Why do your ears pop on a plane?
Fly a drawn ear up and back down, and see what one swallow changes.
Ground
Balanced.
Cabin air and middle-ear air push equally on the eardrum. Drag the Flight slider to take off.
Ground. Pressures balanced.
A simplified ear. The eardrum moves far more than a real one, and a whole flight fits on one slider. Real ears even out at different moments, and coming down can take several swallows because the cabin keeps changing.
Wait, what?
The way in is behind your nose.
Air can’t get through your eardrum, and it doesn’t need to. The little air space behind it has a second way in: a narrow passage down to the back of your nose. When that opens, air moves until both sides of the eardrum push equally again. You feel that quick shift as the pop.
Air pushes from both sides.
Air is made of tiny particles, always moving and bumping into everything. Each bump is a little push. All those pushes together are air pressure. The more tightly air is packed, the harder it pushes.
Your eardrum is a thin, flexible skin with air on both sides. On one side is the cabin air in your ear canal. On the other is a small air pocket called the middle ear. When the pushes match, the eardrum rests in its usual place. When one side pushes harder, it bows toward the weaker side, and your ear can feel full or blocked.
Dots stand for air particles. More dots means a harder push.
A passage that opens when you swallow.
The eardrum seals the middle ear off from the ear canal. But a narrow passage runs from the middle ear down to the back of your nose, and from there to the air you breathe.
Most of the time that passage is squeezed shut. Swallowing or yawning pulls it open for a moment. If the pressures differ, air moves through to even them out, and the eardrum springs back. The passage has a name: the Eustachian tube.
Why landing feels different.
A plane keeps its cabin air pressure up, but high in the sky it’s still lower than on the ground. On the way up, cabin pressure falls. The middle ear’s air pushes harder, and the extra air usually escapes through the passage on its own. On the way down, cabin pressure rises. Now air has to get in, and the lower pressure inside tends to hold the passage shut. Swallowing or yawning helps open it, but the cabin keeps changing, so it can take several swallows.
Talk like you’ve followed the pop
Eardrum
A thin, flexible skin between the ear canal and the middle ear. Air can’t get through it.
“It bows toward the weaker push.”Middle ear
A small air-filled space behind the eardrum.
“When its air matches the cabin’s, the eardrum rests.”Eustachian tube
The narrow passage from the middle ear to the back of the nose. It’s usually squeezed shut. Swallowing or yawning opens it.
“Swallowing lets the air through.”Go down the rabbit hole
ReadRead why coming down is harder on your earsStanford Ear Institute on the Eustachian tube, and why coming down is harder than going up. It also covers treatments, which we skip here.ReadRead what happens when your ears can’t keep upCleveland Clinic on why cabin pressure can change faster than your ears can even out. It also covers symptoms and treatment.
TryNext time you’re on a plane, wait for the popWhen the plane starts coming down, your ears might feel blocked. Swallow or yawn and you may feel a little pop. That’s air slipping in behind your eardrum, just like when you press Swallow in the drawing.