Everything You Need to Know About Popping Your Ears

When you feel this pressure, you may want to pop your ears to relieve it. There are several ways to do that.

How to Pop Your Ears

When your ears pop, it may be due to flying, scuba diving, hiking a mountain, or just riding in an elevator. When air pressure decreases around you as you go higher or increases as you go lower, the pressure in your ear isn’t equal. This causes pressure on one side of your eardrum, and it can be painful. But the pain is temporary and you can ease it.

When you feel this pressure, you may want to pop your ears to relieve it. There are several ways to do that.

The Process of Popping Your Ears

The part of your ear that pops is in your Eustachian tube. This tube is made to protect your middle ear and ventilate it. The Eustachian tube works to keep air pressure equal on both sides of your eardrum.

When pressure builds up in your middle ear, your Eustachian tubes will open. The pressure in your ear equalizes when the tubes open. This is what makes your ears pop, to relieve pressure and potential pain.

Pop Your Ears by Holding Your Nose

One of the most recommended ways to pop your ears is by holding your nose and blowing out. First, take a breath. Then close your mouth and nostrils with your fingers. Lightly blow out against the pressure. This should make your ears pop.

The pressure you’re blowing against forces your Eustachian tubes open a little which drains pressure and fluid stuck in your ear. It’s a common misconception that this method is dangerous. As long as you don’t force too much pressure or sneeze like this, you won’t have risks of bursting your eardrum.

Pop Your Ears by Blowing up a Balloon

A unique way to pop your ears is by blowing up a balloon. The pressure you’re using to expand the balloon helps push air up to your Eustachian tube. You can use this method any time you feel pressure buildup or fullness in your ear.

There are balloons that you can buy specifically to help pop your ears. If this is a common problem you have, you can try these out. These balloons work by using your nose to blow it up and block off one nostril at a time. These balloons are mainly for children who have repeated buildup in their ear.

You shouldn’t do this method if you have a cold or a runny nose. This could cause infected mucus to go into your middle ear and give you an ear infection.

Pop Your Ears by Flexing Your Jaw

In some cases, people who flex the muscles behind their jaw will help their ear pop. This flexing can open the Eustachian tube to release the pressure.

This method may be a little gentler on your ears than using your nose to pop them. If you’re flying or using an elevator and feel a pressure change, you can work your jaw to avoid a build-up of pressure. ‌

Pop Your Ears by Yawning

By opening your mouth to yawn, you’re swallowing air. The swallowing and movement of your mouth can help pop your ears, equalizing the pressure inside and outside of your ears.

Pop Your Ears by Swallowing Often

By swallowing water or another drink your ears will pop, equalizing the pressure. A more intense method to pop your ears by swallowing is to pinch your nose closed. This creates a vacuum in your nose that helps your Eustachian tubes open.

Chewing gum during pressure changes is also a common way to pop your ears. Chewing gum or sucking on a mint helps your mouth salivate more and causes frequent swallowing. The action of moving your jaw to chew can also equalize the pressure.

When to See a Doctor

If your ears often feel like they need to be popped, you might have an underlying health condition called Eustachian tube dysfunction. This happens because your tubes can’t equalize pressure well. It can make your ears feel full constantly.

If your doctor says you have the condition, they’ll recommend the right treatment plan for you. They may prescribe a decongestant, antihistamine, or allergy shots. Your ears may be bothered when flying or during allergy season. In severe cases, your doctor may recommend surgery to fix the problems in your Eustachian tubes.

Show Sources

Canadian Medical Association Journal: “Effect of nasal balloon autoinflation in children with otitis media with effusion in primary care: an open randomized controlled trial.”

Cleveland Clinic: “Airplane Ear.”

Health Technology Assessment: “Interventions for adult Eustachian tube dysfunction: a systematic review.”

KidsHealth: “Flying and Your Child’s Ears.”

Seattle Children’s: “Ear – Congestion.”

Stanford Health Care: “Treatments for Eustachian Tube Dysfunction.”

The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston: “Eustachian Tubes: Pop It Like It’s Hawt.”

Everything You Need to Know About Popping Your Ears

Having clogged ears can be uncomfortable and may muffle your hearing. When this happens, popping your ears may help.

Popping your ears is generally safe. It usually requires little more than moving your mouth muscles. Regardless of the technique you try, it’s important to be gentle. If your symptoms worsen, it’s a good idea to stop trying to clear your ears and consult your doctor.

If you try to unclog your ears with an over-the-counter (OTC) or prescription medication, avoid using it for longer than directed on the package. If your symptoms persist, talk with your doctor.

There are several techniques you can try to unclog or pop your ears:

Swallowing

When you swallow, your muscles automatically work to open your eustachian tube. This tube connects the middle ear to the back of your nose. Opening the eustachian tube allows pressure to equalize in your middle ear, causing the popping feeling.

Chewing gum or sucking on hard candy can also help activate this response.

