Can you equalize WITHOUT pinching your nose?

[Nemrod]

Yes, 98% of the time, sometimes if I have been around dust, had a cold in recent history etc I might need to pinch my nose the first few times. I know, I know, don't care, on those rare occasions I use that 12 hour Afrin spray and then no issues. N

 

[SCUBAJENNIFER]

I don't do anything...Mine just do it all on their own. On a rare occasion, if I'm really congested, I have to squeeze, but not normally.

 

[tstormdiver]

I typically do pinch my nose, but once in a runaway descent, I was so busy trying to stop/ slow myself, I didn't have time. I was very lucky not to have really injured my ears,..... my ears cleared themselves.... thank goodness.

 

[Noboundaries]

My wife and I are both nose pinchers. I have noticed on a week-long trip it gets easier to equalize as the days pass by. I've tried all the non-pinching techniques and the only one that rarely works is to swallow.

 

[Walter]

Yup, I can. It's hard to describe .. there's no wiggling or swallowing for me. I just flex my inner-ear muscles (I don't know a better way to say it) and they're clear. The coolest part is that it's second nature now, so I don't even have to think about it. I just go down and don't worry about equalizing. When I consciously try to do it, I can hear myself breathing, especially when I breathe through my nose.

Works on planes too...

It's called voluntary tubal opening. It feels almost like a yawn is starting. It is the preferred method for those who have mastered it.

 

[String]

Yes about 95% of the time for me now. Don't know if large amounts of diving have either helped the muscles or damaged my ears but on most dives now i dont need to pinch my nose. The rare times i do need to do it im normally diving with a bit of congestion whether i realised it or not before hand.

 

[vel525]

Is it different for you guys underwater versus above? On land (or air) I can equalize no problems without touching my nose. It's when I get underwater I can really only equalize by pinching my nose. Maybe it's because I have a reg in my mouth...I'll try it at home tonight.

 

[RiverRat]

I've noticed on my last couple dives, I've been able to equalize by simply swallowing, and haven't needed to pinch my nose and exhale. Other times, I need to pinch like normal, and sometimes I only have to pinch early on, but once I'm deep enough I can just use the swallowing method.

How about you?

Why would my experience change from dive to dive?

When I first started diving I always had to pinch. I use nasal spray (Nasonex) as I have chronic rhinitis due to allergies. I had a deviated septum repaired and that did help a lot as well. As I got more dives in it started to become second nature. I always equalize early and often. If you delay too long, then you may have to pinch to "force" equalization and that's not a good thing. It took me awhile to get it down, it's sort of an art especially for divers like me with problematic e-tubes. But now I find I can pretty much just "swallow" and equalize without pinching. In fact, as I'm sitting here I can swallow and hear the "click" in both ears.

I think Walter had a good point. Maybe that's what I'm doing now without realizing it

 

[Sas]

I used to have trouble equalising, but I never really pinched my nose to equalise as I found that this put too much pressure on my ears and hurt, even when I was on the surface. I tried it occasionally here and there but I always found swallowing or wiggling my jaw to be better, sometimes I had to take my reg out to wiggle my jaw properly (sounds easier to pinch my nose I'm sure, but I hated that way of equalising!)

Actually only about 5 or so dives ago did I discover the 'voluntary tubal opening' method of equalising. If you can wiggle your ears (I can wiggle my ears quite noticeably ) it is easy as, just do that and your ears will equalise (that is the best way I can think to explain it, maybe others have a better way). I also equalise on the surface a fair bit too, a few times a day when I think about it, and now my equalising issues are pretty much gone

 

[ItMustBeJames]

It's called voluntary tubal opening. It feels almost like a yawn is starting. It is the preferred method for those who have mastered it.

Cool! I always wondered if there was a name for it. I've tried to describe it to other people, but no one ever knew what I was talking about.