When swimming, you would find many people shaking their heads after that epic cannonball or dive. That is the most common way of removing trapped water in the ear. It can be useful to some people. It is also important to immediately get rid of the water in the ears since it can cause infection and even damage. However, kids should find another way to clear their ear canal of fluid. Researchers at Cornell University and Virginia Tech found that shaking the head could cause brain damage in small children. "Our research mainly focuses on the acceleration required to get the water out of the ear canal," researcher Anuj Baskota said in a statement. During tests, the team used glass tubes of varying diameters to mimic the ear canal. Researchers dropped the tubes onto a spring similar to when a children shake their head side to side. Acceleration was higher in smaller tubes. In people, shaking one’s head that fast to drain trapped water may be “more laborious to children due to their small size of the ear canal.” "The critical acceleration that we obtained experimentally on glass tubes and 3D printed ear canals was around the range of 10 times the force of gravity for infant ear sizes, which could cause damage to the brain," Baskota explained. The larger diameter of ear canals in adults reduces the acceleration when they shake their head. The space allows the water to flow from the ear better than in kids. "From our experiments and theoretical model, we figured out that surface tension of the fluid is one of the crucial factors promoting the water to get stuck in ear canals," Baskota concluded. Water In The Ear Researchers said people should remove trapped water from their ears to avoid swimmer’s ear. This infection occurs in the outer ear canal when bacteria grow in the moist environment, according to the Mayo Clinic. For kids, researchers suggested using a few drops of other liquids to the ear. Parents can use alcohol or vinegar to reduce the surface tension force, allowing the water to flow out, Baskota recommended. People should remove trapped water from their ears to avoid swimmer’s ear, an infection that occurs in the outer ear canal when bacteria grow in the moist environment. Pixabay Source
