I'm hoping somebody can explain to me why my ears often fail at depth, despite the fact that I have a relatively large volume of air left in my mouth and can generate significant pressure with the Frenzel technique.
My equalising has been a bit erratic of late - first I kept making mistakes with the mouthfill, opening my throat letting air back into my lungs as I got uncomfortable going past RV or if I got contractions on the way down. I seem to have those problems largely ironed out and I generally have air in reserve when I hit 70m.
On some dives however, from about 50m onwards my ears get progressively stickier. Often they clamp up completely at about 55-60m, when I still have plenty of air left. This weekend I had two days' constant weight diving in a lake and was forced to do repeat dives around the 60m mark when I was hoping for mid 70s :head Not happy. Could only do 3 per session before stopping because I didn't want to get bent (and it was cold...) These shallower dives are good for technique practice but don't place anywhere near as much stress on the body as deeper ones so I doubt will be prompting much in the way of physical adaptation.
This problem does not happen 100% of the time; sometimes my ears are fine and I get a crisp popping sound all the way down with little effort. I have tried different equalising frequencies - waiting till there's a slight sensation of pressure then doing a fairly decisive Frenzel to get a 'pop' seems to be the most reliable. Small, very frequent (2 per second) Frenzels seem like they should work best but cause my ears to fail even earlier.
I try to maintain the same frequency all the way down - I am aware than falling behind on equalising can cause one's ears to stick at depth.
I am diving in fresh water, 15-16 degrees surface temp and about 11-12 degrees below the thermoclines. Wearing a 3mm suit so being a bit cold and tense might be contributing factors. However my jaw feels quite relaxed during my dives. I do find it hard to get a full mouthfill in cold water as my lips don't have the strength to hold it in.
One factor might be that I do not equalise my mask below about 50m to save on air - it is a Minima and compresses onto my face but not to a great degree.
Any thoughts would be appreciated - I have a comp this weekend and my ability to equalise is going to largely dictate what depth I can nominate.
My equalising has been a bit erratic of late - first I kept making mistakes with the mouthfill, opening my throat letting air back into my lungs as I got uncomfortable going past RV or if I got contractions on the way down. I seem to have those problems largely ironed out and I generally have air in reserve when I hit 70m.
On some dives however, from about 50m onwards my ears get progressively stickier. Often they clamp up completely at about 55-60m, when I still have plenty of air left. This weekend I had two days' constant weight diving in a lake and was forced to do repeat dives around the 60m mark when I was hoping for mid 70s :head Not happy. Could only do 3 per session before stopping because I didn't want to get bent (and it was cold...) These shallower dives are good for technique practice but don't place anywhere near as much stress on the body as deeper ones so I doubt will be prompting much in the way of physical adaptation.
This problem does not happen 100% of the time; sometimes my ears are fine and I get a crisp popping sound all the way down with little effort. I have tried different equalising frequencies - waiting till there's a slight sensation of pressure then doing a fairly decisive Frenzel to get a 'pop' seems to be the most reliable. Small, very frequent (2 per second) Frenzels seem like they should work best but cause my ears to fail even earlier.
I try to maintain the same frequency all the way down - I am aware than falling behind on equalising can cause one's ears to stick at depth.
I am diving in fresh water, 15-16 degrees surface temp and about 11-12 degrees below the thermoclines. Wearing a 3mm suit so being a bit cold and tense might be contributing factors. However my jaw feels quite relaxed during my dives. I do find it hard to get a full mouthfill in cold water as my lips don't have the strength to hold it in.
One factor might be that I do not equalise my mask below about 50m to save on air - it is a Minima and compresses onto my face but not to a great degree.
Any thoughts would be appreciated - I have a comp this weekend and my ability to equalise is going to largely dictate what depth I can nominate.
