I can hold my tubes open for as long as I want. Well, I can’t really inhale while doing it, so I guess I can only go 'til I suffocate.
For about two weeks, I could breathe through my ears though. When I was a kid, I had several sets of tubes to treat ear infections. Apparently, these left a weak spot/scar on my eardrums. Fast-forward 18 years and I’m diving into a pool. I shot down about 10 feet. The air bubbles left my ears and were replaced with water rushing in, propelled by 10 feet of pressure. It caused a “thunderclap” that popped my eardrums. If I sealed my mouth and nose, my diaphram could contract hard enough to pull air through the holes in my ears, down the Eustachian tubes, and into my lungs. It was like breathing through a pinhole, though, so I couldn’t actually survive on it. Cool partlor trick though!
My jaw muscles aren’t involved at all. All I have to do is slightly restrict the airflow through my nose. I don’t know which muscles are involved in that.
I can too. I was told by an ENT that I souldn’t regularly do it unless I have a need to equalize. Don’t know what is up with that. I do have some pretty serious tinitus.
Hmm…pinches nose…I can still do it. However, when I place my fingers just inside of my jaw near the back, (If someone knows anatomy, it’s where the jaw meets the neck. There’s a soft area and then moving forward, a hard structure) I do feel some slight movement. I never had tubes in my ears, despite having ear infections into adulthood, which seemed unusual to my doctor as I didn’t swim.
I can do the pressure equalizing thing , too. I used to think everyone could, until I heard that some people needed to chew gum or something to equalize the pressure.
the tubes are there to equalize pressure on both sides of the eardrum. since your mouth is mostly closed and your nose restricted your eardrum can react to sound. too much pressure on either side could harm the eardrum or other hearing structures.
i think tinnitus can have multiple causes. one is damage to some of the the hairs that sense fluid movement which is caused by sound.
"Normally the human Eustachian tube is closed, but it can open to let a small amount of air through to equalize the pressure between the middle ear and the atmosphere. When this happens we hear a small pop or squeezie sound, an event familiar to aircraft passengers or drivers in mountainous regions. Yawning or swallowing (ear clearing) can pull on muscles in the neck, causing the tube to open. Without this airway, air would be unable to escape from one’s ear, the middle ear would be isolated from the atmosphere, and could be easily damaged by pressure changes.
Some people are born with an ability to voluntarily contract just these muscles called Voluntary Tubal Opening, similar to the ability of those who can wiggle their ears. Those who have this ability can hear “pop” or “click” sound in the middle ear when actuating these muscles, and are able to hold the muscle contraction (some refer to this as ‘clicking your ears to equalize the pressure’).[citation needed] Doing so will make one’s voice sound louder to oneself. This ability allows such people to voluntarily equalize pressures at will when making rapid ascents or descents, typically in aircraft flights or large elevation changes in either tall buildings or mountainous treks. When the breath (inhale or exhale) is controlled, air pressure can be intentionally increased or decreased in the middle ear (breathing through the nose only or mouth), where the feeling of a cool air breeze can be felt inside the eustachian tube.
Occasionally, if the voluntary contraction timing is missed during a rapid pressure change, a slight yawning (opening of the jaw) action combines to assist in pressure equalization.
Yup, I can do this as well as that rumbly-noised thing. I had to start doing it due to hearing aids- you gotta pop your ears to equalize the pressure cuz stuff just starts to sound wonky after a while. So I got used to popping them to try to improve hearing and to break that pressure buildup from jamming them in there as a kid.
Voluntary Tubal Opening, huh? Satisfying to hear that it has a name.
I’ve always been able to do this easily and without any other movement. It also happens whenever I swallow, but in early adulthood while playing with all the knobs, switches and levers inside my Brain Control Room discovered how to swallow without doing it (but this takes a little concentration). If I work this motion only partway without going to the open state, I hear a little rumbling. If I work this motion as hard as it will go, which is opening and then some, I hear a louder and differently toned rumbling.
Pressure changes are pretty noticeable to me. I think the creek valley I cross on my commute is only about 200 feet deep, but it’s annoying enough that I reset my ears at the bottom and do it again on the far side. I understand how to change the pressure to muffle sound, and it works, but it is much too uncomfortable to use as a tool.
If my doctor made me try to stop doing this throughout the day, I think I’d have nightmares.
Some people can curl their tongue like a “U” and some can not. its a genetic thing and the “ear popping” is probably the same. Since it helps equalize pressure in the ear, its probably a good thing. Consider it like someone having blue eyes and someone having brown eyes. You can’t change the color of your eyes…not without contacts anyways.
I can do it too and for a while I didn’t know why others didn’t do it until I realized, genetically, they probably don’t have the gene for it and simply just can’t do it. I consider it a really cool thing because I never have to worry about pressure causing me pain like I see in others. I usually ask a person why they don’t do it and if they can’t, I say its probably because they lack the genes for it.
don’t quote me, I am no scientist, just all guess work.
Yep, I can do it at will as well, and it happens every time I swallow. I think I developed the skill because on airplanes, I was always deathly afraid of not being able to pop my ears and so would clear them as much as possible.
I’ve no idea what muscle I flex to do this, though. I don’t move my jaw at all, instead it seems to involve the back of my throat or soft palette.
I can do it to, either without moving any other muscles or by yawning.
A couple of years ago, I went through a period of having my eustachian tubes “stuck” open for a couple of hours every morning starting at about 9 a.m. I could hear my breath roaring back and forth and my voice was uncomfortably loud. I googled about it, and found it was something that could happen after weight loss (I had just lost 40 pounds) or after caffeine intake (I’m an espresso drinker). Wish I could remember the term - it was applied both to eustachian tubes and to urethras.
