Hearing is hard...

[strredwolf]

When I flew out to St. Louis, I had no hearing problems apon landing, even after listening to various podcasts on my iPod. 

However, if I fly into Baltimore (BWI, my home airport) about 20-30 minutes before I land, my ears clog up and I can barely hear anything until I land and wait about an hour for them to clear.

Anyone else have this problem?  What can I do to fix this?

Comments

[galish.livejournal.com]

chew gum

[bibliophage.livejournal.com]

Decongestants, chew gum, suck on candy, or sip a drink. You need to get those muscles between your jaw and ear moving.

If you're like me, you can flex the muscles by hand. (yawning a lot does as well)

[strredwolf.livejournal.com]

Okay, should I be doing it in the 20 minutes before I land into BWI?

Hmmm... I wonder...

Baltimore Elevation: 146 ft.
St. Louis: 465 ft

Elevation difference probably to blame? Last time it was direct from Chicago... 591 ft

Closest airports possible:
Dulles International: 313 ft.
Regan national: 15 ft

Maybe if I use Dulles instead... but then it may take me another three hours to get there.

Pittsburgh: 1200 ft.

I'm probably going to die...

La Guardia Airport (New York, NY): 21 feet

Crap. I'll die in the Big Apple. :(

[bibliophage.livejournal.com]

It's not the elevation itself, unless you're talking about 35,000 feet. It's the pressurized cabin of the aircraft. Once you land, the pressure is back to normal.

BW