25-05-2005, 09:42 PM
Burst ear drums and the bends are totally unrelated.
The bends happens under the conditions I described above, burst ear drums happen when you fail to equalise the pressure in your ears while descending. Your ears have a small enclosed air gap inside them, at pressure the air in this gap expands, and if you don't equalise the pressure in the gap by 'popping' your ears you can rupture your ear drum. Your ears re-equalise the pressure (when you come up from depth) by themselves.
Popular ways of 'popping' your ears include holding your nose while trying to breath out through your nose, or doing a big yawn and manipulating your jaw until you feel the pop. Everyone should be familiar with pooping your ears, it happens sometimes if you drive up a big hill, or in a plane during take-off.
3m is about the maximum I would dive to without equalising, but it is a good policy to equalise in whatever depth of water you are diving in - your ears should let you know if they need equalising anyway ie/ if your ears start to become very painful, you need to equalise! If you feel pain on equalising, or cannot equalise at all, it may be because you have a cold or similar illness which swells the tubes in your ears, or may be something more serious - if in doubt see a doctor.
The bends happens under the conditions I described above, burst ear drums happen when you fail to equalise the pressure in your ears while descending. Your ears have a small enclosed air gap inside them, at pressure the air in this gap expands, and if you don't equalise the pressure in the gap by 'popping' your ears you can rupture your ear drum. Your ears re-equalise the pressure (when you come up from depth) by themselves.
Popular ways of 'popping' your ears include holding your nose while trying to breath out through your nose, or doing a big yawn and manipulating your jaw until you feel the pop. Everyone should be familiar with pooping your ears, it happens sometimes if you drive up a big hill, or in a plane during take-off.
3m is about the maximum I would dive to without equalising, but it is a good policy to equalise in whatever depth of water you are diving in - your ears should let you know if they need equalising anyway ie/ if your ears start to become very painful, you need to equalise! If you feel pain on equalising, or cannot equalise at all, it may be because you have a cold or similar illness which swells the tubes in your ears, or may be something more serious - if in doubt see a doctor.