Why and how does water get trapped in your ear and why is it sometimes difficult to get the water out?
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Ear wax. Not a perfect deal, but get water behind an earwax blob and surface tension will keep it in there.
You know how you can put a straw into water
then put your finger over the end not submerged then lift? The water stays in the straw. Now just imagine your ear is the straw, and the complicated mess deeper inside your head is your finger. Normally you can lift your finger off and let it all leave the straw. You can’t do that as well with your ear canal. Plus, water tension really likes to keep that water in place when it is there, so even if you manage to take the ‘finger’ off, it still holds on to it’s surroundings, like a droplet on the side of the cup of water.
Water is sticky. It sticks to itself and other things. This allows it form thin films in enclosed spaces. The tiny hairs in your ears can support the film making it stand up against gravity. So in the right conditions water will essentially form a “bubble” trapped in your ear, supported by the tiny hairs in there.
This makes my ears hurt thinking about it. I have small ear canals to match my tiny hippo ears. When I was a kid I had to have tubes put in 6 times. I constantly had ear infections for the first 6 years of my life. I can actually feel the pop and drain of fluid from laying my head on a heating pad if I think about it. Water trapped in my ears was never a fun time.
Ear canals come in different shapes and sizes. My left one is relatively “normal” so the water drains naturally as it should. My right one has a large downward “dip” in it, so water doesn’t drain as well. A few drops of a 50/50 mix of vinegar (acetic acid) and rubbing alcohol ( isopropyl or ethyl, whatever you can get), are less dense than water and therefore evaporate quickly), will displace the water and dry the ear canal. Source: pharmacist, biochem major, and former competitive swimmer
There are ear drops to use to flush the water out. No need to suffer in silence.
It’s a multi-factor issue. First off is all the twists and turns and folds in the ear canal which channel sound from a wide range down to the ear drum. Combine that with the high surface tension of water, gets the water to bridge the canal on the way out. As soon as this happens, there’s now an air bubble trapped behind it that creates a vacuum as the water tries to drop down, and the canal is small enough that air pressure can’t overcome the surface tension of the water. The key to drawing your ears of water is to slowly tilt your head around and bounce.
Step 1. Walk in home
Step 2. Find bed or soft couch
Step 3. Kneel in front of said furniture
Step 4. Turn head so eat with water is towards furniture
Step 5. Proceed to beat head, ear side down, on furniture
Step 6. Feel the sweet sweet release of that warm water out of your small ear water trap
Was a swimmer for 20 years this is the way
I had that.. turns out I had a wax buildup in my right ear. I had the dr remove it.. so much better!
The tubes in your ears are very tiny and covered in hair and a waxy substance. When water get in there, one way to get to evaporate is to take a blow dryer on low and blow it across your ear, not into it while tipping the affected ear to the floor. The warm air will warm the wax and evaporate the water. Also swallow while doing this, the throat and ear canals are close anatomically. As others have said don’t use cotton swabs in the ear canal proper, people do swear they’ve been doing their whole lives, yes; but it’s not healthy, any ENT will tell you it’s a bad idea. Ear infections and damaged tympanic membranes (ear drums) are very painful and can screw up your balance and ability to walk normally.
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