• PriorityMotif@lemmy.world
    24·
    3 months ago

    The Eustachian tube goes between the middle ear and back of the throat and is there to equalize the air pressure in your middle ear. When you yawn or swallow it opens. That’s why yawning pops your ears when you’re in an airplane. Often children’s Eustachian tubes so not develope and they have chronic issues with fluid in the middle ear that can’t drain, so they will have “tubes” installed in their eardrum which allows fluid to drain out of the middle ear into the ear canal.

    I currently haven’t been able to hear for 3 weeks because of trapped fluid due to some kind of sinus issue. The problem is that the snot gets thicker as it sits in there so it won’t drain out. Hopefully it resolves on it’s own, but I may have to have my eardrum sliced open and have it sucked out.

      • Tlaloc_Temporal@lemmy.ca
        10·
        3 months ago

        Lots of people can pop their ears on demand by flexing the muscles that open the tube. Those muscles are the same ones that flex when yawning and sometimes when chewing.

        If your ears are always popping, I don’t think that’s necessarily bad, but maybe you’re more susceptible to ear infections? If it’s not painful and has always been like that it’s probably fine, but mentioning it to your doctor next time you see them won’t hurt.

        • Pulptastic@midwest.socialEnglish
          4·
          3 months ago

          It can be bad. I also have this superpower, I can pop my ears (open my eustachian tubes) by flexing my throat muscles. The bad part comes when this happens on its own over and over and makes me dizzy. Thankfully that’s only happened twice, but once was almost a whole day. I pop my ears much less now to try and avoid overdoing it.

          • datavoid@lemmy.mlEnglish
            3·
            3 months ago

            I find my hearing gets out of whack unless I pop my ears a lot. I also get weird echoing and lose my hearing when I exercise hard…

            I have a suspicion there is something wrong with my ears, but don’t care to find out.

        • Owl@mander.xyz
          2·
          3 months ago

          I mean pop when I do the thing you just said that makes them pop (there should be a german word for this) / yawn

          • Tlaloc_Temporal@lemmy.ca
            1·
            3 months ago

            Oh, I see! For many people it’s just not something they notice, and it often doesn’t happen unless there’s a pressure difference. For other people, ears pop every time they yawn, or even eat. And lots of people can pop their ears manually in the same way people can flare their nostrils or wiggle their ears.