Word: valsalva
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...astronauts would suffer ear damage during re-entry-was not realized. As Apollo's cabin pressure was raised from the 5.3 Ibs. per sq. in. maintained during space flight to sea-level pressure of 14.7 p.s.i., the astronauts protected their ears by removing their helmets and performing the "Valsalva maneuver" (named for its inventor, the 18th century Italian anatomist Antonio Valsalva). Holding their noses, closing their mouths and trying vigorously to exhale through their nostrils, they forced air through their clogged Eustachian tubes to keep the pressure in their middle ears equal to the increasing cabin pressure. The tactic...
Named the Valsalva maneuver, after the 17th century Italian anatomist who described it, the trick is the same used by air travelers and skin divers to clear their ears on descent. It also has much the same result as a dose of nitroglycerin or amyl nitrite. Both drugs are rapid dilators of the coronary arteries, and thus quickly increase blood flow within the oxygen-deprived heart muscle; the technique of blowing hard against resistance may work similarly, but, according to the Journal authors, the mechanism is not clear. The Valsalva maneuver should only be used in emergencies...
...letting air under 225 Ibs. pressure gush into the hatch. The outlet vent was closed. The air pressure zoomed, and at the equivalent of 240 ft. the gauge on Dr. Bond's wrist imploded. Dr. Bond had to hold his nose with his fingers while he did heroic Valsalva* maneuvers to equalize the pressure in his head; Tuckfield had the advantage of his nose clip...
...well knows, to sustain a note of clarity, volume and high pitch through 53 inches of drawn-brass tubing requires the lung power of a bull moose and the finesse of a brindled gnu. What few trumpeters know is that while tootling they approximate the effects of "a formidable Valsalva maneuver," i.e., a hard nose-blow with nostrils and mouth blocked. To find out just how formidable the effects are, London's Dr. E. P. Sharpey-Schafer and California Musician Maurice Faulkner last summer sat down in London. Faulkner huffed his way through several trumpet passages, including a phrase...
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