What is actually happening when your ears pop?
In: Biology
Behind your ear there is a little drainage tube called the Eustachian Tube.
This little tube is typically not open like a pipe, but compressed flat like a floppy hose. When you’re in a situation where the tiny amount of air behind your ear drum is under pressure (positive or negative pressure) you can perform some action (chewing hard, swallowing, holding your nose and trying to blow out of it, etc.) which forces air up the Eustachian tube, opening it and letting air either out or in to equalize the pressure in that pocket of air trapped behind your ear.
If your ears pop naturally (like on a plane) it’s because as you go up in altitude, the pressure drops, but the air behind your ear was put there under higher pressure, so now it’s trying to expand and take up more volume. Once it expands too much, it forces itself down the Eustachian tube and you hear a little “pop” noise as this occurs.
If the pressure is instead due to FLUID behind the ear, then (since liquid’s aren’t compressible) you can’t really regulate it by manipulating your Eustachian tube, and must either wait for the fluid to naturally drain or dry, or a doctor will have to perform some procedure to remove the fluid.
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