Equalization methods for beginners

[SubMariner]

My wife has trouble, in Cozumel this year I finally convinced her "early and often" means as soon as you head is wet and all the way down. She almost never has problems when changing depths once descended, only with initial descent. Descent went much better this year.

Many moons ago when I was a young guppy I managed to barotrauma both my ears diving off Ft. Lauderdale. After I recovered enough to dive again, my diving physician stressed that people should actually start equalizing their ears BEFORE they get in the water.

Basically, during equalization you are flexing your eustacean tubes. When you do this earlier & keep doing it all along, you are making them more flexible and the whole process much easier. I have tried to teach this to my students as well; it works.

Bonne chance,

 

[Altamira]

My wife was also having trouble clearing one ear on intial descent until she read a SB post on this subject which recommended pushing your tongue against the back of the front teeth where they meet the roof of your mouth as you perform the valsalva maneuver. It worked like a charm for her, and many thanks to the SB poster for that recommendation.

 

[Hank49]

Altamira, I believe what your describing is the Frenzel technique which better than valsalva. It was named by a German who perfected the technique for the dive bomber pilots. I learned the name in my Performance Free Diving International class but realized it was what I had done all along. Blowing from the chest is hard and you really notice the difference when free diving.

 

[DivingIvan]

I agree with SubMariner that you should start to equalize before your head goes in the water and I would add that if you can equalize on the surface, you keep equalizing continuously on descent, every foot or so until you get below 20 feet. I've assisted many divers using this technique and it has worked 98% of the time. Many years ago, i had trouble equalizing also and found that by equalizing on the surface first, it helped immensely on the dives.

This is the method I still use today, almost 30 years later, I equalize on the surface once, then I use the pressure of the mask as I slowly blow air out of my nose (only enough to keep the tubes open but not so much to blow bubbles out of the mask) during descent to keep the tubes opened and equalized. It was especially helpful when I would set anchors for dive boats on wrecks, or during deep wreck dives where I had to descend pretty rapidly so as not to miss the wreck.

 

[windapp]

The air volume in your lungs at 15 ft is only 2/3 what it is at the surface when you are free dving. Equalizing while free diving quite a bit more difficult than while scuba dving. Don't worry about it until you try scuba diving.

 

[cnar]

I'm prone to ear infections in my left ear and have always had difficulty equalizing during dives. I decided to learn a number of techniques and added the Toynbee and Frenzel to the Valsalva. I also wear pro plugs to resist the chance of infections.

I actually don't use Valsalva anymore. Frenzel is simply the easiest and most convenient for scuba or free diving and I can perform it with no air in my lungs just what's in my mouth. This makes it perfect for free diving. Toynbee comes in handy if you start to feel slight pressure especially if I should be neutrally buoyant. By pinching the nose and swallowing the ears are equalized perfectly to the surrounding pressure.

My issue has always been that one ear equalizes easily and the other gives me hell. The ear prone to infections actually equalizes without problems. I've had to practice applying more force (the correct amount of force) to equalize both ears simultaneously and so far it has worked. While the frenzel allows you to slowly build up pressure by using rapid bursts as required, my right ear seems to lose air out of the tubes very quickly hence I pump more air up the tubes keeping the pressure up while I descend.

I've also found it's easier to learn these techniques free/skin diving while keeping the snorkel in your mouth to simulate a regulator.

Have fun and I hope this helps.

 

[LowDrag]

Hey everyone...thanks for the tips on equalizing and to the OP for asking. My son had trouble equalizing on his third check out dive this past weekend and wasn't able to complete the certification dives. I will have him read this thread and try out these methods on his next round. Have a great day everyone.

 

[JamesK]

Eqaulizing is something that I practice even when not diving. I do very light valsalva, frenzel and swallowing techniques just sitting around at home or work. I feel it has really helped as I rarely even have to touch my nose anymore to do any form of eqaulization. Now when I dive i can just exhale from my nose through my mask, or swallow and my ears are fine. It also helped me to allow me to descend as fast as I want.