Yawning

Yawning also helps open the eustachian tube. If you can’t yawn on cue, try a fake yawn. Open your mouth wide while breathing in and out. This may have the same result. Try “yawning” every few minutes until your ear pops.

Valsalva maneuver

Pinch your nostrils closed with your fingers. Try to keep your cheeks neutral or pulled in rather than puffed out. Next, blow air gently through your nostrils. This generates pressure in the back of the nose, which may help open the eustachian tube.

Toynbee maneuver

For this technique, pinch your nostrils closed with your fingers while swallowing. A small 2017 study indicated that the Toynbee maneuver may be less effective than the Valsalva maneuver. However, you may want to try both to determine which method works best for you.

Applying a warm washcloth

Holding a warm washcloth or covered heating pad against your ear may help reduce pain if you have an ear infection. Placing it on your face may also help ease sinus pressure in the case of a sinus infection, a condition that can lead to feelings of fullness in your ears.

Nasal decongestants

Unclogging your nasal passageways can help with clogged ears. If you use an OTC nasal decongestant, it’s best to avoid taking it for more than 3 days in a row. You may want to try the Valsalva or Toynbee maneuver after using a decongestant.

Nasal corticosteroids

There are many OTC nasal steroids you can try. Nasal steroids may help unclog your ears by reducing the amount of inflammation in the nasal passages. This can help air move more freely through both eustachian tubes, equalizing the pressure in your ears.

Nasal steroids may be effective if your ears feel full as a result of a sinus infection. However, research indicates that they may not work for chronically clogged ears caused by eustachian tube dysfunction, also known as blocked eustachian tubes.

Ventilation tubes

In extreme cases, your doctor may recommend this simple surgical technique to ease pain and reduce pressure.

For the procedure, your doctor will likely use local anesthesia to numb the area around your ears. Then, they’ll insert thin ventilation tubes, also known as pressure equalizing tubes or tympanostomy tubes, in one or both of your ears to drain fluid from behind the eardrum.

Healthcare professionals usually perform the procedure in a doctor’s office for adults. They may also perform it in a hospital. Manufacturers design ventilation tubes to fall out on their own. This typically happens after around 1 year.

The eustachian tube supplies air to the middle ear. This helps maintain equal amounts of pressure on both sides of the eardrum.

If there’s a difference in pressure, your eardrum may bulge inward or outward in response. The pressure difference can cause that familiar feeling of fullness in the ear.

Popping your ears involves opening both eustachian tubes to relieve the imbalance of pressure, ending or reducing your discomfort.

The eustachian tubes typically open automatically when you swallow, chew, or yawn. When you do these motions, you’ll often hear a clicking, or popping, noise. Air entering the middle ear through the eustachian tubes in each ear causes the noise.

If the tubes do not open easily, they may have obstructions. Fluid, mucus, or inflammation usually cause them.

Tinnitus occurs when you experience ringing, buzzing, or other sounds that do not exist externally. Tinnitus can occur from the following causes:

• sinus or ear infections
• earwax obstructing the ear canal
• blocked eustachian tubes
• brain tumors
• hearing loss
• thyroid issues

Often, it may not be possible to identify the cause of tinnitus.

You can often still pop your ears if you have tinnitus. But if the cause of tinnitus is blockage of the eustachian tubes, the tubes may be unable to open to pop your ears.

Sometimes your ears may clog and unclog themselves naturally. This usually happens because of changes in the surrounding air pressure.

If you climb to a high altitude — for example, fly on an airplane or drive up a high mountain range — your ears may pop as they adjust to the air pressure around you. Diving underwater also leads to pressure changes that cause your ears to pop.

If your ears don’t pop on their own when you fly on a plane or change elevation, you may be able to clear them by chewing gum or yawning.

Sometimes, instead of your eustachian tubes being blocked and unable to open, they might have trouble closing. This condition, called patulous eustachian tube dysfunction, often makes your voice and breathing sound unusually loud in your ears. It can also cause you to hear crackling or popping sounds.

A buildup of fluid in the middle ear is another condition that can cause the feeling of clogged ears and popping.

In both cases, treating or recovering from the condition may ease your symptoms.

Your ears may clear up on their own, but it’s important to call a doctor if you develop any of the following:

• pus or discharge draining from your ear
• hearing loss
• fever
• ear pain
• ringing in your ears

Your doctor can rule out any underlying conditions that may contribute to clogged ears and other symptoms. The following might cause feelings of ear fullness:

• enlarged adenoids, also known as swollen tissue at the back of the throat
• sinus or ear infection
• allergies
• earwax buildup
• common cold
• temporomandibular joint disorders

A clogged eardrum can sometimes bulge to the bursting point, leading to a perforated eardrum. This may occur from:

• an ear infection
• activities involving rapid pressure changes, such as air travel
• head trauma

A perforated eardrum requires a doctor’s care. This condition typically heals by itself within a few weeks. Some cases may require surgery.

