Flexing Tensor Tympani and Clearing Ears

[BHWookie]

I recently stumbled across this article describing how a minority of people can create a rumbling sound in their ears, while others were unaware of the possibility.

This got me wondering if there’s any correlation between those who can flex their tensor tympani’s and those who can easily open their Eustachian tubes?

I am squarely in the “ear rumblers” camp, and I rarely have issues clearing... I’m not bragging though, this doesn’t prevent me from being an air-hog, noob diver.

Anyways, just curious if any folks with medical or anatomy knowledge think there’s a connection?

 

[Angelo Farina]

I am not a MD.
But I am an acoustician...
The tensor tympani, such as the stapedium, are muscles involved in the hearing system, providing some sort of "automatic gain control". They act stiffening the tympanum and reducing the gain factor of the bones (you known the Stapes, Malleus, Incus, transmitting sound form the tympanum to the oval window in the cochlea).
They should be excited by strong noise, avoiding hearing damage or over-exposure in noisy environments.
Their action is mostly involuntary, albeit some people claim to be controlling them.
They have little to do with the muscles which many people (me included) use for opening the Eustachian tubes, enabling equalization without the need of a forced air compression (equalizing manoeuvres performed closing the nose first, such as Valsalva, Frenzel, Marcante-Odaglia, etc.).
These muscles are much easier to control voluntarily, and deep freedivers are trained how to use them in apnea courses. I was a freediver when very young (I gave up at 20, after two loss of consciousness while training in the pool), so I was trained to equalize without the need of closing my nose with fingers.
I suppose that people having voluntary control on the tympanic and stapedium muscles are probably favoured in getting control of other muscles inside their head. Can you move your pinnae? I often did find an association, students capable of moving their pinnae learn easily to equalize controlling the Eustachian muscles.

 

[DallasNewbie]

I recently stumbled across this article describing how a minority of people can create a rumbling sound in their ears, while others were unaware of the possibility.

This got me wondering if there’s any correlation between those who can flex their tensor tympani’s and those who can easily open their Eustachian tubes?

I am squarely in the “ear rumblers” camp, and I rarely have issues clearing... I’m not bragging though, this doesn’t prevent me from being an air-hog, noob diver.

Anyways, just curious if any folks with medical or anatomy knowledge think there’s a connection?

I can do this--I guess, I mean I didn't know it was a thing until I opened this thread--but I do have trouble sometimes clearing one ear. So there's one data point for you.

 

[Duke Dive Medicine]

Tagging @doctormike here.

Best regards,
DDM

 

[doctormike]

Yeah, not really sure what the OP means by "rumbling", but there are two muscle systems here. There may be some overlap in people who have the ability to voluntarily control these muscles.

The stapedius muscle and the tensor tympani muscle act as a damper on the ossicular chain, to protect the inner ear from trauma from very loud sounds, explosions, etc.... If you can voluntarily control these muscles, you could make a sound.

The Eustachian tube opens through the action of a number of muscles and closes passively as the cartilage springs back. The main ET dilator is the tensor veli palatini, but also the levator veli palatine, the salpingopharyngeus and also the tensor tympani mentioned above (which extends out of the middle ear to insert along the ET). There are a number of techniques for voluntary control of these muscles which can be learned...

 

[Angelo Farina]

Nice post, @doctormike.
After seeing the long list of equalizing techniques in your link, I can confirm that the one I am using is called
BEANCE TUBAIRE VOLONTAIRE (BTV)

 

[Duke Dive Medicine]

Mike, for what it's worth, I equalize using the same method as @Angelo Farina and when I flex whatever muscles that do it, I hear a rumbling in both ears. Angelo, I can wiggle my ears too

 

[Angelo Farina]

I hear a lot of noise if breathing through the nose while I keep the Eustachian tubes open. If I keep my breath, only the environmental noise comes in, but it is quite weak...
I can also speak keeping the tubes open, I hear the vocals resonating through the tubes.
There is also a "click" when the tubes pop open...
I can keep them open as long as I want, with absolutely no effort. I learned equalising this way around 10 years old, when I had my first oval mask (no nose to be pinched) and the ears were aching at 3m depth (more or less my maximum depth at the time).
Years later, at 16, during my first CMAS scuba course, the instructor explained me of the various manoeuvres and attempted to convince me of the superiority of the Marcante-Odaglia technique (an Italian variant of Frenzel, which can be employed also with the mouth open, that is, breathing from a scuba system).
I was not understanding the need of closing the nose for practising it, as I was able to open the tubes without touching my nose. I was thinking that everyone else could do the same as me. Exactly as moving my pinnae...
It appears, instead, that some people have no control on these muscles.
I am still convinced that BTV is the best method, as you can equalize continuously while descending, and simultaneously equalizing the mask, as the soft palate can be kept open.
During the two years when I was trained to free diving (at 19-20) I have seen a number of deep free divers forgetting to equalize the mask while using the Frenzel method, resulting in bloody eyes. Of course this never occurred to me, even when diving in "variable asset" dives, that is, with a very heavy lead cylinder in your hand, making you descending incredibly fast...

 

[doctormike]

You guys are superhuman freaks of nature! Us mere mortals have to pinch our noses...

 

[dmaziuk]

You guys are superhuman freaks of nature! Us mere mortals have to pinch our noses...

I always thought I wasn't quite normal, though mostly for other reasons...

I wouldn't call the noise it makes a "rumble", it's more like a "click-pop". I can also hear the wind noise there when I "pop" the ears and breathe through the nose. So make that a representative sample of three.

I can also plug my nose like this if I need to: