No hands equalisation.

[tuttt]

I have managed to equalize handsfree with scuba, but not while freediving. :-|

I would love to be able to equalize hands free without a mask, 'cause I am modeling underwater as a mermaid next month. It will include at least some video. Would definitely be nice not have to pinch my nose on camera.

I will be practicing this week & will try some techniques listed here. Any other tips would be appreciated.

Thanks!

Teresa
http://profiles.yahoo.com/tuttt99

[jvoets]

Yep, I can do this.
I used this technique long before I learnt to pinch my nose and softly blow against it.
So for scuba dives I hardly ever touch my nose. While freediving it depends on the situation. Equalizing hands-free takes more time to perform in my case. So for deeper dives I usually pinch my nose.
Sometimes it will only work for one ear, that's the second reason to use my hand.

I can't really explain the technique. I just tried it out behind my PC. No moving of my jaw or tongue. Almost looks like I wiggle something in my middle ear and then I hear the familiar popping sound. Maybe it's a left-over from something in my youth. I had a teacher when I was very young who could move around his ears a little. I practiced for 3 months before a mirror to learn that trick by gradually getting more and more control over the skin of my head.
Could be related.... don't know for sure

[Amphibious]

not sure how I do it, but most days I just "think" about equalizing and it sort of "happens" Clears a few dozen time while typing this message.

[basco]

Originally posted by Gerald

*You can practice holding the tubes open on land without mask by :

1) clicking ( opening up the tube)
2) holding the click ( ie do not relax the muscle once clicked)
3) Listening for your fairly hard nasal breathing in your head.**

**You will know that you are successful if you hold the click and breathe in and out through your nose and hear the air rush inside your head via your inner ear instead of outside. It sounds like a regulator delivering air on scuba.

When I open my tubes, I can't breathe through my nose. Do you do that while diving? Maybe that's my problem then..

[cdavis]

basco, neat trick. I never tried that before but it works pretty good. Thanks for the idea.

[zipy]

Hi

I have a question...
i can equalise quite easily with just moving my jaw.. the problem is when i practise static and i have full lungs laying on my bed it gets almoust imposible to open my tubes without pinching my nose
any thoughts, ideas?


Jure

[unirdna]

Jure,

I can't explain it, but I can say that something similar happens to me. For whatever reason, after taking my final/huge breath, it can be a little tricky for me to equalize for the first 10m. Past that, it gets quite easy, and much more comfortable. From what I do know about the workings of the inner ear, I would think that equalizing hands-free would be aided by higher air pressue in the lungs, not inhibited .

Ted

[Brian Hamilton]

I have been able to equalize handsfree as soon as I began freediving. I have been doing this for years as I have a problem with my eustachian tubes and have over time instinctively done this to clear my ears.

It used to be very annoying but since I began using it to equalize underwater I realized how fortunate I am. I just move the muscles at the rear of my jaw and my ears pop, no matter what the depth. I find it hard to explain how to do it.

Cheers.

[ARDEN]

I agree it is hard to explain. When I do it I flex muscles at the very back of the roof of my mouth just behind my molars. I too had eustachian porblems as a child that made me clear my ears often.

[donmoore]

What you are doing when equalizing hand free, is flexing your tensor palatini and levator palatini muscles. The only good picture of the tensor palatine muscle I have seen was at an ear specialist office. It actually wraps around the eustachian for the lower length of it. The Eustachian tube normally is closed in the lower 1/3 of its length. One of its functions is to open and allow air into the middle ear, to increase the pressure in middle ear to that of the outer ear (ear drum in the middle). The tube them closes to hold the increase air volume and pressure in the middle ear.

On your ascent the increase pressure from the middle ear is usually all that is needed to open the Eustachian tubes to let air out of the middle ear and into the thorax. The idea that it would be great to have your Eustachian tubes open all the time is a myth. This happens to some people and it is called PET. I forgot what the letters stands for, but it’s a problem that really messes up some people’s lives. The main symptom is hearings one breath in the ears. Also holding them open for a whole length of a descent is not good either, because you can over inflate your middle ear and put to much pressure on the eardrum. The best is quick and short equalizations. That way any excess air pressure will bleed out the Eustachian tube quickly and the ear will quickly equalized.

