Infants sometimes find it difficult to clear their ears, as they are not able to intentionally swallow or pop their ears.
How to pop your ears: Eight effective methods
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A number of strategies can help when a person’s ears feel full or clogged and needing to pop. Yawning, swallowing, and chewing gum can often solve this problem. Certain maneuvers may help, and medical devices are also available.
Ear barotrauma usually happens when a person is sick or changing altitude, such as when they are flying on an airplane, driving up a mountain, or descending at the beginning of a scuba dive.
What is this sensation and how can a person make their ears pop? Read on for more information about this common experience.
Share on Pinterest Sickness and changes in altitude are the main causes of ear barotrauma.
Popping the ears helps to open the eustachian tubes and regulate the pressure in the middle ear.
There are many strategies people can use to help pop their ears safely and effectively:
Yawn
Yawning helps to open the eustachian tubes. Try forcing a yawn several times until the ears pop open.
Swallow
Swallowing helps to activate the muscles that open the eustachian tube. Sipping water or sucking on hard candy can help to increase the need to swallow.
Valsalva maneuver
If yawning and swallowing do not work, take a deep breath and pinch the nose shut. Keeping the mouth closed, try to blow air through the nose gently.
It is best to be cautious when performing this maneuver because there is a small risk of rupturing the eardrum.
Toynbee maneuver
To do the Toynbee maneuver, pinch the nose closed and close the mouth, then try swallowing. Having a mouthful of water may make it a little easier.
Frenzel maneuver
To perform this maneuver, pinch the nose closed and use the tongue to make a clicking or “K” sound.
Chewing gum
Chewing gum helps increase swallowing because it stimulates saliva production. Also, the chewing motion can also help to open the eustachian tubes.
Try special devices
There are devices available that can help to clear the ears. These are especially useful for people who are not able to use or perform the above maneuvers safely or effectively.
There are three types of devices:
- Special earplugs: These special earplugs claim to help to regulate the flow of air from the environment into the ear. It is not clear whether they are truly effective, but they are inexpensive and risk-free.
- Otovent: The Otovent and similar devices mimic the motions used in the Valsalva maneuver. To use it, insert the nozzle into one nostril. At the other end is a deflated balloon. Pinch the open nostril closed and blow up the balloon using the nozzle in the first nostril. This device can be especially helpful in children or other people who are not able to use the Valsalva correctly.
- EarPopper: The EarPopper is a prescription device that can help to open the eustachian tubes. Simply insert the device into one nostril, close the other, and push a button. The device releases small puffs of air through the nose and into the eustachian tubes.
Many devices are available to buy online to help people pop their ears safely.
Medication
Seasoned travelers often take a decongestant when they fly. Both pills and intranasal sprays can work, though an older study found oral medication to be more effective.
Taking the medicine 30 minutes before take-off or landing can help to shrink the mucous membranes in the nose and eustachian tubes, making it easier to clear the ears.
While flying, it is important to avoid sleeping during the descent and landing. It is more likely for the ears to become clogged at this point and infrequent swallowing during sleep may not be enough to clear them.
Infants sometimes find it difficult to clear their ears, as they are not able to intentionally swallow or pop their ears.
Feeding (either at the breast or with a bottle) or providing a pacifier can help the baby suck and swallow in order to clear their ears. This may mean waking the baby during descent to avoid later discomfort.
How To Pop and Unclog Your Ears
It’s one of the worst parts of flying: You finally hit that cruising altitude, and suddenly, you have ear congestion — that feeling that your ears are somehow plugged up.
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Plugged-up ears are so common when traveling by airplane that there’s actually a special name for it: airplane ear. However, flying isn’t the only reason why your hearing might become muffled and you suddenly need to pop an ear.
Family medicine specialist Matthew Goldman, MD, explains how to unclog your ears, what causes them to feel plugged up in the first place and how to safely pop your ears if you feel the need to relieve the pressure.
How to pop your ears safely
Having plugged-up ears is an annoying problem at best and a frustrating, painful one at worst. Sometimes, a clogged ear will go away by itself, but Dr. Goldman shares a few ways you can try to relieve the pressure and get your ears to pop.
