What Happens When We Pop Our Ears

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Why Humans Pop Their Ears
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In this video, Jonathan from the Institute of Human Anatomy discusses why humans pop their ears, and the relevant anatomy involved in the action of popping your ears. He also discusses ear wax, how hearing works, and what happens when popping your ears goes wrong: Eustachian tube dysfunction, ruptured eardrums (tympanic membrane) and ear infections (otitis media).

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0:00–0:36 Intro
0:37–1:14 What's the Deal With Using Q-Tips in Your Ears?
1:15–1:59 The Science of Ear Wax!
2:00–2:43 The External Auditory Canal (Your Ear Hole...)
2:44–3:41 How Hearing Works.
3:42–5:40 Why Do We Pop Our Ears?
5:41–7:03 How We Pop Our Ears.
7:04–8:19 Why Happens When You Can't Pop Your Ears? Eustachian Tube Dysfunction & Middle Ear Infection (Otitis Media)
8:20–9:19 Treating Ear Infections: Do You Always Need Antibiotics?

License code: K8NDBDJJRTGTIBAZ

#instituteofhumananatomy #earhealth #ears #anatomy

[eDrumsInANutshell]

As a physicist I would like to add that these tiny bones between tympanon and cochlea are an impedance converter.
From a large "soft" amplitude to a smaller amplitude with bigger force.
Awesome.

[Tomerkad]

Not that I'm in any authority to be a critic, but I just want to say that as an MSc neuroscience student, chronic illnesses data scientist and a personal fitness trainer, this channel is one of the best I've ever seen! The amount of topics you cover in pretty great detail + an amazingly understandable language is just amazing. Thank so much @theanatomyclub

[timweydert]

I have Patulous Eustachian Tube Dysfunction (PET), the opposite of a normal Eustachian Tube Dysfunction. My tube is constantly open. It's really annoying because I have to do the opposite of popping my ears. Basically, holding my nose closed and breathing in to create negative pressure inside the middle ear.
If I don't, the ear drum will be protruded to the outside and I hear everything super, super loud (including my own breathing and even blood rushing through the veins).

I bought one of those home ear cleaning cameras, not to clean my ear but to just see what's going on.
And you can actually see the eardrum bulging out when I breathe out, and sucking in when I breathe in. I recorded the video and showed it to my ENT which made his diagnosis a 5 second thing.

Yes, he followed up with his own tests of course, but since this is rather rare, it made the diagnosis way way faster because describing these symptoms can be incredibly difficult and vary from person to person, so a video is really helpful in speeding things up.
I actually had it since I was 9, when I started having the symptoms, but because it is so difficult to explain, and because I had a lot of earwax buildup as a child, no doctor would make that diagnosis. It was only when I was 20ish and those portable ear cameras became available on Amazon, that I finally got proof that it is in fact something else. I did change ENTs right after lol.

EDIT: Seems like some people here have the same symptoms but didn't know about this!
Fun fact, I notice even small changes in air pressure. As a high school student my school bus would climb an elevation of 200m during the ride, and every time my eardrums would go crazy.
To this day, no doctor believes me. But I know what I'm sensing. And that was happening before I even knew I had this condition.

[billkennedy]

Can you help me understand my tinnitus? Some days it's quite noticeable, and other days I forget I have it. Appreciate these videos that are produced!

[rebeccas]

Now I finally understand why I have been getting ear infections my whole life. I have bad allergies, had tonsils, adenoids removed, and several sets of tubes. I never truly understood the connection until now. Thank you!!!

[danielkjh]

i can normally tell if i'm gonna get sick soon depending on if i can pop my eardrums or not. so far this has be pretty accurate for me

[streetdogz]

A great follow up would be how vertigo happens & show the Epley maneuver or a link if it already exists and why this maneuver works.

[profchaos]

Can you do a video about Tinnitus. I love your videos and learn a lot!

[diytwoincollege]

Tried to hit thumbs up, got a message that said that the resource was exhausted. Great video, as always

[GalaxyGaming]

Sometimes I just randomly crack my jaw by accident

[JIMKATSANIDIS]

Great information and clearly presented! I enjoyed watching this educational and very helpful video! Many thanks for sharing it with us, Jonathan! Truly appreciated it! Keep up the good work! 🙌❤👍

[EmbalmerEmi]

I don't recommend leaving any ear or eye infections untreated, they can result in hearing/vision loss.
Not treating it is just taking an unnecessary risk to your senses.

I lost enough hearing to be rendered hard of hearing as a child and later lost some vision in one of my eyes from an eye infection I didn't get immediately treated, you can't get those things back once you lose them.

[vilet]

Haven't watched it yet but fun fact, I can actually pop my ears at will. I can flex the muscle (tensor tympani) in my ear and hold it so the inside of my ear 'rumbles'. There's a community of other people online who can do this and they're called ear rumblers. :)

[pillowmoment]

I’m soo happy that Eustachian Tube Dysfunction was mentioned because it happens to me ALL THE TIME and i’ve never really known why. It started a few years ago when my ears would always be plugged up with either wax or because i had some kind of cold, and then it just started happening more and more often. When i wake up i often have an ear plugged because of it. Again, this only started like 2 or 3 years ago and I’m really not sure why. It’s always the right ear.
I just got over a small cold and it was particularly bad. I couldn’t hear out of my right ear AT ALL and still had to go to school 😕 it eventually faded away but morning classes were very rough.
Since I frequently have issues like this, this video was very helpful 😇😇

[councilofeviltables]

I would always recommend treating ear infecction, no matter the gravity of the symptoms. Recently I noticed difficulty hearing with my right ear and did a audiometry. The diagnostics: neurosensory loss at 6kHz (reaching up to 80dB on the graph), not even the bones were picking up the sounds. I did a MRI and a CAT scan to see if there was some sort of physical damage to the ear structures and everything is fine on both ears. The 2 conclusions the doctor and me came up with: genetics, I might be the first in my family to develop a propensity to become deaf (which I don´t think is true because is just my right ear with the problem, left is perfect). The other possibility: I had a very strong ear infection at one point in my life, maybe as kid, but I can't remember. And as a precaution, I'm not attending metal concerts anymore and use ear plugs to drive in the highway to muffle the loud noise of the road. Take care of your ears folks

[fanzhou]

great video, as someone who had a cholesteotoma and suffered from airplane rides ever since, this helps me understand the anatomy of my ear much better.

[nomadicwolf]

Ok… that was awesome, but I was really hoping to learn a bit more on why I shouldn't twirl a delicious-feeling Q-tip in my ears.

[TomokoKuroki]

When I was 10 months old, I got an ear infection from flying to the US (as I was adopted from the Phillipines). Luckily, my mom is a nurse, and so it was taken care of afterward, and I have no lasting damage from it. This video opened me up to understanding it a bit more (though I have no recollection of the event as I was an infant). The world has its processes and functions, including humans, so it's interesting to learn about said things.
Also, I'm not sure if I had antibiotics or not, but I assume I didn't, though I would have to ask my mom.

[brooklynnchick]

I’m an immunocompromised science teacher recovering from an upper respiratory infection turned major ear infection…I haven’t been able to pop my ears for 2 weeks. Now, after antibiotics, steroids, and ear irrigations I understand why! ❤. Thanks for helping me be a better teacher and for helping me understand what’s happening to me!

[RavenFilms]

5:37 I didn’t go back to check, but you did immediately touch your hands together while talking so you probably did that a bunch already…. 😖