equalize without pinching nose?

[crazyasschris]

just wondering if there was a technique anyone would like to share in order to equalize ear pressure as you're going down with out pinching your nose (spearfishing)
I've seen those nose clamp things, but can I wear that under my mask? if so how would I equalize my mask?

 

[speargunhunter]

Hey Chris, the nose thing didnt work for me. my ears hurt like hell. i tried everything and nothing was working. then by accident i just swallowed clearing my throat and i be darn it eq the pressure. its nice being able to keep my hands free. give it a try. Tony

 

[pasanen]

Google btv vto, and search the deeperblue forums for hands free equalizing. Technique is pretty hard to learn, but with time and practise you should be able to learn it.

Or make one of these: Noseclip. It goes under the mask and lets you equalize ears and mask.

 

[azapa]

Pasanen: a nose clip is not meant to go under the mask to equalize ears and mask. How you you allow enough air to eq the mask out yet seal the nose enough to equalize against? It would not work reliably IMHO and could lead to mask squeeze. I am sure it has been and is done, it's just not the normal approach.

A nose clip is used in freediving along with gogles (pool) or fluid googles or pipe gogles (depth). Also of course no-goggles dives.

 

[cdavis]

I'm pretty sure a light nose clip that is small enough to fit under a mask would work in the right circumstances. Plan to try it if I can find the right clip. Just for argument, say you can equalize btv, but need some help as it gets deeper. Frenzeling against just the mask(hands free) works for a little deeper. Why not use a light nose clip to extend that distance? It would allow you to equalize the mask as well if you had it adjusted right.

Anybody try this?

Connor

 

[azapa]

I'll be happy to watch you try Connor, and I'll pop your eyeballs back in if needed too

As an ungifted nose squeezer, unlike you lucky BTV chaps, I had considered this idea too, even thought of a silicon rubber tube, out of one nostril into the mask. I am sure it would result in unpredictable results.

But hey, I am sure Erick F has tried this already, maybe he'll chime in..

 

[Bill]

There have been a few successful nose clip/goggle setups where you run a pipe from the goggles to the mouth. Don't know about spear fishing though.

 

[GreekDiver]

I don't pinch my nose when i spearfish. I am hands free. I just move my jaw or ears and i can equalize. When i am equalizing though, they are small equalizations. I need to do a lot more of them to equal one big one if that makes sense.

 

[pasanen]

Pasanen: a nose clip is not meant to go under the mask to equalize ears and mask. How you you allow enough air to eq the mask out yet seal the nose enough to equalize against? It would not work reliably IMHO and could lead to mask squeeze. I am sure it has been and is done, it's just not the normal approach.

A nose clip is used in freediving along with gogles (pool) or fluid googles or pipe gogles (depth). Also of course no-goggles dives.

I'm aware of this, but since I got the clip working it has been a small revolution in my diving.

To use this kind of set up, you would have to master the Frenzel technique, and sometimes I have to use BTV for little help. Creating enough pressure to equalize mask with Valsalva is probably impossible, at least deeper. Clip seals nice, so equalizing ears is pretty easy, but it also lets air to mask, when doing frenzel harder. Equalizing mask often prevents the mask squeeze, but I don't know does it work with masks other than Sphera.

 

[cdavis]

Pasanen, it sounds like you have succeeded at what I speculated about.

So it does work. Looking forward to trying it.

Connor

 

[pasanen]

You can add epoxy or some other glue/mass to the spirals to make them more rigid. Holds better and makes it more comfortable.

 

[acardet]

Hey Connor,you used to equalize hand-free by wiggling your ears.If I could learn that I would be a much happier diver.

 

[cdavis]

Still do, I'm just diving a lot deeper now, need all the help I can get. Your equalization has come a long way since the days of going to 8 feet, turning your head up to clear, going to 15 ft, repeat head up trick, and so on down to 35 ft and still have time to shoot a fish. Used to amaze me.

Sure enjoyed Key West last year.

Connor

 

[Dartfisher]

I can wiggle my ears all day long and it doesnt do anything for me. Wish I was like some of the "gifted ones".
Nic

 

[cdavis]

Dartfisher, there are many routes to BTV. Try a wide variety of jaw movement, swallowing, ear twitch, etc. Look for something that makes your ears 'crack' on the surface, then get in the water and try to repeat. If you succeed, slowly work on getting more head down and deeper. Once you find the right set of movements, the more you do it, the easier it gets. It can be a long process, so don't despair.

Connor

 

[Dartfisher]

Will do. Thanks.

 

[Kars]

Ok, just to give you a BTV hint.

When you swallow, your soft plat goes back, your muscles along your Eustachian tubes tense, thicken and close your tubes. BUT right after swallowing the soft-plate comes back down (and with some practise a bit more forward), stretching the tube and the surrounding muscles, opening the tube. Look up where those muscles involved are located, make your own drawing, and see if you can feel these inside your head. Once you've found them it's just like coordination and muscles training. In combination with regular depth training and a low mucus diet and enough rest many of you can learn it in months or even weeks.
How do you know you have the ability?
Do a "back roll duck dive" with a mask and try to equalise by the 'swallowing + little exhale through nose' method. If you get it working this way to say 5m you have a good change after practice to be able to do it on the deep dives.

In regard to nosclip in mask soft blocking the nose air, it can work. I used my plain sphera (without any noseclip in or outside) to equalise against after I've done my last mask equalisation at 25m.

Being able to dive hands free makes the dives feel so much more immersive. Apart form the massive amount of energy you can safe reducing muscle use, less drag etc.


Love, Courage and Water,

Kars

 

[Luksha]

When I was very young and diving till depths of about 10 meters I never used too pinching my nose as a method for equalizing the pressure, and then when I finally started to “pinching my nose”, I immediately increased mu dives below 15 meters, it was a long time ago ...
I recently again started to performing hands free equalizing.
I performed it by doing something which sounds like "clink" in му ears (open the tube - I guess), in same time I pumping air with tonge and adam's apple, and at the same time (it is very important to) constantly equalizing the pressure in the mask.

But the unsolvable problem appears when I try to perform hands free while using "Aqua Sphere" mask, (I guess that is connected with proper equalization of pressure in the mask), while using "Seac Sub U-Fit" mask my method works. The only problem is that when I using "Seac Sub U-Fit" mask, sometimes I have a problem with mu throat (litle troath pain after diving)?!

If any of you experienced guys faced similar problem, please write something.:blackeye

P.S.
I have checked some time ago how to properly perform "Frenzel technique" and realized the problem is that I doing the wrong extra move with adam's apple, so that is probably cause mu throat truble. :duh

 

[JennyWren]

Hey guys, I can Frenzel just fine to about 45m (so far) and I can open my eustacian tubes on land (get the 'click' sound, and humming I can tell when they open up because it gets LOUD). However, I can't seem to do hands-free underwater. What's the trick to getting the air from my mouth up my (now open) eustacian tubes?.

 

[pasanen]

I have let myself understand that you don't move air to ears when going hands-free, but instead keep your eustacian tubes open the whole way down, so the whole mouth-ears air cavity is in same pressure.