Is the ability to breathe what changes this, or is there some other technique behind it?
In: 55
You can equalise by swallowing or changing the pressure in ur mask with a small bubble from the nose rather than needing to pintch every time.
SCUBA divers use a different technique (typically the Valsalva maneuver) to clear their ears.The Valsalva maneuver is similar to the action you’d take if your altitude changed on a mountain or in an airplane: plug your nose and breath out using your diaphragm.
That’s not necessarily the optimal technique for free-diving, however, because it can be unsafe for a free-diver: the Valsalva maneuver requires the expulsion of air from the lungs, which, for a free-diver, are compressed at depth. Using the Valsalva maneuver under such circumstances may cause injury to the lungs and ears.
Instead, free-divers typically use the Frenzel maneuver. That maneuver involves pinching the nostrils and putting the tongue in the position required to produce a ‘T’ or ‘K’ sound, while simultaneously closing the vocal folds and and lifting the larynx up to push the air from the mouth into the nose.
While the Freznel maneuver can be harder to learn because of the need for more muscle control, it doesn’t require air from the lungs (which means that dives can be longer and there’s less risk of injury), it uses smaller muscle groups, and it’s a much more controlled technique that works at greater depths than the Valsalva maneuver.
More information here:
[https://molchanovs.com/blogs/news/frenzel-vs-valsalva-equalization-for-freediving](https://molchanovs.com/blogs/news/frenzel-vs-valsalva-equalization-for-freediving)
Does anyone else equalise without pinching or moving anything? I don’t know how to explain how I do it but I can just move some part of my inner ears without moving my tongue or jaw? Not sure if it works underwater though but it does on a plane. It’s kind of the the same feeling before you do a yawn?
I can open my Eustachian tubes at will which means that I can drop like a rock all the way down to 120ft without ‘clearing’.
For starters not all people have to use this maneuver to equalise pressure. Some have control of the muscles in their jaw/ears to do it at will without having to induce movement by blowing through their closed nose. Can it be learned? I don’t know, maybe. I’ve been able to do it since I was a kid and nobody ever told me how it’s just always been something I did.
Also not equalising needs a large depth difference to have bad consequences. For depth differences of a few meters at worst it just causes discomfort, so a free diver just jumps into the water, sinks a bit, may feel some minor discomfort, but he just swims back up just like that. Divers on the other hand will spend a lot of time in the water and will go to greater depths, so they do it constantly for three reasons
1) To not feel discomfort or pain all the time they’re in the water
2) To avoid damage to their ears as they go to greater depths
3) It has to be done progressively every few meters because if you go deep down and then do it the sudden change in pressure can cause significant damage.
Experienced SCUBA divers can equalize without pinching. I did it all the time when I used to dive almost daily.
I think it is because your eustacian tubes get more clear/relaxed, or simply “better” at connecting you inner ear to the nasal cavity.
Free divers dive a whole lot, they gets tons of practice. Still, some do the pinch thing.
Latest Answers