{"id":28,"date":"2026-09-30T12:13:56","date_gmt":"2026-09-30T12:13:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/scintillawpthemes.com\/demo\/swp-scuba-diving-pro\/2026\/09\/30\/how-to-equalise-your-ears-without-the-pressure\/"},"modified":"2026-09-30T12:13:56","modified_gmt":"2026-09-30T12:13:56","slug":"how-to-equalise-your-ears-without-the-pressure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scintillawpthemes.com\/demo\/swp-scuba-diving-pro\/2026\/09\/30\/how-to-equalise-your-ears-without-the-pressure\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Equalise Your Ears Without the Pressure"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ear discomfort is the number one reason new divers stop a descent. The good news: equalising is a skill, not a gift, and almost everyone gets it with a little practice.<\/p>\n

1. The Valsalva manoeuvre<\/h2>\n

Pinch your nose and blow gently against it, as if you were trying to blow your nose with your mouth closed. It is the technique most divers learn first. Gentle is the key word \u2014 never force it.<\/p>\n

2. The Toynbee manoeuvre<\/h2>\n

Pinch your nose and swallow. The swallowing motion opens the Eustachian tubes and lets air move into the middle ear. It works well for divers who find blowing uncomfortable.<\/p>\n

3. The Frenzel manoeuvre<\/h2>\n

Close your throat as if lifting something heavy, pinch your nose and push your tongue up and back like saying the letter K. It uses very little effort and is the favourite of freedivers and experienced scuba divers.<\/p>\n

\n

Equalise early and often: every metre on the way down, before you feel any pressure at all.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

When to stop<\/h2>\n
    \n
  • If one ear will not clear, ascend a metre or two and try again<\/li>\n
  • Never dive with a cold or congestion<\/li>\n
  • Descend feet first \u2014 it makes equalising easier<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The three techniques our instructors teach on day one, and when to use each.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[10,11,12],"class_list":["post-28","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-beginners","tag-equalising","tag-first-dive","tag-tips"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scintillawpthemes.com\/demo\/swp-scuba-diving-pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scintillawpthemes.com\/demo\/swp-scuba-diving-pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scintillawpthemes.com\/demo\/swp-scuba-diving-pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scintillawpthemes.com\/demo\/swp-scuba-diving-pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scintillawpthemes.com\/demo\/swp-scuba-diving-pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/scintillawpthemes.com\/demo\/swp-scuba-diving-pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scintillawpthemes.com\/demo\/swp-scuba-diving-pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scintillawpthemes.com\/demo\/swp-scuba-diving-pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scintillawpthemes.com\/demo\/swp-scuba-diving-pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scintillawpthemes.com\/demo\/swp-scuba-diving-pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}