Popping your ears is often safe and effective, as long as you’re gentle. Ear popping usually works within a few tries. If you have a cold or sinus congestion, medication may also be helpful.

Last medically reviewed on May 6, 2022

How To Pop and Unclog Your Ears

It’s one of the worst parts of flying: You finally hit that cruising altitude, and suddenly, you have ear congestion — that feeling that your ears are somehow plugged up.

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Plugged-up ears are so common when traveling by airplane that there’s actually a special name for it: airplane ear. However, flying isn’t the only reason why your hearing might become muffled and you suddenly need to pop an ear.

Family medicine specialist Matthew Goldman, MD, explains how to unclog your ears, what causes them to feel plugged up in the first place and how to safely pop your ears if you feel the need to relieve the pressure.

How to pop your ears safely

Having plugged-up ears is an annoying problem at best and a frustrating, painful one at worst. Sometimes, a clogged ear will go away by itself, but Dr. Goldman shares a few ways you can try to relieve the pressure and get your ears to pop.

Open your Eustachian tubes

Between the area behind your eardrum and the back of your nose and throat is a tube called the Eustachian tube. You’ve got two of them — one behind each ear. “This tube helps to maintain balanced air pressure between the area behind the eardrum and the area outside of the eardrum,” Dr. Goldman explains.

If you’ve ever had clogged ears, there are two methods you can try to unclog them. The pressure these two maneuvers create can help open your Eustachian tubes. Research shows that these two methods have about the same success rate at unplugging, or “popping,” your ears.

The Valsalva maneuver

Close your mouth and pinch your nostrils closed. Then, breathe out forcefully — but don’t let any air escape through your mouth or nose.

The Toynbee maneuver

Close your mouth, pinch your nostrils closed and swallow.

Swallow or yawn to equalize the pressure

Your Eustachian tubes are typically closed, opening when you perform activities like swallowing and yawning. So intentionally doing these things may help unclog your ears, especially if there’s no underlying cause like allergies or an infection.

“There are different ways to equalize the pressure that creates the plugged-up sensation,” Dr. Goldman says, including chewing gum, swallowing and yawning.

Use a saline spray

Using a nasal spray can relieve sinus blockage and inflammation, which can ultimately help unplug your ears. Just be sure you’re using the nasal spray correctly by aiming it toward the back of your nose rather than toward your septum (the middle of your nose).

Address the underlying condition

Have you ever known someone who gets recurrent ear infections and has to have ear tubes put in? This is one of a few ways doctors can address chronic Eustachian tube dysfunction, which is common in children.

Why your ears get plugged up to begin with

Dr. Goldman says plugged ears can be uncomfortable and occur for a few reasons, including:

• Changes in air pressure. “Sudden pressure changes like driving upward into the mountains and scuba diving can also create this sensation,” Dr. Goldman says. As the pressure changes around you, the air pressure inside of your inner ears tries to adjust along with it.
• Ear infections. When infected fluid gets trapped behind your eardrum, it can swell and bulge, leading to ear infections, which cause pain and that plugged-up feeling.
• Swimmer’s ear. An infection in the lining of your ear canal, known as swimmer’s ear, can also cause blocked ears. This is an infection of your external ear, rather than your middle ear.
• Sinus infections. “Sinus infections can change the pressure behind your eardrum,” Dr. Goldman notes.
• Allergies. Achoo! Allergies come with a lot of unpleasant symptoms, and you can add plugged-up ears to the list.
• Eustachian tube problems. “Sometimes, when there is an imbalance between the air pressure within the Eustachian tube and the pressure outside of the eardrum, we may feel a plugged-up sensation,” explains Dr. Goldman. In some cases, you may have a condition that directly affects your Eustachian tubes. “Rarely, growths may affect the Eustachian tubes, which can create issues,” Dr. Goldman says, “and being born with abnormally shaped Eustachian tubes can also be a cause.”

When to call your doctor about plugged ears

“Most of the time, these are all safe and effective methods,” Dr. Goldman says, “but depending on the cause, these methods could be unsafe and could even cause damage.”

If you’re traveling in high altitude changes or know you’re in the midst of an allergic flare-up, your clogged ears likely aren’t a problem and should resolve pretty quickly. But clogged ears that persist or are accompanied by other symptoms can indicate a more serious issue. Pay attention to issues like:

• Pain.
• Discharge.
• Dizziness.
• Hearing loss
• Ringing.

In these cases, it’s time to see your doctor, who’ll be able to determine the root cause of your issues and figure out a treatment plan.

If you’re experiencing something like swimmer’s ear or allergies, you can best treat your plugged-up ears by treating the medical condition that’s causing them.

“Depending on the cause, antihistamines, decongestants, nasal sprays and occasionally surgery may be needed to help manage and/or treat the root of the problem and/or mask the symptoms until the cause has resolved,” Dr. Goldman says.

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