Panic started to set in. She tried the Valsalva maneuver , something her dad had once taught her: pinch your nose, close your mouth, and gently blow—like you’re trying to pop your ears, but without force. She tried it once. Nothing. She tried harder. A tiny, high-pitched squeak, but no relief.
Click. A soft, wet, glorious pop .
This, Maya was experiencing, was airplane ear —medically known as barotrauma. The culprit was a tiny, pencil-thin passage called the Eustachian tube. This tube connects the middle ear—the air-filled space behind the eardrum—to the back of the throat. Its job is to equalize pressure. On the ground, it opens hundreds of times a day, silently adjusting when you swallow or yawn. clogged ears from flying