Barotrauma of the ear

source: wikimedia

Sudden change in ambient pressure can cause ringing in the ears. Scuba divers or pilots of aircraft that are not equipped with a pressurized cabin are most threatened. Also, ordinary passengers in transport aircraft may be under threat, if they have problems with pressure compensation, because in these planes usually occurs some pressure instability. So, if you have problems with Eustachian tube, it is better to avoid flying or scuba diving.


Barotrauma is actually mechanical damage to structure of inner ear by excessive pressure changes. In certain way it is comparable to acoustic trauma. The primary treatment for barotrauma are the same procedures as for other disorders of inner ear, ie hyperbaric oxygen therapy, corticosteroids, vasodilatation.

Environment	Typical ambient pressure (standard atmospheres)
Hard vacuum of outer space	0 atm
Top of Mount Everest	0.333 atm
Pressurized passenger aircraft cabin altitude 8000 ft (2,400 m)	0.76 atm
Sea level atmospheric pressure	1 atm
10m depth in seawater	2 atm
20m depth in seawater	3 atm
Recreational diving depth limit cca. 130 ft (40 m)	5 atm
Common technical diving depth limit cca. 330 ft (100 m)	11 atm
Maximum ambient pressure a human has survived	54 atm