Originally Posted by
4535jacks
One of my ears pops all by itself but the other ear never equalises on its own. This means I have to constantly swallow during descent to equalise the pressure and every so often (around 1 in 20 descents) this does not work and I have to resort to the valsalva manoeuvre to equalise the pressure.
At the end of a 4 sector day my jaw is sore from swallowing so much in the descent.
What is normal eustachian tube function? Should both ears equalise on their own most of the time?
A similar problem affects scuba divers who see far faster/greater increases in external pressure. For me, and from scuba class, the reliable answer for me is to pinch my nose shut, keep mouth shut, and act as if to force air through my nose by squeezing upwards with my tongue to increase the pressure. This has the great advantage of being able to over-pressurize the air in the eardrums so that further pressure increases are pre-balanced out. Adding a "yawning" at the same time also helps.
This is different from the valsalva manoeuvre in that I don't involve the lungs - the only additional pressure is from tongue muscles.
They should equalize on their own; however the main cases when they cannot react fast enough used to be limited to occasions where a person was plummeting to their death or while swimming deeper into water. I guess it works better for some; there might also be irritation or infection, so if this is a recent change an ear-nose-throat doctor might be worth consulting.