What is Ear pain during air travel?

Ear pain during air travel

What is ear pain during air travel?

You get pain in your ear during air travel when the pressure inside your ear isn't the same as the pressure outside your ear.

To understand how this happens, it helps to know a little about your ears.

Your outer ear is the part of your ear that you can see. It "catches" the sounds around you.
The hole in the middle of your outer ear is your ear canal. It carries the sounds into your ear.
Stretched across the inner end of your ear canal is your eardrum. This thin tissue moves when sounds reach it.
Behind your eardrum is your middle ear. It's usually filled with air.
Your eustachian tube connects your middle ear to the back of your nose (just above the roof of your mouth). This tube is closed most of the time.

Normally the air pressure in your middle ear is the same as the air pressure outside your body.

Source:
U.S. National Library of Medicine.
Medline Plus: Ear barotrauma.
October 2006. Available at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/001064.htm (accessed on 24 October 2007).

¹ Your eustachian tube helps to keep it this way. When you swallow or yawn, the tube opens briefly. This lets a tiny bubble of air flow up the tube and into your middle ear. But this air gradually gets absorbed by the tissues around your middle ear. So you need to keep swallowing to let your eustachian tube open from time to time. This makes the air pressure inside your ear the same as that outside your ear.

Your eustachian tube helps keep the air pressure in your middle ear the same as outside your body.

When you travel in an airplane, the air pressure around you changes quickly, especially during takeoff and landing. Air pressure is highest near the ground and lessens as you get higher and higher into the air. But you may not be able to swallow fast enough to keep the middle ear filled with air. This means that the air pressure inside your middle ear and your outer ear is different, and your eardrum gets pulled inward toward your brain.

You are most likely to get ear pain during takeoff and landing.

Your ear can feel blocked, and it can be very painful. Your eardrum can burst (or perforate). But this doesn't happen to most people.

If your eustachian tube is blocked for some reason, it can be especially difficult to get enough air into your ear.

Source:
Basu A.
Middle ear pain and trauma during travel.
September 2007. Clinical Evidence. (Based on April 2007 search). Available at http://clinicalevidence.bmj.com/ceweb/conditions/ent/0501/0501.jsp (accessed on 26 October 2007).

² So you're more likely to get ear pain during a flight if:

Your nose or

sinuses
Sinuses are small pockets of air inside your skull. You have them in your cheek bones, behind and between your eyes, and in your forehead.

sinuses are blocked because of an

allergy
If you have an allergy to something, your body overreacts when you're around it. The thing you are allergic to is called an allergen. Most allergens are harmless to most people. But if you're allergic to something, your body's system for fighting infection (your immune system) is too sensitive to that allergen. It triggers changes that we call allergic reactions. For example, pollen is an allergen for many people. If you're allergic to pollen, you'll sneeze and have runny eyes when pollen is in the air.

allergy or a cold. This often means your eustachian tube is blocked, too
You're a child. Young children have shorter and more horizontal (flatter) eustachian tubes than adults. This means the tube gets blocked more easily.

Sources for the information on this page:

U.S. National Library of Medicine.Medline Plus: Ear barotrauma.October 2006. Available at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/001064.htm (accessed on 24 October 2007).

Basu A.Middle ear pain and trauma during travel.September 2007. Clinical Evidence. (Based on April 2007 search). Available at http://clinicalevidence.bmj.com/ceweb/conditions/ent/0501/0501.jsp (accessed on 26 October 2007).

This information was last updated on Oct 26, 2007

This information is for educational use only, and is not a substitute for prompt professional medical advice. Readers should always consult a physician or other professional for advice and treatment.
© BMJ Publishing Group Limited 2010. All rights reserved.

The information on ConsumerReportsHealth.org should not be viewed as a substitute for a consultation with a medical or health professional. The information is meant to enhance communication with your doctor, not replace it. Consumers Union can not be liable for any loss, injury, or other damages related to your use of this information.

Your use of this information is subject to our User Agreement available at www.ConsumerReportsHealth.org.