BTV (hands free) dry tips and techniques please

[azapa]

I am desperate to learn and think i am getting there. I can sense the following:

I tighten the upper part of the back of throat, pulling it in and up, a little like the tight part of a yawn, and a sensation of "coolness" happens in my upper jaw as though a cooling of the inner part of my ear. As i relax this tightness (slowly) the sensation remains until finally I feel something "close".

I don't hear the cracking and popping of a forced EQ, and I assume i should not because BTV is about opening rather that pressurizing? Correct please if wrong?

I have tried in water, but very little happens, because I don't maintain, or go slow enough.

Questions when doing dry BTV:

- what do you hear or feel?
- look at yourself in the mirror, do you see anything change, adams apple, thoat, jaw?
- what was the "turning point" for you learning this, or could you always simply do it?
- in the water, is if sufficient to simply hold this muscle postion and let the mouth equalize the inner ear via the open tubes, or are you doing some movement to make that happen?
- what if any are the depths or conditions that BTV starts to fail?

I have downloaded and read all the tutorials BTW.

Thanks so much

 

[cdavis]

Hi azapa,


BTV means you can open the Eustachian tube valves more or less voluntarily, without frenzel or valsalva. They still "crack" when they open. Some lucky people have voluntary control over the two muscles that surround the valves, and can open them just like you move your fingers. Most folks find some other way, some other motion that pulls open the valves. You will have to find your own way on this one. Once you find it, practice will make it much easier.

BTV works great until you get close to negative pressure. Everybody's different, but for me, 60 is about it for pure BTV. Most of the time, I use a combination of BTV and Frenzel against the mask. It's still hands free, to about 80, but takes both techniques. After 80-90, I usually have to hold my nose and frenzel. Deepest I ever did hands free was 100.

In front of the mirror, all I can see on the outside is a very slight pulling in, directly below the ear and behind the turn of the jaw. Put my hand there and I can feel a muscle moving, but it feels deep below the surface and higher than it looks.

I could always do this, way before I could swim. I always had voluntary control over those two muscles. It was a great day (at about 7 years old) when I discovered that cracking my ears would allow me to get down to the bottom of the pool's deep end. Some divers seem to find those muscles eventually, others find some other combination of movements that accomplishes the same thing.

I normally equalize more or less continuously, crack, crack crack, all the way down. You can get the valves open and leave them open. I've played with it, but never used it extensively.

Hope that helps.


Connor

 

[trux]

There are couple of documents with instructions. Check them out here:
BTV @ APNEA.cz

Some info about BTV can be also found in some other documents about equalizing:
equalize @ APNEA.cz

 

[azapa]

thanks Connor, thats a great writeup, but you have told me I'm not really doing BTV, I hear NO crackling. Back to the drawing board. I must say though that playing with those muscle sets is an awareness thing that I may be improving on. I have met people who have taught themselves BTV so it must be possible. I love your being 7 years old description, lucky soul!

I'll have a look at your link Trux, thanks

PS. If anyone out there can do BTV and is Youtube conversant, it would be great to have a video of those moving bits doing their moving!

 

[fpernett]

Hi Simon
I'm one of the guys blessed by nature. I don't remember exactly when I learned BTV, but at 15 years old, I was diving that way. I have found that teaching this technique is very difficult. In front of the mirror I don't see any external movement, but with my mouth open, I can see that the soft palate and the uvula, move slightly upward while doing the BTV. You should hear some crackles in your ears while doing it.
When I'm going down I repeat the movement many times, and that had become a way to measure my depth and also for timing. I think that in the first 15 meters I make the movement every second.
I can go to 40 with normal BTV, but after that depht I need to do a mouthfill, pressurize the mouth and then do the BTV again. I can't say that works on 100% of my dives. The ears has to be perfect and require a lot of care to keep it working on a busy freediving season.

BTW, congratulations again

 

[azapa]

thanks frank, actually, you were the one I was thinking about when I wrote the thread. When I saw your CNF dives they looked so easy without breaking your stroke to grab you nose. lucky...................

a big hi to you and your family!

 

[salibandy]

I wonder for those of you who can do BTV, do you do it more frequently as compared to Frenzel or Valsalva? I seem to equalise more frequently when doing the BTV. I assume I'm just not equalising as 'completely' as when I do the Frenzel. Is there a way to make myself equalise more competely with BTV?

