Why does chewing gum reduce your ears popping on a plane?
In: Biology
Your head has tubes connecting the insides of your ears to your nose/throat, and from there to the outside air. The inside of your head is wet and squishy, so the tubes can collapse and form a seal. Then, if you change altitude, there’s now more/less air pressure outside your head than before, and your eardrums have to stretch in/out to make up the difference, which is painful. Chewing moves your jaw up and down, which gives the tubes a better chance of un-sticking and letting air pressure equalize.
Chewing opens the Eustachian tube, which connects the pharynx (back of throat area) to the middle ear. This allows an airflow from the air around you to your ear, which helps equalize air pressure.
Your ears “pop” due to the relief of a pressure differential across your eardrum, from your outer ear to the middle ear.
Your middle ear is connected to the space behind your nose and throat by something called the *Eustachian tube*, and actions like swallowing or chewing causes it to open up, allowing air pressure to equalize.
I can do this without the need for gum. Can someone help explain why that is? Is it like some weird muscle control that is developed? I can willingly “re-muffle” it too.
I lived several decades on this planet before I realized that not all people can “pop” their ears at will.
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