Scuba diving has two big advantages to hand free equalization. First is that the diver is usually not inverted (makes a big difference for some people). The second is that a scuba regulator, regulates the air pressure in the breathing cavities to the ambient pressure on the out side of the eardrum. All you have to do is open the eushachian tube for a split second and presto, they’re equalized!

Now in freediving, you get less than ambient, or negative pressure in the breathing cavities when at depth. This is why at extreme depths diver’s lungs actually fill with fluid and blood. This is also why it’s much harder to equalize hands free in freediving. It becomes harder and harder to push air into the eushachian tubes and middle ear without holding the nose and doing a frenzel or other technique.

I learned all this stuff by, well frankly I had too. I had a bad inverted equalization problem, although I had no problem upright and could even do it hand free. I researched it for months and purchased and practiced on an inversion machine. It took me about 8 months to master and I still have to practice twice a week. The moment I think I have it, I will have problems again.

For me the trick was to learn to flex the muscles and open the tubes before I put any air pressure on them. Any air pressure first, and they wouldn’t open when I was inverted. I learned to flex the muscles by employing the theory that if a muscle flexes, even if not by its self (firing muscle tissue) it still send signals to the brain that it is moving and you can learn that feeling and use it to learn to flex the muscle. Basic physical therapy stuff. You know were they retrain someone to use their muscles by manually moving it for them at first?

To do this I stood in front of the mirror and did the Frenzel technique several times, really concentrating on the feeling around the tubes open. Then I kept decreasing the pressure. If I lost the feeling I increased the pressure to regain it. In a few days I was able to fire the muscles and open them without any pressure. Then for inversion it was a quick mater of learning to fire and immediately pressure.

For what its worth, that’s my story. Oh I have found that packing will allow me to equalize hand free a little further down, but for me its like what jvoets said. It takes more time than just pinching the nose and going down fast. Although if I thought it was possible for me to learn to equalize hand free well enough to descend at top speed, I would certainly work on it.
don

[iceselkie]

My husband can do it. I watch & try to learn-- then my eyes get squinty. I'm jealous. I do the closed mouth yawn thing, but can't get myself to yawn voluntarily.

[unirdna]

Ice,

It's not the 'yawning' that opens the tubes. It's after the 'yawn' that they pop. If you're keeping 'tension' on your neck, they probably won't go. It's the split second after you release the tension that the eq takes place. Practice doing that yawn technique in front of the mirror. If your doing it right, your adams apple should be pulled up. If it' not, try doing the same technique, only this time, with your tongue smashed to the top of your mouth. Now, right when you relax the muscles that are making the rumbling sound, thrust your tongue backward into your soft pallate. At this time, your adams apple will drop back to its original position, and your ears should have [simultaneously] produced a cracking sound.

If you want to simulate a dive. Pinch your nose, and suck in, until you de-equalize your ears (making the pressure lower within your eustation tubes). Then practice equalizing. Using this, you'll know for sure if your going to get it underwater. Don't do it too much though, or it can make ya dizzy with a headache.

Ted

*edit: After a second read, I realize that my words may have been more confusing than helpful. It's tricky to describe how to do something you (me), yourself (myself), don't fully understand . I'll work on the wording....

[Jeff06]

Hello!

Unirdna, the "simulation" that you explained works fine for me but I am almost enable to equalize hand free under the water

I'm going on training hard my muscles (palatini ones), and maybe it will work underwater soon!

A few exercices in order to facilitate free hand equalizing (in french, sorry):

http://csm.appa.free.fr/dossiers/apnee_compensation.php

@+
Jeff

[nVy]

I get some strange knittering sound when I try to equalize hand free on the dry land, is this right? I'm doing a motion with my adam apple and my tounge down in my throut while I press the muscles above the jaw a bit up.. I've been doing this since I was 3-4 playing with the nasal sounds.. am I on the right track? Haven't tested this under water though, prolly testing it tomorrow...

[roy_nexus_6]

Thanks guys for asking a good question and the helpfull reply.

Like DeepThought I have a problem equalizing without pinching my nose. Just tried Geralds technique of maintinaing a slight positeve pressure in the mask and it WORKED.


Thanks guys.