silly proposal to eliminate equalizing the ears

[ericvrp]

My first post on deeperblue and maybe I make a complete fool out of myself, but here goes....

Suppose one would create a kind of 'mask' over each ear with the correct airvolume. Would that cancel out the force that pulls the eardrum inwards when the waterpressure increases?
If so, than I can imagine there is no longer a need to equalize the ears.

cheers,
Eric

 

[cebaztian]

http://www.proear2000.com/

 

[trux]

Well, ProEar does not eliminate the need of equalizing - it would need to keep underpressure inside of the ear cup, which would be extremely dangerous, because it could fail (and unavoidably would fail) at certain depth, with the consequence of explosive pressure increase which would tear your drums and inner ear apart.

ProEar protects water from entering the outer ear canals, which has several advantages:

• Ear Pain - Middle ear Barotrauma ("Ear Squeeze") - pain caused by failure to equalize pressures between the outer and middle ear. Caused by blockage in the Eustachian tube. Pressures cannot be equalized and the eardrum is forced inward causing considerable pain, bleeding into middle ear and sometimes rupture of the eardrum.Preliminary results from multiple dives indicate easier pressure equalization. Possibly explained by lack of stimulation of tympanic membrane and the resultant middle-ear secretions.
• Infection or inflammation of the outer ear canal - Otitis externa - Exposure to water dilutes the ear's protective lining and exposes it to infection. Polluted water entering the ear canal carries bacteria and irritant chemicals. Absolute protection from water and pollutant entry will provide effective prevention.
• Middle ear inflammation - Otitis media - Inflammation due to poor drainage and collection of fluids in the middle ear and Eustachian tube. Lack of tympanic membrane stimulation may obviate problems with drainage of middle-ear secretions.
• Inability to discern the direction of sound - Diminished function of the calibration of the ear, which is built to function in an air environment.No mechanism as yet to explain this surprising but consistent observation. Extremely important for divers ascending into busy sea lanes, potentially avoiding accidents.
• Dizziness (vertigo) and loss of direction - Due to caloric stimulation or to damage to the inner ear which affects balance. Avoidance of cold water stimulation of the tympanic membrane, which produces the vertigo.
• Build up of bony deposits in the outer ear - Exostoses - The body's mechanism for protecting the eardrum from the adverse effects external trauma like pressure, cold, etc. Avoidance of cold water stimulation of the external ear canal will undoubtedly prevent exostoses entirely.

EDIT: although not bad for snorkeling or scuba, for freediving, the mask has the disadvantage that you have to compensate not only the volume of the mask (which is rather big), but also the volumes of the ear cups - which means you lose a lot of air for the mask compensation as soon as you dive little bit more than couple of meters.

 

[ericvrp]

ahh well... :head

 

[trux]

And I did not mention that the same what would happen when the ambient pressure penetrates the ear cup at certain depth (if it was under-pressured, which is neither the case nor the purpose of ProEar), that could happen also from inside as well - if the Eustachian tube lets the air from your lungs (that is also in the high level of the ambient pressure) flow inside your ears, it would explode the eardrums from inside out (again assuming the ear cup keeps low pressure on the outer side of the ear). This is actually the more likely scenario, because the Eustachian canal normally passes pressure rather well in this direction without any compensation effort (that's why you do not need to (de)compensate during ascent.

 

[trux]

Well, not to disappoint you entirely, I have to tell you that there are some ways to avoid compensation:

1) Flooding the sinuses and Eustachian canals with water or other liquid (Patrick Musimu's method)
2) Removing/perforating your tympanum (only good for Kamikazes)
3) Using scaphander keeping atmospheric pressure on your whole body:

 

[Morg]

1) Flooding the sinuses and Eustachian canals with water or other liquid (Patrick Musimu's method)[/qute]

I wonder how you would go about doing that?

Also are there any negative aspects?

 

[trux]

I wonder how you would go about doing that?

Flooding sinuses is used by numerous deep freedivers. I think you can find instructions somewhere here in the archive or on the web. Besides others, I believe Pipin was one of the first modern freedivers using the technique. I think I saw some details about it - some are telling they simply let the water enter, others claim using similar technique as in Yoga (Yala Neti) - you actually actively "inhale" the water into your nose and sinuses.

As for flooding the Eustachian tube - that's a secret of Patrick Musimu and as far as I know, he never explained how he did it. You can find threads about it i the DB forum archive too, there were some speculations, and possibly other divers use similar technique too, but I do not know for sure.

Also are there any negative aspects?

Certainly yes - having non-purified sea water in your sinuses may not be that bad (I have it all the time), but I can imagine that having it in the middle ear may cause a lot of troubles, both immediate (loss of orientation / balance / hearing / nausea / headache) and consequent - infections, inflammations, sediments inside the inner ear,.... While cleaning the sinuses with sterile (but salty) water by the above mentioned Yala Neti technique is not too difficult, I can hardly imagine cleaning the middle ear.

Conclusion - personally I would advise avoiding flooding the Eustachian tubes and the inner ear. However, I am neither physician, nor a top competitor in freediving, so you may prefer getting advices from real experts.

 

[Stavros]

During sinus cleaning with saline solution it has happened to me that I get saline solution (just a saline drip of 0,9%) in the eustatian tubes and the middle ear. Initially it is not a great feeling but I am quite positive one could train themselfs to do it and stay relaxed and calm. The way to get water in the middle ear is quite simple as far as I understand it : you flood your sinuses with saline solution or sea water and then you perform a classical equalisation...water is displaced up the eustachian tubes and floods the middle ear...no more need to equalize.

Sounds simple right... However I have great worries about this method done in the water, done with sea water (cold - nonsterile), done head down, done for an extended period of time (2-3 minutes it takes to complete the dive).

So I would not try it unless I get to the point where I really need it. My main worry would be loss orientation and long term middle ear infections/damage.

Cheers Stavros

 

[Morg]

Thanks guys for the input. I have always had problems with equalizing so you can see why this sounds appealing to me . I don't think that I will attempt this at all at my current level.

I guess just working totally on equalizing will help me get over that.

 

[trux]

As for the Yala Neti (Yoga method for cleaning sinuses) - I'd recommend it even if you do not plan flooding your sinuses underwater. For a freediver it has several advantages - being familiar with the feeling of sinuses being flooded, or the "inhaling" of water and spiting it out through the mouth is quite positive experience and will help you off some stress underwater too. Although "inhaling" water may sound awkward, in fact it is a very easy and pleasant exercise. Besides it, cleaning the sinuses will greatly help with equalizing too.