Mouth Breathing 101 (Nasal air leakage challenges my buddy)

[RayfromTX]

An old friend of mine recently decided to seize opportunities and try new things. He decided to get certified and travel to Cozumel with my wife and I for our annual holiday trip. He got certified two weeks ago and we dove with him at the lake last weekend.

He is having a problem with air leaking from his nose and out the mask. It's really a lot of air. I would guess he is leaking as much air as he is actually breathing out his mouth. It also means his mask is always trying to fog on him. I remember learning to not let this happen when I first tried scuba but he isn't able to think of a way to stop doing it. We are headed out again today. I've tried everything I can think of and every exercise I can think of. For me it was just a matter of having the thought of not letting it happen and my nasal passages did the rest.

Anybody had a serious problem with this that they have overcome?

 

[tbone1004]

not me personally, but have had lots of students with that issue. It's all about breath control and he's got to learn to control it. Best way to do that is to take the mask off and have him get used to alternating exhales between his nose and his mouth. You can practice that at the surface as well, but in the short term, ask him to think about exhaling like he's trying to blow bubbles through a straw, blow candles out, etc. Instead of having him think about it as "breathing", if he thinks about the exhale as "blowing" it usually will sort out the nose bubble issue

 

[RayfromTX]

sounds great!!!

 

[MargaritaMike]

I have a few dives, and over the past year or so have started having a slight exhale through my nose. Not heavily but enough to notice a small stream of bubbles escaping from my mask. Oddly, this is causing my mask to break it's seal and leak a little. I can't believe it. This mask hasn't leaked in over 30 years. I switched to a mask with a nose purge valve and it helped with the leaking but didn't stop my exhalation from my nose. The nose exhalation does eliminate mask squeezes though. I may try @tbone1004's suggestion.

Cheers - M²

 

[Angelo Farina]

I usually asked that my students did exercise by inflating balloons.
Doing so requires a firm closure of soft palate, which must withstand the balloon pressure...
It is correct that the student do not think about "breathing", as the problem has nothing to do with inhalation-exhalation, it has to do with controlling the soft palate.

 

[Bob DBF]

I have a few dives, and over the past year or so have started having a slight exhale through my nose. Not heavily but enough to notice a small stream of bubbles escaping from my mask.

That's how I clear my mask, since my mustache, beard, nose, and shape of my face I have yet to get a mask that dosen't leak. I adjust the top of my mask a smidge tighter than the bottom so it vents water and sometimes air out the bottom without any assistance. I look at this as a plus, of course if I ever found a mask that didn't leak it would probably take a while to stop venting nose air.


Bob

 

[dmaziuk]

Give him a detuned reg. And a bottle of SeaDrops.