Open your Eustachian tubes
Between the area behind your eardrum and the back of your nose and throat is a tube called the Eustachian tube. You’ve got two of them — one behind each ear. “This tube helps to maintain balanced air pressure between the area behind the eardrum and the area outside of the eardrum,” Dr. Goldman explains.
If you’ve ever had clogged ears, there are two methods you can try to unclog them. The pressure these two maneuvers create can help open your Eustachian tubes. Research shows that these two methods have about the same success rate at unplugging, or “popping,” your ears.
The Valsalva maneuver
Close your mouth and pinch your nostrils closed. Then, breathe out forcefully — but don’t let any air escape through your mouth or nose.
The Toynbee maneuver
Close your mouth, pinch your nostrils closed and swallow.
Swallow or yawn to equalize the pressure
Your Eustachian tubes are typically closed, opening when you perform activities like swallowing and yawning. So intentionally doing these things may help unclog your ears, especially if there’s no underlying cause like allergies or an infection.
“There are different ways to equalize the pressure that creates the plugged-up sensation,” Dr. Goldman says, including chewing gum, swallowing and yawning.
Use a saline spray
Using a nasal spray can relieve sinus blockage and inflammation, which can ultimately help unplug your ears. Just be sure you’re using the nasal spray correctly by aiming it toward the back of your nose rather than toward your septum (the middle of your nose).
Address the underlying condition
Have you ever known someone who gets recurrent ear infections and has to have ear tubes put in? This is one of a few ways doctors can address chronic Eustachian tube dysfunction, which is common in children.
Why your ears get plugged up to begin with
Dr. Goldman says plugged ears can be uncomfortable and occur for a few reasons, including:
- Changes in air pressure. “Sudden pressure changes like driving upward into the mountains and scuba diving can also create this sensation,” Dr. Goldman says. As the pressure changes around you, the air pressure inside of your inner ears tries to adjust along with it.
- Ear infections. When infected fluid gets trapped behind your eardrum, it can swell and bulge, leading to ear infections, which cause pain and that plugged-up feeling.
- Swimmer’s ear. An infection in the lining of your ear canal, known as swimmer’s ear, can also cause blocked ears. This is an infection of your external ear, rather than your middle ear.
- Sinus infections. “Sinus infections can change the pressure behind your eardrum,” Dr. Goldman notes.
- Allergies. Achoo! Allergies come with a lot of unpleasant symptoms, and you can add plugged-up ears to the list.
- Eustachian tube problems. “Sometimes, when there is an imbalance between the air pressure within the Eustachian tube and the pressure outside of the eardrum, we may feel a plugged-up sensation,” explains Dr. Goldman. In some cases, you may have a condition that directly affects your Eustachian tubes. “Rarely, growths may affect the Eustachian tubes, which can create issues,” Dr. Goldman says, “and being born with abnormally shaped Eustachian tubes can also be a cause.”
When to call your doctor about plugged ears
“Most of the time, these are all safe and effective methods,” Dr. Goldman says, “but depending on the cause, these methods could be unsafe and could even cause damage.”
If you’re traveling in high altitude changes or know you’re in the midst of an allergic flare-up, your clogged ears likely aren’t a problem and should resolve pretty quickly. But clogged ears that persist or are accompanied by other symptoms can indicate a more serious issue. Pay attention to issues like:
- Pain.
- Discharge.
- Dizziness.
- Hearing loss
- Ringing.
In these cases, it’s time to see your doctor, who’ll be able to determine the root cause of your issues and figure out a treatment plan.
If you’re experiencing something like swimmer’s ear or allergies, you can best treat your plugged-up ears by treating the medical condition that’s causing them.
“Depending on the cause, antihistamines, decongestants, nasal sprays and occasionally surgery may be needed to help manage and/or treat the root of the problem and/or mask the symptoms until the cause has resolved,” Dr. Goldman says.
Cleveland Clinic is a non-profit academic medical center. Advertising on our site helps support our mission. We do not endorse non-Cleveland Clinic products or services. Policy
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