I can do it, and it seems to me that it is the first part of a swallow–that is you begin to swallow, but stop before peristalsis begins in the oesophagus. Try touching the area at the back of your jaw, below your ears. Do a full swallow (oi! Stop giggling at the back!) and then do the eustachian pop. They feel very similar.
I’m all busy studying for an anatomy test, but I had to get online really quick and post some amazing information I just learned that relates to this thread. Well, maybe not that amazing, but I needed a break. Anyway, there’s a muscle called the tensor veli palatini that’s responsible for tensing the soft palate and opening the Eustachian tubes when you yawn or swallow. I think those of us who can “click our ears” without moving anything else must have somehow learned how to control that function independently. When I do it, it just feels like the tubes are opening. My soft palate doesn’t seem to move at all.
Another relevant thing I learned is that anatomists are getting away from naming body parts after people, and giving them more descriptive names, so they now refer to the Eustachian tubes as either the auditory tubes or the pharyngo-tympanic tubes. Also, they’re now calling the Fallopian tubes the uterine tubes.
Fallopian? Aren’t those books of the bible?
You know, 1st and 2nd Fallopians? 
I can do this by opening my ET and breathing in through my nose… anyone else? And also pinching my nose while breathing in creates a greater vacuum (I think) so it cancels out the noise better. Isn’t really the best way of noise cancelling though since it’s rather uncomfortable + it goes away when I swallow my saliva
Side note I can open my ET without using my tongue/jaw etc
A few observations I made (for those who are curious):
- Opening my ET and breathing in cancels out the sound (as above)
- Opening my ET doesn’t seem to affect surrounding sound (unlike breathing in while they’re open, point 1)
- Opening my ET while humming makes the humming super amplified (similar to how your yawn sounds very loud to yourself… or is this only me?)
3.1 Breathing sounds also gets amplified too - Can’t speak properly with my ET open (they either close themselves while I talk, or my words become jumbled up, so I suspect the same muscle controls the back part of my tongue)
I have been able to open my Eustachian tubes since I was a lad.
Basically I just expand my nasopharynx…the part of your airway that lies behind and a bit above the uvula. I have conscious control over the muscles there for some reason.
I don’t move my tongue or jaw or any of the surrounding tissues, and I can do it with my mouth closed or open.
Comes in handy while out skin diving, or riding in airplanes, or when I have stuffed up ears -but if they are too congested, I can’t get them to clear.
I just asked my wife to put her ear next to mine while I popped my tubes and she could hear it! After all these years I just found that out! Weird!
I just want to congratulate the OP on his special talent, but do not wish to sit near him on public transportation or in restaurants.
Also, is there a documented association between this proclivity and being able to wiggle your ears?
NM - already replied some time ago.
Hmm can you do it while you speak? And still retain the ability to hear your voice amplified?
When I do it my voice sounds nasal and it sounds like my tongue isn’t working hahaha.
I have an interesting wrinkle on this. Not only can I do the ear-popping maneuver without swallowing, I can’t (reliably) do it *with *swallowing. They seem to use entirely different muscle groups - the ear-popping muscles seem to be somewhere around my cheekbones, close to the ‘wiggle-your-ears’ muscles, whereas swallowing only activates muscles lower down in my jaw and towards the back of the throat.
Yes, Yewey, I can talk while opening my tubes. But it doesn’t make me sound any smarter. In fact, I seem to sound about the same to myself.
I have never tried before to flex my tubes and talk at the same time. Where will the Dope take me next?
Next you have to do it at the bottom of the Marianas Trench, for twenty minutes.
After than, on a treadmill.
Regards,
Shodan
It is said that zombies are able to do this, but not to breathe or swallow.
Greetings, everyone. I realize I’m chiming in a bit late, but I wanted to throw my name in the hat. I would also like to say that I find it VERY handy when I scuba dive.
Anecdotally I can do both. Ear wiggling is a great way to amuse small children I find.
I can do both too. But nobody can tell because I have wild grey hair like the wicked witch of the west :eek:
Ditto, except for the gray hair - I just have one large Bride-of-Frankenstein stripe of white hair.
I can open up the passages by doing something like a yawn, but without moving my jaw.
As for ear-wiggling: I can’t tell how I do it, just that I can. I discovered it by accident one day in high school when I realized my glasses were moving up and down my nose.