Prevent Your Ears from Popping

Have you ever suffered from airplane ear? It's that uncomfortable, sometimes painful ear popping that occurs when pressure changes exert stress on your inner ear during a flight. It usually happens when the plane is gaining altitude or descending, and can also occur when diving underwater. Luckily, there are tricks you can try to keep your ears from popping, and help kids and babies stay comfortable, too.

Steps

Preventing Ears from Popping

  1. Know the symptoms. Whenever the air pressure around you changes, such as when you're flying in an airplane, climbing to or descending from a high altitude, or diving underwater, the pressure in the cavity inside your ear is supposed to change with it. When the pressure change is quite sudden, however, the pressure inside the ear doesn't always catch up right away. This difference in pressure between the ear cavity and the outside environment, called barotrauma, leads to uncomfortable and even painful symptoms, like the following:[1]
    • Pain or discomfort in the ear
    • A feeling of fullness or pressure in the ear
    • Ringing in the ear (tinnitus)
    • A change in hearing, almost as if you are submerged in water and sounds are muffled
    • In severe cases, hearing loss, bleeding and vomiting
  2. Yawn and swallow. To prevent your ear from popping uncomfortably or painfully, you need to stop the difference in pressure from building up. You can do this by yawning and swallowing, actions that open the Eustachian tubes in your ears, allowing the pressure in your ear to sync up with the pressure in your environment.
    • You can also help yourself swallow by chewing gum, sucking on candy, or nursing a drink, all of which will keep you swallowing.
  3. Exert counter pressure. You can do this by performing a simple exercise: close your mouth, pinch your nose, and blow gently. The air has no where to go, so it presses on your Eustachian tubes, which relieves pressure. [2]
    • Do not blow too hard when you attempt this. If you blow too hard, the maneuver is quite painful, and has the potential to actually damage your ear drums. Blow just hard enough to gently pop your ears.
    • Repeat the maneuver several times, especially during takeoff or descent while traveling by plane.
  4. Use filtered earplugs. These earplugs are specially designed to gradually equalize the pressure as you gain elevation or descend, so that pressure does not build up in your ears.
    • Filtered earplugs are available at drugstores and in airport shops.[3] While they're not guaranteed to be effective, they can help minimize ear popping while you travel.
  5. Treat congestion before you gain altitude. Barotrauma happens more often when you have a head cold, sinus infection or any type of congestion. That's because the Eustachian tube doesn't always open properly when it's inflamed due to Deal With Spring Allergies or a cold. If you're feeling stuffy before changing altitudes or diving, use a nasal decongestant or antihistamine in preparation.
    • Take a decongestant, such as Sudafed, every six hours and continue for 24 hours after you land to shrink membranes in the sinus and ear. Follow the precautions on the label.[3]
    • You can use a pediatric-strength nasal spray as directed on the packaging. The child-strength formula will help open your Eustachian tubes without giving you a stronger dose of medication than you need.
    • Do not take decongestants before or during diving. The body metabolizes decongestants differently while underwater, so taking them before diving is considered risky.
    • If your congestion is quite bad, you might want to reconsider your travel or diving plans and reschedule for when you're feeling better, especially if you've had severe barotrauma in the past.[3]

