An odd thing happened last night. I was sitting in the living room with the windows open, and could hear the gentle night sounds. My ears felt a little stuffed up, so I did the old SCUBA driver trick of holding my nose closed and gently blowing. That worked. But I noticed that as the pressure increased, so did the sounds of the insects outside. I tried this several times (including right now) and could get about a10-12dB increase in the insect chorus. Strange. Other sounds were attenuated, only the high pitched insect sounds get louder as the internal pressure increased.
I have no idea why this works, and I have never noticed it before. FWIW, I live at 1300 meters above sea level.
I have no idea why this works, and I have never noticed it before. FWIW, I live at 1300 meters above sea level.
This is interesting. My first random thought is that if you are overcoming an internal vacuum, you might be restoring your ear drums to a region of greater compliance however perhaps the nerve tension would be playing a role.
I did reset the inner pressure. But it's at a high internal pressure that I hear the insects. In other words, when I hold my nose and pressurize my eardrums from the inside, the insect sounds become louder. The eardrums must be pretty tight, they feel like they are bulging a bit. Perhaps the tightness makes them more rigid, allowing a higher Fs, or something like that?
The middle ear has a muscle (tensor tympani) that attentuates sound by clamping one of the ossicles to damp its vibration, so when you did that maneuvre you may have also relaxed that muscle without being aware of it - it jumps into action when you hear sudden loud noises. Also opening the eustachian tubes will affect the acoustic impedance seen by the eardrum (tympanum)
I suspect altering the pressure on the ear drum will also affect its frequency response which could also have an effect.
I suspect altering the pressure on the ear drum will also affect its frequency response which could also have an effect.
interesting can relate
also noticed strange similar circumstances when traveling from high elevations to low quickly.
Applying pressure for relief, high frequency had strange peaks.
Only sometimes as noted, usually high frequency is reduced from quick pressure change.
Often it felt like my ears didnt fully pop and sounded dull as always.
Applying pressure high frequency increased. Then stopping got dull again.
Wasnt full relief as expected, only certain bands had peaks while applying pressure myself.
Music playing was making it obvious.
Only very recent
Was always sensitive to pressure changes traveling.
Just thought it was getting harder to pop my ears quickly in older age.
The emphasized frequencies was strange though.
also noticed strange similar circumstances when traveling from high elevations to low quickly.
Applying pressure for relief, high frequency had strange peaks.
Only sometimes as noted, usually high frequency is reduced from quick pressure change.
Often it felt like my ears didnt fully pop and sounded dull as always.
Applying pressure high frequency increased. Then stopping got dull again.
Wasnt full relief as expected, only certain bands had peaks while applying pressure myself.
Music playing was making it obvious.
Only very recent
Was always sensitive to pressure changes traveling.
Just thought it was getting harder to pop my ears quickly in older age.
The emphasized frequencies was strange though.
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Yes, that's the feeling I am getting. @WhiteDragon is reporting similar effects. This morning I tried the pressure trick listing to the wind in the trees and tall grass. The effect was certainly a high pass filter, but also felt like amplification of the highs.
More like cosc peaking, fixing nos droop 😁 I've just tried it, not having the same effect. But my hearing is still within 18k.
Now everyone is holding nose, blowing ear pressure, checking for differences. LOL
Don't need any of those fancy manoeuvres.... have full-on cicadas 24/7 for years now. Tinnitus is a bitc*h.
I think the following, but I didn't find scientific proof not even with the help of Google.
However, as we all know the Eustachian tube is designed to maintain equality between the external pressure of the eardrum and the pressure inside the middle ear.
As we all should know hearing is based on the vibration of the eardrum.
When you perform the Valsalva maneuver you can easily overcompensate increasing the internal pressure of the eardrum compared to the external one.
I guess this fact makes the eardrum more tense and this greater tension prevents the vibration of the eardrum at lower frequencies because to vibrate at lower frequencies the eardrum membrane, just like the membrane of a woofer, must have a greater excursion.
In other words performing the Valsalva maneuver overcompensating is just like applying a "mechanical" recording RIAA equalization to your hearing system through the increased tension of the eardrum.
So you hear mostly the higher frequencies, and therefore those relating to the insects around you.
Anyway, please note that the Frenzel maneuver is much safer than the Valsalva one. 🙂
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Yep, it derives from the Valsalva maneuver that as said is potentially harmful for the health not only of the ears because it is not easily adaptable to the amount of compensation needed and you can easily overdo it without being able to predict its real effect.
When you are not several meters underwater (or by plane or in the high mountains) I believe the Frenzel maneuver (which consists of swallowing several times by pushing the tongue under the palate instead of blowing with the mouth and nose closed) is preferable just because effective, but safer.
Almost like this? 🙂
Yes sort of like that. It feels like an active boost of the high end, not just a HPF. So indeed similar to the RIAA EQ.
From a subjective point of view, I guess it will seem almost "just highs" to you because the lows and the mids will be perceived weakened.