hood causes mask leak ...indirectly causes ear pain

[Granny Scuba]

My husband bought me a 5mil hoodie. I had never worn a hood before, but it was very cold. Right off I noticed the hood caused my mask to leak. I must have cleared my mask 20 times in 45 minutes. The next dive I didnt wear the hood and all was fine....no mask leakage problems.

The next day my ears hurt and continued to hurt for several weeks.

I beleive that excessive mask clearing caused my ears to hurt.

I had this exact experience when I was first learning to dive. I cleared my mask in the tub, shower, sister's pool and by the time I got to scuba lessons my ears were just plain sore.

I have been told that excessive mask clearing should not cause ear problems, but I have never had ear problems except when I have cleared my mask. I rarely need to clear my mask, so I have rarely had ear problems. But when I do clear my mask my ears hurt. There is someting to this.

I am sharing this because if new students are having ear problems, it might be because they are practicing clearing their mask too much.

 

[Cave Diver]

I wouldnt expect clearing a mask to cause your ear to hurt unless you are being overly forceful when you do it. All you're doing is exhaling through your nose instead of your mouth.

If you are forcefully exhaling, you might be inadvertently clearing your ears as well causing small barotrauma.

Another possibility is that if your hood is covering your ears too tightly, it may be causing you equalization issues. Some people burn small holes in their hood where the ears are to prevent this.

 

[Hank49]

I trimmed my hood to fit so it doesn't interfere with my hood. If I hadn't, it would have caused mine to leak also.

I can't understand why clearing your mask caused ear pain. Perhaps you're blowing too hard? And if you're ascending, and your mask is already "floating" away from your face due to increased air volume causing it to leak, you don't want to expand your ear drum even more by blowing hard into your mask. ??? That's all I can think of on this.

 

[Buoyant1]

You need to let water into your hood before you start descending to be able to equalize properly. It's always best, in colder water, to do it at the beginning of the dive so the water has a chance to warm up a bit, and you are not attempting it at a deeper dept with colder water (in order to alleviate the chance to get an "ice cream headache") You also need to make sure that the mask skirt isn't over top of the hood...diving with a hood isn't bad, but there are a few things you need to do to make sure that it doesn't mess up your dive...

 

[gypsyjim]

When I wear a hood it usually causes some difficulty clearing my ears, so I periodically slide a finger under the hood to equalize . Burning a small hole is a great idea, thanks CD.

When you wear a hood you have to slide your finger all the way around the skirt of your mask, to ensure that it is not trapped under the mask skirt at any point, or it will leak constantly. Unless the skirt of the mask lays flat against your skin all the way around you will have this problem, and even a strand of hair trapped under the skirt can result in a leak.

 

[Cave Diver]

When I wear a hood it usually causes some difficulty clearing my ears, so I periodically slide a finger under the hood to equalize . Burning a small hole is a great idea, thanks CD.

Just keep in mind, the key here is small. If the hole is too big, you'll end up with cold water seeping in all the time, defeating the purpose of the hood.

 

[gypsyjim]

I trimmed my hood to fit so it doesn't interfere with my hood. If I hadn't, it would have caused mine to leak also.

In cold water, rather than trimming the hood edge back, try laying it over the skirt of the mask, by sliding your finger under the hood edge, after sealing the mask skirt. In cold water this simple overlap can be useful, since in does not leave any exposed skin in this area, which trimming it back might do. Just a thought.

 

[gypsyjim]

Just keep in mind, the key here is small. If the hole is too big, you'll end up with cold water seeping in all the time, defeating the purpose of the hood.

Ya, I figured. Almost went back to Edit and highlighted SMALL[ after I posted that.

 

[OceanEd]

I agree with you guys. One other think I would add is that you might want to put one or two small holes in the top of the hood, near the crown of your head. If you have the mask skirt under the edges of the hood as recommended here, then when you exhale through your nose you will find that some of the exhaled air is going to migrate out of your mask and into the hood. It will end up forming a bubble under your hood on some occasions. It can give some people a pain in the neck "literally" because they have to work harder to keep their head down while the air is trying to bring it up.

Also, if you are diving where it is cold enough for a 5mm hood you might want to consider getting a hooded vest if you do not like the hood. They are not as tight around the neck and give you an extra layer of insulation over your body core.

 

[carrielsal]

I have found that if a hood is not extremely snug, it slides back. This causes the mask strap to slide down in the back resulting in my mask leaking.
Some divers wear their mask strap under the hood.
I have high cheek bones. If I smile, laugh, or make expressions under the water my mask immediately floods. As a result I have to clear my mask often. It has never caused me to have ear pain. I wonder if you are getting air trapped in your ear canal under the hood?