves to try out. Chris
In addition to Puddle fish's suggestions and the rest Try and look back over your shoulder and downwards, both ways. Massage the soft part of the neck behind and below your ear/ behind your jaw with your fingers. Are you having trouble clearing, or are you simply irritated by having to close your nose when others do not? It's a long time, if ever, since there was evolutionary pressure on human anatomy as far as Eustachian tubes are concerned. Until flying, diving and driving over hills became common human activities, all you needed was a sufficient connection to your inner ear to adjust as a storm front approached, over a couple of hours or so. So how much control you have and how freely you can clear varies a great deal from person to person. If you can clear reliably using the Valsalva manoeuvre, thank your lucky stars, some here struggle with even that sometimes Harry
Thanks all. I have no problems clearing, just thought it would be useful to have hands free for other things. I will practise various gurning exercises, yawning with my mouth shut, breathing through my nose (?), and looking over my shoulder (do lots of that anyway). Chris, I am up for a splash at Holborough, but the back is nadgered so won't be this weekend.
I have the ability to hold my eustacian tubes open using the muscles in my neck. Having a reg in my mouth makes it even easier. Until I started diving I assumed it was something everyone could do. Can't explain how I do it but 90something percent of the time I don't consciously have to equalise at all - my ears are just "open" as I ascend and descend. I'd imagine it's just something you have to learn to do, like raising a single eyebrow - identify the specific muscles required and get used to using them. If it helps it's a sort of half-yawn action. I can do it with my mouth closed and my teeth together but dropping my lower jaw a bit helps. I think the muscles involved are somewhere around the area you can feel a pulse in your neck.
by the time you have done most of the things mentioned in the above posts,you could of just pinched ya nose