Helping Kids Stay Comfortable

  1. Keep your child awake. While you might be tempted to lull your child to sleep before airplane ascent or descent, if she is awake you can help her prevent barotrauma from happening. [4]
    • Keep her occupied so she doesn't end up falling asleep right when the cabin pressure changes. Try people watching, or read a book together.
    • Be sure that you prepare a young child for the loud sounds and bumpy process of takeoff and landing, so that she does not become frightened. While you can't warn a young baby, you can try other methods of comfort, smiling and saying soothing words to let her know everything is alright.
  2. Encourage your child to swallow. Giving your toddler, baby or child something to suck on is a good way to encourage swallowing. Have him swallow throughout the ascent and descent, or if he seems to be complaining that his ears are bothering him.
    • Nursing works great for young babies if you breastfeed. If not, try a pacifier or bottle.
    • An older kid can drink through a sippy cup or a straw, or suck on a lollipop. The key is to get him to actively suck and swallow, so if he is old enough, teach him how to consciously do this in advance so that you can prompt him when it is time.
  3. Fake yawn to encourage yawning. While no one really knows why, yawning is socially contagious, so if your child sees you fake a yawn, she is likely to actually yawn in response.
    • Yawning opens the Eustachian tubes in your child's ears, so that the pressure that has built up will equalize with the rest of the cabin.
  4. Consider rescheduling travel if your child is sick. This is especially true if your child has experienced severe barotrauma in the past.[3]
    • Young children generally should not be given decongestants, so if your child has a stuffy nose or sinus infection, it might be a good idea to reschedule your flight to avoid severe barotrauma. Plus, you can avoid exposing other passengers to the illness.
    • If your child has flown before and did not exhibit signs of extreme discomfort, its not necessary to reschedule your flight.
  5. See your doctor about ear drops. Prescription eardrops can numb the area so kids don't experience pain and discomfort when this happens. [3]
    • While this is a rather extreme measure, if your child seems to be especially sensitive to popping ears, this may be the right solution.

Dealing with Airplane Ear

  1. Wait for equilibrium to be restored. If your ears pop on a plane or while diving, the problem will usually right itself when you're back on land.
    • Even if the pressure doesn't equalize right away, after an hour or two your ears should feel normal again. In the meantime, yawning and swallowing can help you feel better faster.
    • Some people take a few days for pressure to equalize in their ears, during which time hearing can be muffled, although this is rather rare.
  2. Look out for severe symptoms. Get medical attention if the discomfort is severe, or if it persists for more than a day. Severe barotrauma is rare, but can cause permanent ear damage and bring about hearing loss. In very severe cases, barotrauma can cause the inner ear to rupture. This injury usually heals on its own, but you should see a doctor just in case there's another problem complicating the injury. If you experience any of the following symptoms that might indicate your inner ear has ruptured, get medical attention immediately:[5]
    • Discomfort or pain that persists for several hours
    • Severe pain
    • Bleeding from the ears
    • Hearing loss that doesn't go away
  3. Get treatment if the barotrauma persists. In rare cases, surgery is required to restore equilibrium inside the ear. An incision is made in the eardrum to allow pressure and fluid to drain.[6] If you experience severe pain that doesn't go away, see a doctor to determine whether surgery may be necessary.
    • In the meantime, do not fly, dive, or perform any other activity that requires you to gain or lose significant altitude. If your ears pop again further injury could occur.

Tips

  • When you yawn, there is no need to make the yawn noise, but hold the yawn at the full open position and wiggle your jaw from side to side once or twice, repeat as often as necessary.
  • Begin the preventive techniques at the first feeling of pressure build-up and continue as necessary until you have landed.
  • Some of these tips won't apply if you're diving underwater.
  • When on a plane you can also play music or plug your ears.
  • Chew on a hard candy which will not cause pain to your ears.

Warnings

  • Diving whilst taking decongestants may result in serious injury.
  • Driving to/from high altitudes when you have allergies or a respiratory infection can be dangerous.
  • If you hear funny crackling and popping noises, you might have earwax or a piece of hair on the eardrum that needs to be removed by a professional, or a more serious condition that requires medical treatment.
  • If you know that you are at extra risk due to having a cold or other congestion, your safest solution is to not fly until the symptoms have cleared up. Your ears are not the only place that can suffer from trapped air pressure, a blocked sinus passage can cause extreme pain during a large pressure change such as you experience when descending in an airplane.

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Sources and Citations

  1. ↑ http://www.wellmont.org/Health-And-Wellness/Health-Library/?eid=100687&lang=1033
  2. ↑ http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/blocked-eustachian-tubes-topic-overview
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/airplane-ear/basics/prevention/con-20013735
  4. ↑ http://american-hearing.org/disorders/barotrauma/
  5. ↑ http://www.nlm.nih.gov/MEDLINEPLUS/ency/article/001064.htm
  6. ↑ http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/airplane-ear/basics/treatment/con-20013735
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