# Preventing blast damage to your eardrums **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 15, 2015, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/preventing-blast-damage-to-your-eardrums/740548 "2015-12-15T17:54:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2015, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/preventing-blast-damage-to-your-eardrums/740548/1 "2015-12-15T17:54:37Z")
There’s an old episode of Doctor Who (the fourth Doctor, “Hand of Fear”) in which Sarah and the Doctor are advised to open their mouth and hold their nose closed in preparation for a nearby missile strike, the idea being that this would help prevent the blast wave from damaging their eardrums: > [@the TV show](#): > > WATSON: We’d better take cover. The flash could blind us. Doctor. Doctor, please! Miss Smith, hold your nose and open your mouth. > SARAH: What? > WATSON: The blast. It could perforate your eardrums. > DOCTOR: Any second now. Is there anything to this? Preventing eardrum damage would require either stopping the blast wave from reaching it, or having it reach both sides of the eardrum at the same time, Opening one’s mouth might help to open up the Eustachian tubes, would would allow the blast wave access to the backside of the eardrum - but unless the blast wave hit both surfaces at the exact same time (unlikely due to differing path lengths), it seems like this wouldn’t do much. And then there’s the holding of one’s nose. 😕 Was this just bullshit concocted by the show’s writers, or is this an effective (if esoteric) way to preserve your hearing when a blast wave is known to be imminent? ---
**Author:** ![obbn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/d6d6ee/32.png) [@obbn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obbn)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2015, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/preventing-blast-damage-to-your-eardrums/740548/2 "2015-12-15T18:54:55Z")
I don’t know if it works, but this line of thinking is/was quite common for soldiers on the battlefield. I just read a book about the Japanese on Iwo Jima and they did this during the pre invasion shelling. ---
**Author:** ![rbroome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/838e76/32.png) [@rbroome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rbroome)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2015, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/preventing-blast-damage-to-your-eardrums/740548/3 "2015-12-15T21:45:44Z")
related to this but not directly, recently there is a lot of research on the effects of blast over-pressure on the human head. As one might guess, it is complicated. Opening one’s mouth might help a bit, but realistic protection requires new protective headgear: [http://arc.aiaa.org/doi/abs/10.2514/6.2014-0948](http://arc.aiaa.org/doi/abs/10.2514/6.2014-0948) is one paper I picked out of google. The goal is to reduce the peaks-and there is hope for that goal. Soldiers injured by IEDs need such protection the most. That and better chairs. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2015, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/preventing-blast-damage-to-your-eardrums/740548/4 "2015-12-16T06:00:10Z")
I guess opening one’s mouth would help balance the pressure.