Table of contents:
- Why do your ears hurt when you get on a plane?
- Is this dangerous?
- Tips to reduce ear pain during flight
Ringing ears and feeling claustrophobic may have been a regular complaint when you have to travel out of town or abroad via air travel. What, the hell, causes ear pain when boarding a plane?
Why do your ears hurt when you get on a plane?
The cause is none other than the air pressure. When you are on land, the air pressure inside the inner ear and the air pressure outside is roughly the same. The ear organ called the Eustachian tube will regulate the air pressure in the inner ear and the pressure from the outside as much as possible to be equal so that it will not cause problems.
New problems arise when there is a very rapid change in pressure, such as during air travel. The more you move up in the air, the lower the ambient air pressure will be. The drastic changes in altitude and air pressure in a short period of time prevent your ears from adapting to equalize.
When your airplane takes off and begins to dive upward, the air pressure inside the inner ear quickly exceeds the pressure outside. The tympanic membrane or eardrum will then swell. Conversely, when the plane is about to land, the air pressure in the inner ear drops very quickly compared to the outside air pressure. This change in air pressure causes the eardrum to shrink and the Eustachian tube flattens.
This stretch of the eardrum is affected by air pressure that causes ear pain when boarding an airplane, or getting off an airplane. During the flight, the eardrums cannot vibrate so your hearing can also feel like it's blocked and sounds like muffled. This condition can get worse if you have a cold or a cold while on a plane, because the nasal mucus blockage will close the Eustachian tubes and interfere with their work.
Ear pain problems when boarding a plane do not only occur in adults. In fact, it is actually babies and young children who are most susceptible to complaining about this because their Eustachian tubes are shorter than adults, and are also not well developed to balance air pressure.
Is this dangerous?
Most cases of earaches while on a plane are harmless - they just make your journey a little uncomfortable. Once you land and arrive at your destination land, ear conditions will slowly return to normal.
Even so in rare cases, very high and drastic changes in pressure can cause severe earache and hearing loss due to ruptured eardrums. If you experience this, immediately check with the nearest doctor or ENT specialist.
To avoid the risk of hearing damage, you need to take precautions, before, during and after your flight.
Tips to reduce ear pain during flight
If your ears are already clogged and feel tight, try doing the tricks below to make your air travel feel more comfortable:
- Chew gum, chips, or hard candy. Chewing and swallowing movements will help the ear to adjust the balance of air pressure.
- Cover your mouth and pinch your nostrils with your index finger and thumb. Then, sniff out the air vigorously through your nose. This trick helps open the blocked Eustachian tube, allowing the air pressure in the ear to stabilize again. Do it many times until you feel better. However, don't do this if you have a cold or flu, as this will only push germs into the inner ear.
- If the above methods don't work, try covering your mouth and pinching your nose and then swallow a few times until your ears feel better.
- Spray a decongestant spray into the nose approximately 30 minutes before flight take off, or take a decongestant medicine 1 hour before flight. Do not use this method if you have heart disease or hypertension.
If you are experiencing an upper respiratory tract infection (ARI), you should not do air travel until it is completely healed. This aims to reduce the risk of ear inflammation. The risk increases if your nose is blocked due to a cold or flu while on a plane.
