1
00:00:00,560 --> 00:00:03,600
Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff from house Stuff Works dot com,

2
00:00:03,600 --> 00:00:08,840
Speaker 1: where smart happens him Marshall Brain was today's question, Why

3
00:00:08,880 --> 00:00:11,200
Speaker 1: do your ears pop when you dive in the deep

4
00:00:11,280 --> 00:00:13,960
Speaker 1: end of the pool. If you've ever struck your finger

5
00:00:14,000 --> 00:00:16,919
Speaker 1: into your ear, you know about the ear canal. Your

6
00:00:16,960 --> 00:00:19,040
Speaker 1: ear canal is a tube, and at the end of

7
00:00:19,040 --> 00:00:21,880
Speaker 1: the tube is the ear drum, a thin piece of

8
00:00:21,960 --> 00:00:24,599
Speaker 1: skin stretched tight like a drum over the end of

9
00:00:24,600 --> 00:00:27,640
Speaker 1: the ear canal. You've probably read on a box of

10
00:00:27,680 --> 00:00:30,320
Speaker 1: cotton swabs or heard from your mother that you should

11
00:00:30,320 --> 00:00:32,880
Speaker 1: never stick anything in your ear. What you want to

12
00:00:32,920 --> 00:00:36,040
Speaker 1: avoid is sticking something in that could puncture the ear drum.

13
00:00:36,680 --> 00:00:38,839
Speaker 1: On the other side of the ear drum is a

14
00:00:38,880 --> 00:00:42,800
Speaker 1: hollow space filled with air called the middle ear. What

15
00:00:42,880 --> 00:00:45,360
Speaker 1: you want is for the air in your ear canal

16
00:00:45,600 --> 00:00:47,360
Speaker 1: and the air in the middle ear to have the

17
00:00:47,400 --> 00:00:50,200
Speaker 1: same pressure. If they do, then the ear drum has

18
00:00:50,320 --> 00:00:54,400
Speaker 1: equal pressure on both sides and it is smooth and happy.

19
00:00:54,440 --> 00:00:57,320
Speaker 1: In order for the middle ear to equalize its pressure,

20
00:00:57,720 --> 00:01:00,880
Speaker 1: there's a thin tube called the us Nation tube that

21
00:01:00,960 --> 00:01:05,039
Speaker 1: connects the middle ears air chamber to the throat. Air

22
00:01:05,160 --> 00:01:07,920
Speaker 1: can flow back and forth through this tube, and it

23
00:01:08,080 --> 00:01:10,680
Speaker 1: keeps the air pressure in the middle ear equal with

24
00:01:10,720 --> 00:01:14,160
Speaker 1: the outside air pressure. When you swim in deep water,

25
00:01:14,520 --> 00:01:17,560
Speaker 1: there can be a lot of water pressure. If you're

26
00:01:17,640 --> 00:01:21,000
Speaker 1: you station tube is clogged or narrowed for any reason,

27
00:01:21,120 --> 00:01:23,679
Speaker 1: then your middle ear gets shut off and it becomes

28
00:01:23,680 --> 00:01:27,480
Speaker 1: a closed chamber. It holds air at normal pressure, like

29
00:01:27,600 --> 00:01:30,679
Speaker 1: fourteen point seven p s i. When you swim to

30
00:01:30,720 --> 00:01:33,560
Speaker 1: the bottom of the deep end, the water is pressing

31
00:01:33,640 --> 00:01:36,480
Speaker 1: into the ear canal at about nineteen p s i,

32
00:01:37,000 --> 00:01:40,560
Speaker 1: so the ear drum bows inward because of the pressure difference.

33
00:01:40,760 --> 00:01:43,440
Speaker 1: Since the ear drum is full of nerves, you feel

34
00:01:43,480 --> 00:01:47,160
Speaker 1: this bowing as pain. To solve the problem, you can

35
00:01:47,160 --> 00:01:50,080
Speaker 1: equalize the pressure. When you start to feel pain in

36
00:01:50,120 --> 00:01:53,080
Speaker 1: your ears, hold your nose shut with your fingers and

37
00:01:53,160 --> 00:01:56,560
Speaker 1: blow into your nose. You'll hear your ears pop and

38
00:01:56,600 --> 00:02:00,120
Speaker 1: the pain should go away. By blowing, you increase the

39
00:02:00,160 --> 00:02:02,760
Speaker 1: air pressure and your lungs and throat and it blows

40
00:02:02,840 --> 00:02:06,200
Speaker 1: the air up your station tube into the middle ear

41
00:02:06,560 --> 00:02:09,840
Speaker 1: to equalize the pressure. When you rise back up to

42
00:02:09,880 --> 00:02:13,480
Speaker 1: the surface, the middle ear will contain excess pressure, but

43
00:02:13,560 --> 00:02:17,320
Speaker 1: the US station to generally releases it automatically. If not,

44
00:02:17,600 --> 00:02:20,440
Speaker 1: try yawning to open it up, or chewing gum or

45
00:02:20,520 --> 00:02:24,239
Speaker 1: something that will cause the U station tube deflex and open.

46
00:02:25,240 --> 00:02:28,119
Speaker 1: Do you have any ideas or suggestions for this podcast?

47
00:02:28,560 --> 00:02:31,200
Speaker 1: If so, please send me an email at podcast at

48
00:02:31,200 --> 00:02:33,920
Speaker 1: how stuff works dot com. For more on this and

49
00:02:33,960 --> 00:02:36,320
Speaker 1: thousands of other topics, go to how stuff works dot

50
00:02:36,400 --> 00:02:39,080
Speaker 1: com