What proportion of scuba divers can equalize ears "no hands"?

[Lorenzoid]

I’ve tried everything. Only Valsalva works for me.

 

[Angelo Farina]

I’ve tried everything. Only Valsalva works for me.

Did you try Frenzel? it is much more powerful and quite fast. Indeed, it requires to remove the reg from your mouth, as Frenzel is the favourite method used by deep free divers...
But some variants of Frenzel have been developed for scuba divers (the Marcante-Odaglia method is a Frenzel with the mouth open, so it can be used with the reg in your mouth).
It is easier to first learn pure Frenzel, possibly free diving in a pool, and then move to the scuba-modified methods.
It must also be said that many divers think to be using Valsalva, while actually they use Marcante-Odaglia. The problem is that in most diving schools these advanced equalization techniques are simply unknown, even their names! Only deep free diving schools usually dedicate a large effort about teaching advanced equalization techniques.

 

[Kimela]

I rarely need to pinch my nose. I’d say 95+% I’m equalizing hands free. Hoping I didn’t just jinx myself.

 

[Lorenzoid]

Did you try Frenzel? it is much more powerful and quite fast. Indeed, it requires to remove the reg from your mouth, as Frenzel is the favourite method used by deep free divers...
But some variants of Frenzel have been developed for scuba divers (the Marcante-Odaglia method is a Frenzel with the mouth open, so it can be used with the reg in your mouth).
It is easier to first learn pure Frenzel, possibly free diving in a pool, and then move to the scuba-modified methods.
It must also be said that many divers think to be using Valsalva, while actually they use Marcante-Odaglia. The problem is that in most diving schools these advanced equalization techniques are simply unknown, even their names! Only deep free diving schools usually dedicate a large effort about teaching advanced equalization techniques.

Frenzel has been mentioned on SB many times. I've watched videos, read descriptions, and tried doing what I think they are describing, but I have never been certain I'm doing it correctly. Whatever I tried did not work. Nothing works except pinching my nose.

 

[Angelo Farina]

Frenzel has been mentioned on SB many times. I've watched videos, read descriptions, and tried doing what I think they are describing, but I have never been certain I'm doing it correctly. Whatever I tried did not work. Nothing works except pinching my nose.

With Frenzel, you pinch your noise, of course. Simply you are not using your lungs for creating pressure. In the Marcante-Odaglia version you can even being breathing while equalizing...
In the pure Frenzel you cannot breath, as the mouse is closed and the tongue is also employed for creating pressure inside your nose.
Albeit some other techniques (for example BTV, which is the nose-free method which started this discussion) cannot be practised by everyone (in my experience BTV is reliable only for one every 5 divers), Frenzel instead is a technique which everyone can master. You simply close your nose and equalize without using your lungs...
Typically it is taught properly only by free diving instructors, indeed. Normal scuba diving instructors simply do not have the required anatomic and physiological knowledge needed... These topics are not included in the stuff one has to study for becoming a scuba diving instructor (apart FIPSAS instructors here in Italy).
So I warmly suggest a good free diving instructor for teaching you how to equalize properly and efficiently.
Alternatively, here in Europe DAN runs specific equalizing courses, called Equaleasy. For example, one of my colleagues which had problems equalizing solved everything following this course: Corso EqualEasy Dan

 

[Lorenzoid]

With Frenzel, you pinch your noise, of course. Simply you are not using your lungs for creating pressure. In the Marcante-Odaglia version you can even being breathing while equalizing....

Hmm. I had been under the apparently incorrect impression that Valsalva was the only technique in which you pinch your nose. I don't use my lungs for creating pressure, so I guess what I have been doing ever since Open Water class is something else. I just pinch my nose and blow, as though I'm trying to blow my nose. From the videos and descriptions I have seen, Frenzel sounded much more complicated than what I do, and to the extent I was able to understand the videos and descriptions, it didn't work for me.

Anyone know if there a DAN course in equalization in English? If they have it in Italian, they probably have it in English.

 

[Angelo Farina]

Hmm. I had been under the apparently incorrect impression that Valsalva was the only technique in which you pinch your nose. I don't use my lungs for creating pressure, so I guess what I have been doing ever since Open Water class is something else. I just pinch my nose and blow, as though I'm trying to blow my nose. From the videos and descriptions I have seen, Frenzel sounded much more complicated than what I do, and to the extent I was able to understand the videos and descriptions, it didn't work for me.

Anyone know if there a DAN course in equalization in English? If they have it in Italian, they probably have it in English.

As said, many people employ some variation of Frenzel (usually Marcante-Odaglia, as they keep the reg in their mouth) and think, incorrectly, of being using Valsalva. Most equalization techniques require to pinch the nose, for example Toynbee (close the nose and swallow).
Only BTV is done "hands free", without pinching your nose... This the one I use, but as an instructor I had hard times trying to teach it. A large portion of my students never managed to employ BTV: apparently only 1 over 3, or perhaps even 1 over 5, cam manage to use BTV properly.
Frenzel instead is very simple (for freedivers, with the mouth closed) and every free diver can learn it easily.
For scuba divers it is not so easy, as the reg in your mouth makes it counter-intuitive to close the soft palate.
My son, who is mostly a free diver, removes the reg from his mouth when using Frenzel. I taught him the Marcante-Odaglia version, which can be done with the reg in his mouth, but he finds the pure Frenzel easier and more effective (using also the tongue and the mouth makes for larger pressure). However, also my son mostly uses BTV, hands-free and resorts to Frenzel only when BTV does not work (due to a cold, or some mucus obstructing the Eustachian tubes).

 

[Lorenzoid]

As said, many people employ some variation of Frenzel (usually Marcante-Odaglia, as they keep the reg in their mouth) and think, incorrectly, of being using Valsalva. Most equalization techniques require to pinch the nose, for example Toynbee (close the nose and swallow).
Only BTV is done "hands free", without pinching your nose...

So the original question in this thread could be restated as, "Who uses the BTV method?"

 

[markmud]

I rarely need to pinch my nose. I’d say 95+% I’m equalizing hands free. Hoping I didn’t just jinx myself.

Ughhhhhaaahh!

You and Cathy both.

Not me. I have chronic sinus congestion. My secret is clearing out my sinuses before diving and by blowing my nose u/w while ascending. The salt water and u/w nose blowing actually cleans out my sinuses and I can breath like nobodies business after a few day's worth of diving. The first dive of a trip generates lots of snot.

I really shouldn't be diving, but you know a person has to have his priorities in order.

To answer the OP's question directly, no I must pinch my nose.
m

 

[Kimela]

Ughhhhhaaahh!

You and Cathy both.

Not me. I have chronic sinus congestion. My secret is clearing out my sinuses before diving and by blowing my nose u/w while ascending. The salt water and u/w nose blowing actually cleans out my sinuses and I can breath like nobodies business after a few day's worth of diving. The first dive of a trip generates lots of snot.

I really shouldn't be diving, but you know a person has to have his priorities in order.

To answer the OP's question directly, no I must pinch my nose.
m

Sounds like you need a neti-pot my friend!