What to do when your ears won t pop on a plane

How to pop your ears: Eight effective methods

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A number of strategies can help when a person’s ears feel full or clogged and needing to pop. Yawning, swallowing, and chewing gum can often solve this problem. Certain maneuvers may help, and medical devices are also available.

Ear barotrauma usually happens when a person is sick or changing altitude, such as when they are flying on an airplane, driving up a mountain, or descending at the beginning of a scuba dive.

What is this sensation and how can a person make their ears pop? Read on for more information about this common experience.

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Popping the ears helps to open the eustachian tubes and regulate the pressure in the middle ear.

There are many strategies people can use to help pop their ears safely and effectively:

Yawn

Yawning helps to open the eustachian tubes. Try forcing a yawn several times until the ears pop open.

Swallow

Swallowing helps to activate the muscles that open the eustachian tube. Sipping water or sucking on hard candy can help to increase the need to swallow.

Valsalva maneuver

If yawning and swallowing do not work, take a deep breath and pinch the nose shut. Keeping the mouth closed, try to blow air through the nose gently.

It is best to be cautious when performing this maneuver because there is a small risk of rupturing the eardrum.

Toynbee maneuver

To do the Toynbee maneuver, pinch the nose closed and close the mouth, then try swallowing. Having a mouthful of water may make it a little easier.

Frenzel maneuver

To perform this maneuver, pinch the nose closed and use the tongue to make a clicking or “K” sound.

Chewing gum

Chewing gum helps increase swallowing because it stimulates saliva production. Also, the chewing motion can also help to open the eustachian tubes.

Try special devices

There are devices available that can help to clear the ears. These are especially useful for people who are not able to use or perform the above maneuvers safely or effectively.

There are three types of devices:

• Special earplugs: These special earplugs claim to help to regulate the flow of air from the environment into the ear. It is not clear whether they are truly effective, but they are inexpensive and risk-free.
• Otovent: The Otovent and similar devices mimic the motions used in the Valsalva maneuver. To use it, insert the nozzle into one nostril. At the other end is a deflated balloon. Pinch the open nostril closed and blow up the balloon using the nozzle in the first nostril. This device can be especially helpful in children or other people who are not able to use the Valsalva correctly.
• EarPopper: The EarPopper is a prescription device that can help to open the eustachian tubes. Simply insert the device into one nostril, close the other, and push a button. The device releases small puffs of air through the nose and into the eustachian tubes.

Many devices are available to buy online to help people pop their ears safely.

Medication

Seasoned travelers often take a decongestant when they fly. Both pills and intranasal sprays can work, though an older study found oral medication to be more effective.

Taking the medicine 30 minutes before take-off or landing can help to shrink the mucous membranes in the nose and eustachian tubes, making it easier to clear the ears.

While flying, it is important to avoid sleeping during the descent and landing. It is more likely for the ears to become clogged at this point and infrequent swallowing during sleep may not be enough to clear them.

Infants sometimes find it difficult to clear their ears, as they are not able to intentionally swallow or pop their ears.

Feeding (either at the breast or with a bottle) or providing a pacifier can help the baby suck and swallow in order to clear their ears. This may mean waking the baby during descent to avoid later discomfort.

What to do when your ears won’t pop on a plane

Melanie Haiken is an award-winning San Francisco-based writer who covers travel, health and science for AFAR, CNN, Forbes, Parade, Sierra, and numerous airline magazines. She’s also the editor of www.Health-Conscious-Travel.com.

Feb. 21, 2021
5 min read

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Editor’s note: This is a recurring post, regularly updated with new information.

The pilot announces it’s time to strap in for landing. The plane begins to descend and, sure enough, the pressure starts building in your ears. And if you’re traveling with a baby or toddler, here comes the wail of pain.

Then you land, start down the aisle and your ears pop — or not. Sometimes they don’t pop for hours or even days. What’s going on?

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How air travel affects our ears

It’s all about the Eustachian tube, a cocktail-straw-sized passage that connects the middle ear, which contains the eardrum, to the nose and back of the throat, according to Dr. Ana Kim, an otolaryngologist and neurotologist at ColumbiaDoctors Midtown and associate professor of otolaryngology and head and neck surgery at Columbia University Medical Center in New York. The tube has a significant role in equalizing pressure on both sides of the eardrum.

“When you’re flying, especially during landing and takeoff, there’s a rapid change in the barometric pressure, which causes a collapse of the Eustachian tubes and interferes with the normal airflow from the nose to the ear,” says Kim. “When the Eustachian tube collapses, it interferes with airflow and there’s not sufficient space around the eardrum.”

That popping sensation you feel is the Eustachian tube opening up again. But as we all know, that doesn’t always happen immediately.

What to do when your ears won’t pop

Your goal is to move the muscles of your mouth to open the airway. Swallowing and yawning (even fake yawning, with your mouth open wide) are the first things to try, and you can also chew gum or suck on candy. “When you move the muscles of your mouth and throat, it moves the eardrum, which is made of a cellophane-like material,” says Kim. “And when you move the eardrum, you’re making more air space.”

But the most effective maneuver is to take a deep breath and go through the motion of expelling the air while you hold your nostrils tight and keep your mouth closed, a technique called the Valsalva maneuver.

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Of course, these instructions aren’t going to work for a baby or toddler, but you can encourage them to swallow by nursing or offering a bottle or pacifier. With older toddlers and preschoolers, you can try encouraging them to yawn, doing so yourself in exaggerated fashion so they can copy you. When your ears feel blocked, it’s easy to think that removing excessive earwax can help. But be careful — when you use a cotton swab or other method to remove earwax, you risk actually pushing it farther in and packing it harder.

My ears still won’t pop — now what?

In most cases, there’s nothing serious to worry about and you can safely wait to see if the problem clears up on its own. “In general I would wait a couple of days, depending on the level of discomfort. But if you’re in pain or the problem is affecting your hearing, I would go (to the doctor) right away,” says Kim. “Your doctor can provide medications such as steroids, which are powerful anti-inflammatories, and can make sure that your hearing is OK.” This is important, she says, because inflammation can cause long-term hearing loss. Sometimes the problem involves fluid buildup, but that’s likely the result of having a cold or infection, not just from the airplane trip itself. If you’re experiencing fluid that’s unable to drain on its own, your doctor can do an in-office procedure that involves making a small incision and vacuuming fluid from the middle ear. In some cases, tubes are then left in to drain. “The cut closes in a day, but if we want continuous airflow to dry up the fluid, we put in temporary tubes to keep the air moving,” Kim says.

How to prevent future problems

To remind yourself to swallow during takeoff and landing, travel with gum or candy and pop them in as soon as you feel the pressure begin to change. When flying with a baby or toddler, give them a bottle or pacifier. Nursing babies and toddlers works well too. If you don’t want to give small children gum or candy, try a snack like a fruit leather that involves prolonged sucking and swallowing. It can also help to use a long-acting decongestant like Afrin or Sudafed. Start using it a half-hour before takeoff or landing. Beware of conditions that can predispose you to have problems with ear-popping. “Someone who gets frequent sinus infections can be more at risk for this because if the lining of the nose is inflamed and swollen, it can interfere with airflow,” Kim says. Likewise, having a cold or being stuffed up because of allergies can leave you susceptible as well: “The ear is actually a very sensitive gauge of what’s happening in the nose,” she says. In these cases, you definitely want to take a decongestant before you fly. It’s a different situation, though, in the case of ear infection which, as moms know, babies and toddlers are particularly susceptible to. “If you or your child or baby has an ear infection, we advise you not to fly,” says Kim.

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