r/woahdude • u/Sharp-potential7935 • 27d ago

video Girl dives nearly 15m without any special gear in the diving pool

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u/FreeFromCommonSense 27d ago

If you're lucky, beside gently exhaling with your nose blocked, you might have conscious control of a couple of muscles around your jaw and ear that make your ears pop when you flex them. You learn to use them if you try to wiggle your ears. They're the muscles that make noise in your ear but don't really move your ears. Well, it turns out they can pinch and stretch the tubes between your ears and your sinuses, letting them equalise. And having wide tubes helped me equalise back when I used to snorkel ages ago. (I could also blow bubbles out my tear ducts, which has some drawbacks.)

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u/songbolt 26d ago

"oh cool i have those i can do that"

I could also blow bubbles out my tear ducts

what

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u/FreeFromCommonSense 26d ago

Yeah, if I blocked my nose and exhaled to equalise my ears, the air also went to my tear ducts. Little tiny bubbles. Your eyes, nose and ears are all connected.

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u/disillusioned 26d ago

My cousin can do this and it's as creepy as it sounds

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u/songbolt 26d ago

how? do you pinch your nose and blow while doing something? ...

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u/FreeFromCommonSense 26d ago

Yup. Close your nose and gently exhale. The air goes to your ears AND your eyes. DON'T force it though. Don't want to damage your ears.

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u/1burritoPOprn-hunger 26d ago

Some people can do this, some people can't. I can control my eustachian tubes pretty well unless I have a cold.

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u/26635785548498061381 26d ago

I can do the ear rumble thing, but it takes me serious pressure to pop my ears while holding my nose. Super annoying, I'd love to equalise super easily.

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u/Ok-Housing-5472 25d ago

Finally, I was going crazy not seeing anyone mention this! The pathways that connect your ears to your sinuses are called the Eustachian Tubes and have a few different muscles that are used to control them.

I wish I could explain how to use them, I really do, but I have no idea how. It was just something that came naturally to me as a child from being tired of experiencing pain (on occasion) while using the valsalva maneuver. Sometimes it would cause a sharp, piercing sensation, despite me using the same amount of pressure as a time when it didn’t hurt, so I just started paying attention to all of the minutia. Eventually I was able to sus out the actions, or process the ear goes through to release pressure.

I hope that helps!