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Flashback friday

And other news                    

Burst Ear Drums

10/24/2017

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To Blow or Not To Blow

One time while snorting in rough weather continually drawing full vacuums and then immediately breaking the vacuum when the swell went by, I was suffering from a cold with bad nasal congestion. I had a hard time clearing my ears, something I normally did naturally like most everyone else even in our sleep. I woke up suddenly one time in pain with tremendous pressure, "or was it vacuum", on my ears. I didn't know whether to suck or blow. So I gripped my nose and gave it my best blow.
Picture
Former Fleet Chief Petty Officer: Jim Gordon

Wrong!

Wrong. All of a sudden my right ear got warm and completely deaf. I had to endure a perforated eardrum in that situation for almost a week. It wouldn't heal and it certainly wasn't hygienic down there with that foul air just free flowing in and out of my head. that eventually healed but dropped my category dangerously close to the unfit sonar unfit submarine restrictions.

Cloth Ears

The term cloth ears was used to describe the effect that continuous vacuum pressure changes had on our eardrums. It had to stretch them out of shape a bit. Most of the old submariners I know have poor hearing and tinnitus. Damn, as soon as I typed that in my tinnitus started screaming at me. Funny how accustomed one can get to noise. It's usually somewhere back there where I don't notice it.
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  • Home
    • About Us
    • Project Ojibwa >
      • Sojourn in Hamilton
      • Site Preparation
      • The Landing
    • Cutting Edge Technology
    • Contact
  • Plan Visit
  • COLD WAR
    • Cold War Sub Operations
    • The Opposition
    • CLOSE CALLS
  • HMCS OJIBWA
    • Ojibwa's Badge
    • Commanding Officers
    • Ojibwa's Crew at Commissioning
    • Ojibwa's NATO Service
    • Ojibwa Firsts
  • INDEX
  • Submarines
    • Short History Cdn Subs
    • About the Q Tank
    • Bulkhead #34 Door
    • Charlie Saves the Boat
    • Cutting a Sub in Two
    • Dit About Dishes
    • Earning Your Dolphins
    • It's All in the Volts
    • Pass or Perish
    • Perils of Pressure
    • Red Light/Black Light
    • Riding the Roof
    • Snorting
    • Shooting the Sh*t
    • Trimming a Submarine
  • Pirates
    • Then & Now
    • A Little Rebel in..
    • Buoys will be Buoys
    • Music Soothes
    • No Kitchens
    • Not So Ginger Beard
    • One Potato
    • Ruminations on Rum
    • Sonarman's Day
    • Standby to M Bare Ass
    • Rock & Roll
    • Case of Missing Rudder
  • Education
    • For Teachers
    • How to Book
    • Innovative Programs
    • Cadets
  • Flashback Friday & News
  • New Page