 

[Jonta]

I just tryed this. I almost do like a yawn but whit my mouth closed of course. I first hear som small crackling noices then a click first on my right ear then on my left do you think i might be doing right. This was dry and i will try it wet next time i get a chance.

 

[naiad]

Questions when doing dry BTV:

- what do you hear or feel?
- look at yourself in the mirror, do you see anything change, adams apple, thoat, jaw?
- what was the "turning point" for you learning this, or could you always simply do it?
- in the water, is if sufficient to simply hold this muscle postion and let the mouth equalize the inner ear via the open tubes, or are you doing some movement to make that happen?
- what if any are the depths or conditions that BTV starts to fail?

- I hear a 'crackle' followed by the sort of 'roaring' sound as if yawning.
- The adams apple moves down, and sometimes the jaw opens just slightly.
- I taught myself BTV, I will explain when I have more time to post.
- In the water it is the same, I try to hold the muscle position.
- I can only do it in very shallow water (up to 2m) for some reason.

 

[azapa]

wow Lucia, please tell us how you managed. did you set about to learn or were you just "gurning" as I seem to do in the hope that something cool happens...


Jonta, sounds like you have it made. Does it work in the water too?

More tips please from the able.

 

[ILDiver]

I've been following this thread, I too am looking to pick up this skill. I can get my ears to crackle, but not every time. Underwater though...I tried it in the pool and could not clear.

My question is, once I hear the crackle is that followed by a frenzel? I follow up on Trux's link too.

 

[azapa]

Hey Chris,

As you read, I can't do it either, but I think I can answer your question: BTV does not use pressurization like Frenzel. It simply opens tubes and allows your ears to be at the same pressure as your mouth/throat cavities. Hi pressure > low pressure areas until they equal.

 

[cdavis]

The frenzel/btv combination is very effective. Your mask provides a bit of backpreasure against which you can frenzel without holding your nose. If you can get your tubes to open with btv, use frenzel to increase the air pressure in your throat and force air into the open tubes. Alternately, doing a poor or "almost' btv makes it much easier to force the valves open with a minimal frenzel. Works good either way.

Connor

 

[azapa]

I stand corrected Connor! There are applications in which the combo seems useful.

Here attached is the original doc. I have. It is also linked elsewhere on DB. I found it here too. It looks very good, but most of the exercises will surely get you arrested if done in public:t some quite hurt.

 

[AlexF]

I can equalize my ears oppening the tubes with the muscles but only outside of the water. In the water this only works for me for one ear and if there isn't any pressure buildup. This technique works great for airplanes, high elevators, cars and so on, but still haven't found a good way to make it work while diving.

What I do is do a swallowing technique, even if I don't swallow any saliva, I do the same muscle movements and it works perfectly up to 37m. After that I have to use frenzel. If I allow too much pressure to build inside my tubes, the swallowing technique won't work fand I have to go to Frenzel.

I have no clue when I started doing this technique, but I believe it was when I was around 11 or 12. By 15, when I was scuba certified I could already do it. I haven't heard of anyone doing the same equalizing technique.

 

[laminar]

Hmmm... I read the BTV document and it seems very confusing. Has anyone had the drills work for them? If so share what worked here.

I learned BTV because did a lot of flying on airplanes when I was a kid and found I could just click my ears.

I don't move any part of my mouth, throat, jaw or anything to open the Eustachian tubes. I have managed to isolate the one set of muscles that do it.

I don't think it is related to swallowing or movement of the jaw at all in terms of opening the tubes voluntarily. Thrusting the jaw forward and down helps in terms of making the air flow less restricted at the opening of the tubes in the back of the throat (I think).

To me, the essential development of the BTV comes from the beginning of a yawn. A yawn combines the jaw lowering/forward thrust and a sense of building pressure in the ears and the "crackling"... Try yawning on purpose a lot and see if you can notice those sensations.

Even if you don't have a crackling sound - perhaps that doesn't happen for everyone - you still should feel a kind of roaring in your ears as you open and hold the tubes open. Holding them open for several seconds, working your way up as long as possible is essential for pure BTV equalizing and of course helpful for any mouthfill or frenzel combos.

A simple way to work on your BTV is to reverse equalize your E-tubes. Pinch your nose, and suck air out of your E-tubes by filling your mouth or using your diaphragm (ask me for a more detailed explanation if you don't follow). My tubes crackle as they depressurize.

