Anyone come across this

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Someone on reddit was swearing that this mask works wonders for people with issues equalizing and claimed it helped their friend (cousin? Idk) when they had sinus issues.
I have no clue how reliable their claims are, I don't know them and it was a random stranger on reddit.
 

Mask does work. I have not gone diving yet with the alteration using my cressi mask, but it has worked on some snorkeling trips so far!
 
I have several customers (travel and UW photo equipment) who due to chronic ear infections or equalizing problems have found this mask to be a great solution.

One dive guide friend in the Philippines who's career (after 5K + dives) was about to lose his livelihood due a ruptured eardrum uses the ProEar mask and continued Divemaster duties.

Invented by Howard Rosenstein who pioneered Red Sea diving he then founded Fantasea underwater housings.

I believe the mask is also sold under the IST brand in a few different skirt shapes and skirt colors.

David Haas
Haas Photography
 
They have them at my local dive shop. Way cheaper than that website is asking! If you decide to try it, buy the mask somewhere else.

Amazon has them for about $100 although shipping from Amazon has been a joke lately. If you can order it somewhere else for a similar price, you'll get it quicker. Amazon.com : IST Pro Ear Scuba Diving Mask for All Around Ear Protection RX Prescription Available : Sports & Outdoors

Since mask fit is critical and they only seem to have one model with the ear cover strap, you might have to choose something else. My wife uses Doc's Proplugs instead of this mask for ear problems. The proplugs work well and are cheap. I think they were about $15 at our local dive shop.
 
I do not understand...

My understanding is that while diving on open circuit, there are 4 relevant gas compartments:
* The compartment that goes from your regulator, through your mouth, down your throat, and into your lungs. Call it the lung compartment.
* The compartment that goes from your upper throat, into your nose, out to the inside of your mask. Call it the mask compartment.
* The compartment that goes from the back of your throat, through the eustachian tubes, up to your middle ear. Call it the middle ear compartment.
* The compartment that goes from the outside world, through whatever equipment you may have on your head, into your ear, and stops at the tympanic membrane (aka the eardrum). Call it the outer ear compartment.

The lung compartment is kept at ambient pressure, thanks to gadgetry inside the regulator. Since the lung and mask compartments are connected by a voluntarily-openable valve, one can keep the mask compartment equalized by exhaling through the nose. Similarly, the valves connecting the throat to the eustachian tubes can be voluntarily opened, allowing the middle ear compartment to be equalized -- this is the part that requires new skills, and some folks have an easy time, other folks not so much. The outer ear compartment is automatically maintains ambient pressure as long as water and gas can move freely in and out of the ear -- ie it is not blocked by a hood, earplugs, excessive ear wax, etc.

As far as I can tell, this product does 2 things: 1) seal off the outer ear compartment so that water and gas can no longer freely move in and out, and then 2) connect the mask compartment to the outer ear compartment, allowing one to clear it the same way one clears their mask compartment.

If the above is correct, then I do not understand the value proposition when it comes to equalizing the ears. With a standard mask, this compartment is equalized for free. When people struggle to equalize their ears, the struggle is with the middle ear compartment, not the outer ear compartment.

However, if a diver is prone to outer ear infections, they might want to prevent water from entering the outer ear, which I could see this product helping out there, since it seals off the ears to water exchange. That seal would create an equalization problem, which I can see how connecting to the mask compartment would solve.

Can someone explain to me 1) what issue this mask attempts to solve, and 2) how the mask solves it? Am I completely missing something here?
 
I can't explain it. I agree that it is completely counter intuitive. Yet I have seen the things work very well. Faith based scuba diving, I suppose.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/peregrine/

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