Divers have a much higher danger of other types of barotrauma, because going underwater also involves a difference between the air in your lungs and the pressure of the water outside you. Both cases involve tremendous changes in pressure that could affect lots of parts of your body, but in practice it's usually the ears that suffer.įor scuba divers, it's key to your certification that you understand how barotrauma works, what it's doing to you, and how you can avoid it. You can get into pressure trouble on airplanes, as you've probably noticed, as well as diving even just a few feet. The eardrum is the only part of your body that depends entirely on pressure and vibrations to work - it's also tiny, delicate and very sensitive - which makes it a common victim of this situation. While more serious types of pressure-related injuries are possible throughout the body, ear barotrauma is the most common injury of this type, because of the mechanics of your ear membranes.

Usually, when people talk about barotrauma in this context, they mean ear barotrauma. Technically, the word barotrauma refers to any injury resulting from a change in pressure ('baro,' as in 'barometer') on either side of a bodily membrane. The ear pain many experience during airline travel is a common form of barotrauma.

Inner ear barotrauma recovery time