Ear clicking when swallowing
Also called: Eustachian tube click · Ear popping
Swallowing opens a small tube between your throat and your middle ear for a fraction of a second. The faint click you can hear is that tube letting air through to balance the pressure.
How common
Does this happen to you?
How it works
The middle ear is a sealed box behind the eardrum. For the eardrum to move freely, the air pressure inside the box must match the air outside. The Eustachian tube does this job. It runs from the middle ear down to the back of the nose. In adults it is about 3.5 cm long1.
Most of the time the tube is collapsed shut. This keeps out mucus and the sound of your own voice. When you swallow, a small muscle in the roof of the mouth, the tensor veli palatini, contracts. It pulls the wall of the tube sideways and opens it for a moment2. Air moves in or out. The walls of the tube separate and then snap together again. That small movement is the click.
The click is easiest to hear when the pressure difference is large. On a plane going up or down, the outside pressure changes fast. Swallowing, yawning, or chewing gum opens the tube and the ears “pop”1. Divers use the same idea. They pinch the nose and blow gently, or swallow with the nose pinched, to push air up the tube3.
Small children have shorter, flatter tubes that do not drain as well. This is one reason ear infections are common in young children1.
How common it is
Everyone has a Eustachian tube, and it opens during swallowing1. What varies is how noticeable it is. Some people feel only a faint pressure change, others hear a clear click.
Try it
- Sit in a quiet room.
- Press a fingertip gently into each ear opening to block outside sound.
- Swallow once and listen for a faint click or crackle deep in each ear.
- Swallow again with your nose pinched shut. The click is often louder, because the pressure changes more.
- Open your mouth wide as if yawning and listen for the same click.
Some people hear a clear click, others feel only a slight change of pressure.
Is it a problem?
No. A soft click or pop with swallowing is normal and needs no attention. It is not a sign of an ear infection or hearing damage.
See a doctor if the click:
- is painful,
- comes with real hearing loss,
- is replaced by a constant open feeling where you hear your own voice and breathing loudly all the time.
That pattern can mean the tube is staying open too much, a separate, rare condition1.
Sources and further material
- Wikipedia Eustachian tube
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Related oddities
Voluntary Eustachian tube opening
Opening the tubes that link the middle ear to the throat on command, without swallowing or pinching your nose. You hear a click, and your own voice gets loud. Some divers and freedivers learn it, but most never do.
Tensor tympani thump
The low thump or rumble in your ears when you yawn or shout is a tiny middle ear muscle tensing to protect your hearing from your own noise.
Ear rumbling
Up to about half of all people can make a low roar inside their own head by tensing a tiny muscle in the middle ear.
Autophony
Your own voice, breathing, or heartbeat sounds far too loud inside your head. It can mean a tube or a thin patch of bone is letting sound take a shortcut into the ear.