To pop your ears, pinch your nostrils shut, close your mouth, and gently blow as if you’re trying to push air out through your nose. You should feel a small pop or click as pressure equalizes on both sides of your eardrum. This technique, called the Valsalva maneuver, is the most widely known method, but it’s not the only one, and it’s not always the safest. Several other approaches work just as well with less risk of overdoing it.
Why Your Ears Need Popping
A narrow tube called the Eustachian tube connects each middle ear to the back of your throat. These tubes open and close to equalize air pressure and drain fluid from your ears. When they’re working normally, you don’t notice them at all. But when something causes them to swell or stay shut, pressure builds up on one side of the eardrum, creating that familiar plugged, muffled feeling.
Common causes include altitude changes (flying, driving through mountains, scuba diving), the common cold, flu, allergies, and even acid reflux. All of these can inflame the tissue around the tubes, making them sluggish or completely blocked. The goal of every ear-popping technique is the same: force or coax those tubes open long enough for air to pass through and balance the pressure.
The Valsalva Maneuver
This is the classic method most people already know instinctively. Pinch your nostrils closed, keep your mouth shut, and gently push air out as though you’re straining. You’re directing air pressure from your throat up into the Eustachian tubes, which pushes them open from below.
The key word here is “gently.” A common mistake is blowing too hard or too long. Forceful blowing won’t open a stubbornly blocked tube. It will just increase pressure in your head, your eyes, and your abdomen. People with eye conditions like retinopathy, or those who’ve had cataract surgery with lens implants, should avoid this technique entirely because of the spike in eye pressure it creates. For everyone else, use short, light puffs rather than one sustained push.
The Toynbee Maneuver
If blowing against a closed nose feels uncomfortable or doesn’t work, try swallowing instead. Pinch your nostrils shut and swallow. The act of swallowing physically pulls your Eustachian tubes open, while your tongue compresses the trapped air against them. It’s a two-part action: the tubes open, and air gets pushed through at the same time.
This method has a practical advantage over the Valsalva. Blowing against closed nostrils only forces air toward the tubes without actively opening them, which means it can fail if your tubes are already clamped shut by a large pressure difference. Swallowing actually engages the muscles that open the tubes, making it more reliable when you’re already feeling significant blockage. Taking a sip of water while you do it can make the swallow easier to trigger.
The Frenzel Maneuver
Divers consider this the gold standard because it’s quick, low-effort, and repeatable. Pinch your nostrils, close your mouth, then press the back of your tongue against the roof of your mouth as if you’re making a hard “K” sound. That motion pushes a small pocket of air up into your Eustachian tubes without involving your lungs or chest at all.
Because the Frenzel technique uses only your tongue and throat, there’s very little risk of generating too much pressure. You can do it rapidly, over and over, which is why it’s the go-to for scuba divers who need to equalize every few feet during descent. It takes a little practice to get the tongue position right, but once you have it, it’s the gentlest and most controlled option.
Simpler Tricks That Often Work
Not every plugged ear requires a formal technique. Several everyday actions naturally open the Eustachian tubes:
- Yawning. A wide yawn stretches the muscles around the tubes and often produces an audible pop on its own. Even a fake yawn can trigger the reflex.
- Chewing gum or eating something chewy. The repeated jaw movement gently works the tubes open over time.
- Swallowing repeatedly. Without pinching your nose, plain swallowing still activates the muscles around the tubes. Sipping water or sucking on hard candy keeps you swallowing frequently.
- Jaw movements. Jutting your lower jaw forward and side to side can shift the tissues enough to release a mild blockage.
These low-effort methods work best for mild pressure, like the kind you feel during airplane descent. For more stubborn blockages caused by congestion, you’ll likely need one of the active techniques above.
Helping Babies and Young Children
Infants and toddlers can’t perform any of these maneuvers, which is why they often cry during takeoff and landing. The most effective approach is to have them swallow. For babies, nursing, bottle-feeding, or offering a pacifier during altitude changes encourages the swallowing that opens their Eustachian tubes. Older toddlers can sip from a cup or eat a snack. If your child has a cold or ear infection during the flight, an age-appropriate pain reliever given before departure can help reduce discomfort.
What About Medications?
You might expect that decongestants or antihistamines would help by reducing swelling around the Eustachian tubes. The evidence is surprisingly discouraging. A systematic review of 16 clinical trials covering nearly 1,900 participants found no meaningful improvement in ear symptoms or fluid clearance from decongestants, antihistamines, or combinations of both compared to placebo. Nasal steroid sprays have also been tested repeatedly in both children and adults, with no benefit for blocked or popping ears. One large review concluded plainly: no medications improve outcomes for Eustachian tube dysfunction.
That doesn’t mean a decongestant before a flight is useless for everyone. If nasal congestion is making it physically harder to breathe and swallow, reducing that congestion might indirectly help. But the medication itself isn’t treating the ear problem.
Signs Something Is Wrong
Popping your ears should never hurt. If you feel sharp pain during any of these techniques, stop immediately. A ruptured eardrum is the main risk of overly aggressive pressure equalization, and the symptoms are distinct: sudden, sharp ear pain that may fade quickly, fluid draining from the ear (sometimes with blood), muffled hearing, and ringing or buzzing in the ear. Most small eardrum tears heal on their own within weeks, but they need medical evaluation to rule out infection and confirm healing.
Persistent ear fullness lasting more than a couple of weeks, especially without an obvious cause like a cold, points to chronic Eustachian tube dysfunction. Allergies, acid reflux, and structural issues can all keep the tubes inflamed long-term. If your ears won’t pop despite repeated attempts over many days, or if you notice hearing changes, the problem likely needs more than a home technique to resolve.