Trapped water in the ear canal can cause infection and even damage, but it turns out that one of the most common methods people use to get rid of it can also cause complications. Researchers at Cornell University and Virginia Tech show that shaking the head to free it can cause brain damage in small children.
Anuj Baskota, Seungho Kim, Hosung Kang, and Sunghwan Jung will present their findings at the American Physical Society’s Division of Fluid Dynamics 72nd Annual Meeting. Baskota said:
“Our research mainly focuses on the acceleration required to get the water out of the ear canal.
“The critical acceleration that we obtained experimentally on glass tubes and 3-D 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.”
Removing water in the ears of adults
For adults, the acceleration was lower due to the larger diameter of the ear canals. They said the overall volume and position of the water in the canal change the acceleration needed to remove it. Baskota added:
“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.”
Luckily, the researchers said there is a solution that does not involve any head shaking. Baskota said:
“Presumably, putting a few drops of a liquid with lower surface tension than water, like alcohol or vinegar, in the ear would reduce the surface tension force allowing the water to flow out.”
Provided by: American Physical Society [Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.]
