ear plugs for old spearo

I'm not sure why earplugs should help equalization directly, I thought people used them when diving in cold water or against infections. I hope those earplugs have are perforated, otherwise don't dare diving with them!
Bad eardrums should also not affect your equalization quality - they might cause you to feel pain earlier, but I don't see how they are related to weather you equalize or not.
Your post mentioning depth being a factor. Since the deeper you go the less the relative pressure change is I suspect you might have a technique flaw.

Try reading this post to understand more about the issue of equalization: [ame="http://forums.deeperblue.net/showthread.php?p=568957#post568957"]Ears... again[/ame]
This should give you a few things to play with, like rate of equalization and equalization volume.
A few more general tips I wrote today to someone else:
[ame="http://forums.deeperblue.net/showthread.php?t=67324"]ear preesure[/ame]
I'm just shooting at the dark here as you haven't really described your problem or methods you tried to fix it with.
(You're not getting a hood squeeze, right? )

Well, I got me a pair of docs proplugs. I can't say why - but they seem to help - particularly in colder water but even now in warm water they seem to make it a little easier. It doesn't make any sense to me why this would be the case in warmer water but there ya have it. (these are made for diving and have a small hole in them)

Definitely get plugs made just for diving!!! What you are describing will just get sucked into your ears - or create reverse squeeze.

I've allways used frenzel and equalize very frequently - probably every meter or so most of the time. To start learning it - feel your eustacean tubes when you start to yawn - from there you can get more and more of a feeling of how to do it. Also go to Eric F.'s site www.liquivision.ca - his wonderful Frenzel article is there.

I think there is nothing wrong with valsalva - it may be you just need to do it more often. They may sell some earplugs for surface swimming - but as far as I know you need the ones with the little holes for diving. They were about 10$us at the local dive shop - cheaper online.

(my ears are older than yours.)

Yes, I pretty much forget about them for the whole dive. I know Feign also uses them - and while we were in BC Amphibious tried a pair and thought they were great.

I had an inner ear infection awhile back - I could equalize fine and had no pain - but suddenly one night I could not hear any high frequencies. My ear was filled with liquid - very slight ear infection.

spaghetti said:

Bu my question for you is: do you mean that even a PERFECT equalization would not stop the pain, being depth ear pain independent from equalization effects?

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No, this is not what I meant. First, by eq. technique I mean not only frenzel/valsalva, but pace of eq., rate of descend, head position, eq. on the surface and everything else that will make you equalize properly, this could differ from person to person. The pain is usually caused by negative pressure inside your middle ear compared to its surrounding (=water at depth). The negative pressure "pulls" your eardrums inside thuss causing pain (eardrums is usually the case, but other middle-ear tissues can be hurt by this as well). What I meant is that bad eardrums could be more sensitive (the other way around can also happen). The solution should be to avoid negative pressure inside your middle ear as much as possible = equalizing. If you are feeling pressure in your ears - you equalized too late by my book. If you hit an equalization block, also. That happened because you let the negative pressure build inside. What I think you should do is to equalize as often as possible - keep your hand on your nose, equalize even 2-3 times a second if you have to. Descend more slowly if you have to. Don't equalize forcefully, if you need to do that you have probably failed technique-wise, just ascend, there's always the next dive.
Frenzel can be more effective than valsalva in some cases, one of the reasons I think is because the 'tongue piston' maneuver also moves other tissues around your soft palate and can affect the opening of your e-tubes.

I think pain is not to be settled with so easily, and I think most cases have a solution.
I suggest that maybe you should try line diving for a few times, and eat out for a night or two (as in, keep the gun at home).
Practice the different variables in equalization like descent speed and eq. pace (as well as your Frenzel).

Another problem could be eq. volume - you're not putting enough air with each equalization, thuss creating a debt (small negative pressure) that grows with depth, till you hit a wall (of pain or equalization).
Equalization volume can also be juggled with, but not if you're already equalizing forcefully. On the other hand pace and rate of descent can usually solve this so suggest first starting with them, as increasing equalization volume will not solve the problem of negative pressure between equalizations (which is probably your main problem).

After you played with variables and found something that works you can try fine tuning them to suit your (new) dive style.

I know this is probably very frustrating, but I think it should be possible to solve this problem once and for all. And you better solve it, after I wrote so much.
If there's anything unclear in this or the prrevious post (and the ones it directs to) ask. I think every diver should understand how this works.

I agree - but I do equalize based on very slight feelings of pressure in the ear. (now I'm getting insecure!!) The other route is to continuously overpressure - which seems like the same thing in reverse. I find if I use frenzel then try valsalva I can allways get a little more in - but I think this is more slightly overpressurizing the ear with a more forceful method.

If I cannot equalize easily I'm out of the water.

You'll have to wait and see the specialist - but one thought is maybe your ears just need a break!

Doc's pro-plugs also seem to help with the problem of the suit sealing your ears.

Also they pretty much eliminate the cold water hit

(I am not affiliated with Doc's Pro-plugs nor do I play one on TeeVee)

I think I paid about $10 us - they come in several sizes so it is best if you can try them. They also have vented and unvented - for diving - obviously - you want the vented ones. They have a tiny hole through the center to let water in.
Everyone I know who's tried them really likes them.

spaghetti said:

yes, I sometimes equalize in ascent if I feel it's necessary: as I wrote in the opening post, I equalize all the time!

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What kind of feeling makes it necessary for you?
What do you think is the reason behind equalizing on ascent?
What type of equalization technique are you using when ascending?
How often do you do it?