Ear holes in my hood - good idea or bad idea?

[Storker]

I'm pretty happy with my drysuit's hood, a standard issue Scubapro Everdry4 5/6.5mm wet hood, except for one thing: I can't hear cr@p, neither topside nor underwater. The hood fits very nicely, so tight I have to open it up a bit to allow water entering around my ears to ease equalizing, but not uncomfortably tight. It's also quite warm, even in 4 degrees (C) cold water. Problem is, I also have to hold it open around the ear to hear what people are saying to me before we enter the water, and I can't hear my computer's audible alarms underwater.

After diving a rental one-piece 5mm wet suit with a fairly loose integrated hood which didn't make hearing hard at all, I've started considering to take out my hole punch and make two fairly small (3-4mm) holes in it, just where the ear canals are. I was thinking that the small openings could enable me to hear while diving back home.

But is it really a good idea? Are there any reasons I shouldn't do that? Will it help?

 

[Kokeldil]

3-4mm holes ain´t enough
Cut out bigger holes so your whole outer ears stick through the hood
TAKE PICTURES. POST EM HERE

No, seriously - I have no clue if this is a good or bad idea, but I am most certainly interested in a comptetent answer, too.

 

[spectrum]

I know when i have had small holes in dive gloves the cold water (when the water is winter cold) felt like needles. Setting your ears up for that kind of infiltration just doesn't sound like a good idea in Norway. The result may be somewhere between pain and loss of equilibrium.

As for the ability to hear, that is something we all adapt to, welcome to the silent world. I didn't know how annoying beeping computers were until I made a warm water trip!

Pete

 

[diver_dj]

Go for it. It won't do any damage (other than the hole) and equalizing will be easier as well. I've seen a lot of people do the same.

 

[fdog]

I have holes in the attached hood of my freediving wetsuit. When swimming down the line, my hands are busy and I need fast, reliable ear equalization.

All my other scuba diving hoods do not have holes, it's been easy to pull the hood away from the side of my head to let water in if the hood seals too tightly.


All the best, James

 

[danvolker]

I think having holes so you can hear is intelligent..... I am frequently annoyed by clueless divers with thick hoods and no hearing whatsoever, as they don't hear boats overhead on ascent, they don't hear it when you yell underwater for their attention, and who are basically at a severe handicap due to deafness, and having never considered the implications.

 

[muddiver]

I have one or two hoods that I've poked holes in because they trap air and cause a reverse squeeze of my ears. The DSO I dive with does the same. California water isn't that cold. If I was diving really cold water I would go to an attached dry hood which equalizes air between the hood and the suit.

 

[tracydr]

I got vertigo from a hood that was too loose in Catalina. That water is not as cold as your water and I didn't have holes in my hood, just a hood that was loose. Cold water entering the ear canal can cause some strange effects, vertigo being one.
I don't think it's a good idea and if you look at who's recommending it, Dan lives in S.Florida.

 

[Storker]

Thanks for the replies. Vertigo caused by cold water entering the ear canal doesn't sound like something I'd like to try, so I guess I'll just leave my hole punch in the tool drawer.

After all, M. Cousteau wrote about the silent world