Then to bring your E-tubes back to full pressure, start to yawn. Try varying degrees of yawning to get there. Eventually, you want to not yawn at all. Just move the muscles that let air back into the e-tubes.

I have to go now, but I can write about how to practice in the water once you isolate the BTV muscles.

Pete

 

[ILDiver]

Laminar, thanks for the Pressure/De-Pressure exercise. I did it a little bit and I can get both to got each direction with my nose pinched and using frenzel. I figure I'll do that some and "work" the e-tubes and try to get to the hands free. I have not read the document yet either. I downloaded it at work and did again just now.

I have a lot of dry training to do, stuck here in the middle of Illinois with no other freedivers

Maybe I'll work on the US static record LOL. Keep the good info rolling guys.

 

[azapa]

Chris, you think you have it bad. I live in a COUNTRY with no freedives. If it were not for a couple of people in each country I could rightly say a CONTINENT with no freedivers...:head

At the pool tonight I meekly suggested we should try max dyn apneas BEFORE swimming 2K and everybody looked at me like I was from space. So, back to 50M dyns at the end of the sessions:head

Back to BTV. Thanks Pete. A couple of points:

- you mention that you can do BTV. Do you always EQ that way or do you resort to pressurization methods sometimes? When?

- you mention that you see nothing moving in the mirror? Nothing at all? Please check

- when you refer to reverse EQ are you talking about holding your nose and reverse packing? I don't quite get it, sorry.

- I can always get a crackle in the ears swallowing (dry land, eg. now) is this 100% normal? good?

On the quest!

 

[ILDiver]

- when you refer to reverse EQ are you talking about holding your nose and reverse packing? I don't quite get it, sorry.

If I understood correctly, equalize your ears (inflate them). Then "suck" or draw the air back out. I can't seem to get air in even though I'm hearing the crackling.

I can do this pinching my nose to equalize and thenstill with nose pinched, I put my tounge on the roof of my mouth and kind of pull the air back out of my ears.

I hoping it works like a stretching exercise I better read that word document...

 

[laminar]

Back to BTV. Thanks Pete. A couple of points:

- you mention that you can do BTV. Do you always EQ that way or do you resort to pressurization methods sometimes? When?

I use it a lot during FRC diving recreationally, especially no fins. But I have been lazy with it of late. The deepest I've done it is to 40m without using Frenzel (full inhale with packing years ago). Have not tried FRC depth limit with BTV.

My main eq technique is: mouth fill at surface (keeping tubes open and exerting constant pressure with tongue/jaw/cheek compression), then mouthfill at 15-18m (same thing) for the rest of the way down. But that requires a lot of concentration, so when I'm playing around, I'll use plain frenzel or BTV with FRC. The range of BTV without thinking too much about it is about 10 metres. Keeping ears open at the surface is especially important since that's where the biggest change in pressure happens and if your e-tubes narrow too early, it's hard to keep them open deeper down.

- you mention that you see nothing moving in the mirror? Nothing at all? Please check

I stand corrected. I see a slight twitch of my uvula (dangly thing at the back of the throat) and the back of the tongue. But when I really isolate the opening of the E-tubes and resist the yawning reflex, it is a small tremble,not a muscle contraction of the uvula, mainly. Very interesting.

- when you refer to reverse EQ are you talking about holding your nose and reverse packing? I don't quite get it, sorry.

Yes. But do not pressurize/inflate the ears first (ILDiver).

Step 1: Make sure there's little air in your mouth. Pinch nose, close throat. Exhale/push out any extra air that's in your nose.

Step 2: Now, open your mouth and jaw as wide as possible while still sealing your upper airway with your throat and your lips. You should feel a negative pressure building in your e-tubes and hopefully a crackling sound, too. If that doesn't work, pack some of the air from your mouth/sinuses down into your lungs (only 1-2 packs). After a pack (or the opening of your mouth = mouthfill) you will have air in your mouth and e-tubes at a lower pressure (eardrums bending inward).

Step 3: Now let the air back into the e-tubes by starting to yawn/or wilfully crackling/or roaring sound in your ears.

- I can always get a crackle in the ears swallowing (dry land, eg. now) is this 100% normal? good?

On the quest!

Yes!